On the European Express departing London for Venice, a chef named Philippe had once told Pomona that he did not like modern-day Paris.
To many people, the "City of Flowers" represented romance and was synonymous with fashion.
The winding Seine ran through the city, there was The Hunchback of Notre-Dame without its hunchback, cafés along the streets gave off rich aromas, and there was the most beautiful avenue of all, the Champs-Élysées.
Yet once you actually arrived in this city, you realized that it was all nothing more than something you had imagined.
Trash littered the streets, the metro stations were old and shabby, and there was a faint smell of urine. It was impossible to tell whether it had come from people or dogs.
Many people liked keeping dogs, yet did not pick up after them when they took them for walks. So whenever you strolled through the streets, you had to watch where you stepped.
Even a pair of Chanel couture shoes would be ruined if they stepped in that kind of "soft gold." Fortunately, there were quite a few "fountains" by the roadside, but those were other people's drinking fountains. Who would look kindly on someone washing dog shit off their feet at a public water point?
The French might not be pleased to hear that, but France had indeed declined after its king was overthrown by the people of Paris.
Even setting aside France's performance during World War II, for a national capital, apart from popular attractions like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, the city as a whole felt filthy, chaotic, and shabby. Graffiti covered the walls everywhere, making it look truly undignified.
The neighborhoods where white people lived might have been better. Perhaps that was why Grindelwald had chosen a white community as