I Love the Smell of Europe in the Morning

Ahh...

How does one convey an aroma over a digital medium?

I've been struggling enough as it is conveying the feeling that Europe gives me, but certain sights can be captured with pictures and videos, certain experiences can be retold in words, and certain tastes can be described - granted that the reader has tasted the same thing at some point in their life. But a scent... this, is challenging.

It's not just a single smell that I can ask you to recollect, like the smell of freshly cut grass in the summer, or the smell of campfire at night, that we're all so familiar with. It's a symphony of flavour that fills me with a strange longing. I don't know what it is that I long for when I smell it - perhaps to be part of this European experience for the rest of my life, perhaps to taste the sweetness in this air every day, perhaps to share this with my friends and loved ones, perhaps to hold my sweethearts hand while walking down these cobblestone streets shaded by the bright pink blossoms.

But the picture doesn't quite capture the smell that is in the air. It is this magical scent of a number of different things combined:

It's the smell of fresh grass. It smells green. It smells like spring. It smells fresh - like crisp lettuce or a cold cucumber salad. It makes you want to eat it.

It's the smell of the sun. It smells yellow. It feels warm and comforting. It smells like the beach does when the air is still. It smells like the ground that's been baking in the sun all day. It smells like the earth. It makes you want to face the sun and let it kiss your face.

It's the smell of the sky. It smells blue. It smells fresh - like a cool breeze blowing in from the lake. It smells like the clouds - soft and fluffy. It makes you wish you had long flowing hair and a convertible car so that you could drive around and let the wind play with your hair.

It's the smell of freshly baked bread (Germans love their bread - there's a bakery on every corner). It smells orange. It smells like home. It smells delicious. It smells like the earth and wheat and fire combined. It makes you want to break into a loaf of freshly baked bread to hear the crunch and smell the rising steam.

It's the smell of espresso. It smells dark, rich and delicious. It tastes like chocolate. I don't drink coffee, and yet I still love the smell. It smells invigorating. It makes you want to sit on a terrace and slow time down even if only for five minutes while enjoying a cup.

It's the smell of barbecues, charcoal, and burning wood. It smells red. It smells hot and delicious. It smells like cooked meat and grilled vegetables. It tastes like grilled zucchini, or a roasted red pepper, or black olives (a very Mediterranean flavour). It tastes like a homemade burger made with fresh ingredients (something I'm sure we all haven't experienced in a while) being chased with a cold beer.

It's the smell of blooming flowers. It smells pink. It smells cute and pretty. It tastes like cotton candy, and makes you want to lick it. It reminds you of all those times someone dear to you bought you flowers. Or you buying flowers for someone dear to you and the aroma filling the air. It makes your heart sing with love.

It's the smell of lilacs. It smells purple. It smells fresh and clean - like the smell after rain. It feels soft and delicate. It makes you want to go outside and just breathe this fresh air before the pollution of the city sets in again.

It's the smell of this rainbow combined into one. It smells like... Europe. Anyone who's been here will know what I'm talking about - there's a scent here - a heavenly, delicious aroma that just slows you down. It's near impossible to be stressed out with this smell around. Even if you were rushing somewhere, you'll involuntarily slow down to a pace dictated by this scent. It makes you appreciate the flowers, the sun, the wind, the grass, and everything in between. It tempts you with any open seat on a patio to revel in these moments.

Until the technology for bottling this European scent is possible, I'll leave you with my favourite scent of spring - the smell of lilacs. This calming, soothing fragrance comes closest to capturing the feeling this European air brings me. And given it's lilac season now, next time you pass by a lilac bush (sorry for the cliché) - slow down and smell the flowers.

Now that lilacs are in bloom
She has a bowl of lilacs in her room
And twists one in her fingers while she talks.
"Ah, my friend, you do not know, you do not know
What life is, you who hold it in your hands";
(Slowly twisting the lilac stalks)
"You let it flow from you, you let it flow,
And youth is cruel, and has no remorse
And smiles at situations which it cannot see."
I smile, of course,
And go on drinking tea.
"Yet with these April sunsets, that somehow recall
My buried life, and Paris in the Spring,
I feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world
To be wonderful and youthful, after all."

- T. S. Eliot, Portrait of a Lady