France

Carpe Diem #969 France

Most European countries remain nothing but dreams for me.  France is one of those countries.  I have been to Paris. . . Paris, Texas, that is.  A small town at the edge of the Piney woods geographical region of Northeast Texas.

By Jeanne Boleyn (talk) - I
(Jeanne Boleyn (talk) created
this work entirely by myself.
The folks of Paris, Texas, erected a replica of the real Eiffel Tower in 1993.  Later in an effort to make it be the tallest replicas (at the time) a cowboy hat was added at the top.  I promise not all Texans wear cowboy hats.  Just as not all French Parisians wear berets.  No Louvre nor Art Museum in Paris, TX.  Just a yearly arts and crafts fair sponsored by the local YMCA.

One of the few times I have visited Paris, TX, was as a sophomore in high school.  There was a yearly football match of the McKinney Lions and the Paris Wildcats.  That is the US football, not the rest of the world's futball.  The competition was just as intense.  Little is remembered about the game.  Most important was the ride there and back on a passenger train.  A passenger train full of Texas teens ready to cheer the Lions to victory.  The McKinney/Paris yearly match has long since passed into history.  Just as have the passenger trains between small towns in Texas.  While passenger trains are common in Europe, they are almost non existent in Texas.

Paris, TX, is a town of about 17,500 people.  It was founded around 1826. Paris, FR, was founded in about the 3rd century BC.  There is no Seine River flooding the Texas city.  Paris, FR, has a population of over 2.2 million with the administrative area having an estimated 12 million.  Due to the Seine's current flooding, Paris, FR, is evacuating  more people than live in Paris, TX.  There really is very little the two Paris have in common other than people and the problems people have everywhere.

Paris, France, has endured its bloody uprisings, beheadings and multiple World Wars.  Paris, Texas, has seen racial tensions, bloody at times.  This is the sad legacy for much of our nation.  Humans turned into slaves and treated as chattel and cattle.  People still believing the persons of African descent are not as fully human as persons descended from Europeans.   A sorry, sorry condition was the African slave trade.  A fact that some in this day and time are attempting to erase from our history books.

In closing on the look at the two Paris of the France and Texas there is only one thing left to say.  There is no comparison.  France's Paris wins, hands down.

daydreams unfolded
famous name purloined
in the Piney woods
little towns strung like pearls on
the rails of the train lines

© petra domina


Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on 

CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

  

Comments

  1. There seems to be a Paris in many places...there is one in Ontario but have never visited. As usual, I learned something again about Texas:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, several Paris. Says something about it's fame. I am still learning stuff about Texas.

      Delete
  2. Been to Paris, France. It was awesome. One could feel its greatness. Saw Mona Lisa at the Louvre. A small framed masterpiece as compared to other bigger paintings but it was the one that drew the most crowd

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hope to get there at some point! Maybe with my sister.

      Delete
  3. I did not know that there was a Paris in Texas. I enjoyed these photos. There is a very small town near us that I have visited, but it has no Eiffel Tower :) For the first time I visited Paris, France two years ago and I fell in love with it. A gorgeous city and I am sorry to hear of the flooding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is one of the places I hope to visit at some point.

      Delete
  4. I didn't know about a place called Paris in Texas, but I remember That I once saw this Paris in Texas on TV. Paris France by the way is a gorgeous place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope to see Paris, France, as some point in my life.

      Delete

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