Heaven on Earth.

by Ruzha Musheva (Bulgaria)

A leap into the unknown Bulgaria

Heaven on Earth. Do you know what I, the poet Bulgarian girl like most about France? You always want to go back. The first time I saw a piece of this Heaven on Earth, it was 2017. I went to Paris with my mother to examine the level of my French. When we landed in “Charles de Gaulle” my mouth dropped open. All the French speaking and the faces I have never seen before made me lose my mind. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was so happy that I could practise and improve my language skills, I felt like I need to speak in French every second while I was there, but then a guy started talking to me in my mother tongue so it was kind of a fail start. Right after we went out of the airport, we got a taxi, this man almost got us killed with his way of driving but at the end, we arrived safe at the hotel. It was a compact building in the center of Paris, it took us only 10 minutes to go to the Louvre and to the Eiffel tower as well. Our room was magnificent. The wooden windows and the vintage wardrobe made me feel like I was in a movie. The bathroom was small, but big enough for two people to stay there peacefully. We went out to eat and then again- Bulgarian. Or as it seemed, his girlfriend was a Bulgarian. We didn’t want to improvise with the food so soon, so we just ordered pizza, but we tried some kind of cocktail with a little fruit on top that I have never tasted before in my life, but I forgot its name as well. The second day of four, we went on a bus trip around Paris to see more of the monuments that you need to see while you are in this megapolis. We saw so many museums that I couldn’t think of counting them, side to side with beautiful gardens and palaces. The bus dropped us in front of the Eiffel tower and we decided that here we need to stop with the ride. We took a deep breath to feel the scent of grass and flowers. It was very romantic as we were looking at young and old people, who fell in love at some period in their life, just to be sitting on the grass and enjoy their time together like nothing else mattered. I felt, for the first time in my life, like generation didn’t exist. Our next stop was the Louvre – one magical place with so much history in it. I was speechless in front of the magnificent works of art I found there. Every piece of air in this place was filled with history and some mystery. Colors and black and white painting were everywhere around me, I felt lost and found, terrified and relieved that I got to see that significant museum. Have you ever been on the 58th floor of a building and looked down, feeling so close and so distant from the ground? Well, I have. I saw the Eiffel tower from so high in the sky that it looked like a small, distant from the civilisation toy. The last two days were for walks, coffees and some shopping. When we took off for Bulgaria, I felt a bit nostalgic for the big city, but also relieved in some way, because I was going home, but I knew I had to see France again, and only two years after, I have. This time I concentrated on the connections and on nature, and I definitely found myself peaceful and in harmony with myself and the world. Even the scent of gas felt new and different, I enjoyed watching the same birds like I watch at home with new pair of eyes. I was in heaven and nothing else mattered, because I had a whole month to let it get the best of me. France is a country that you can’t forget, and even if you could, you would never let it happen. Everything that I did there was magical and can’t be easily defined.