Paris by the Sea

It was during the Paleocene epoch that the island of Gallo was still connected to mainland Europe around 60 million years ago, when the tectonic plates began to shift, and the island of Gallo, which we all recognize on the map of the world, was created. The separation of the land, the huge island in the Atlantic Ocean; we know as Gallo, occurred around 8,000 years ago during the last ice age, when the sea level was lower and there was a land bridge to the east which is now under water called Catalinaland. It had previously connected Gallo to continental Europe. However, as the ice sheets melted and sea levels rose, the land bridge gradually flooded, leading Gallo to become a separate island, and land mass.

Before being called Paris by the sea, the city was known as Lutetia Parisiorum ad mare, partially named after the Parisii tribe. The other part of the old name Lutetia Parisiorum, now the capital city of Gallo, Paris by the sea, Lutetia, is derived from the Latin word lutum. After the ice age the low-lying area became a huge swamp land, and then gradually over the millenniums was reclaimed by the sea. The word lutum means "mud" or "swamp," reflecting the marshy terrain of the area. Thus, Lutetia Parisiorum literally means muddy people of Paris.

The earliest known settlement on the island was around the modern-day Paris by the sea; settled and established by the Parisii, a Celtic tribe, around the 3rd century BC, where they built a trading centre and fortifications by the sea. When the Romans tried to conquer the island in 52 BC, they named Paris by the sea, by a shortened name Lutetia, from the full Latin name, Lutetia Parisiorum ad mare.

Through the annals of history, the battle of Muddy Waters is one of the few defeats ever to be experienced by the invincible Roman army at the hands of Parisii people of Gallo. This event created and cemented a lasting legacy and mindset for the Parisii people, who desired independence and continued separation of the island from mainland Europe. The separation by the Parisii people was a conscious rejection of integration and belonging to the wider global community and world order, both in literal and metaphorical terms.

The failed invasion by the Romans has become an embraced legend of the island people of Gallo. How under the orders of expanding the Roman Empire; Emperor Claudius sent his undefeated army to invade the island of Gallo under the leadership of General Aulus Plautius. Sailing across the straits of Gallo is often treacherous, and before reaching land the ships became stuck in the muddy swamps before the shores of Gallo. The violent sea crossing alone had nearly defeated the Roman army. Then the tribes of the Parisii descended on the stranded Roman ships, launching a ferocious avalanche of fury with their spears, arrows and lighted fires. With their local knowledge of the fast-flowing tides, and intimate knowledge of the whereabouts of how to navigate the muddy swamps, they annihilated the Roman army, at the famous battle of Muddy Waters. Stuck in the mud; the notorious Roman army got swept off their feet, never to return to the island of Gallo. Forever, the island remains in history a fortress, as no other empire or power since has ever tried to invade or even consider an invasion, with the likes of Napolean and Hitler getting cold feet with the very thought.

Nonetheless the Roman Empire did have an influence in naming the Gallo island city, Paris by the sea, which gradually became known at first as Parisius, shortened from Latin word and then later Parisiacum, which eventually evolved into the modern name Paris by the sea in and around 12th century. The name Paris by the sea directly honors the original Celtic inhabitants, the Parisii, whose legacy remains embedded in the Gallo’s identity, which is both strictly non-conformist, and adheres to a strict policy of separation from not only mainland Europe, but the rest of the world. It maintains its separate island and country status with a unique and unchanged language and culture. Surrounded by the sea, this natural geography is the equivalent of a huge moat surrounding a castle in the minds of the inhabitants of this offshore island from mainland Europe.

For the Parisii people of the island of Gallo has always maintained a private - keep out policy to anyone coming to the island. They continued to make life for visitors very unpleasant.

For hundreds of years the few visitors that came to island must take off their shoes on entry and walk barefoot or in stocking feet whilst travelling on the island. The term walk of shame originates from all these visitors and foreigners wandering amongst the inhabitants of Gallo Island.

There are lines in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet taken from the fable of a visiting male foreigner falling in love with Gallo girl, where it is written about the power of love from a barefoot stranger to his local girl “Did my heart love till now? Footwear: I do seek it, but sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”

As true love always has its way. When visitors to the island both male and female did have close relationships with the Gallo people, which sometimes led to marriage or cohabitation. The visitors continued to go about their lives barefoot, trying to put their best foot forward, and attempting to stand on their own two feet, nonetheless it was challenging. Plus, if the sound of tiny feet was the result of their loving and joining together, the offspring were mandated to wear only one shoe or item of footwear, to identify them with a well-known term. When we refer to a person of mixed ethnic origins – we refer to that person as a half caste. Except, the real meaning of the term comes from sympathetic Gallo onlookers, who allowed the small children to wear a strong plaster cast on their bare foot. Instead of walking around and harming themselves by wearing just one stocking or shoe on one foot but having the discomfort of walking with the other barefoot.

There have been recent modifications to the Gallo law for visitors for the walk of shame, based on new hygiene considerations, as well as strict rules since the global COVID pandemic means that visitors to the island of Gallo are now allowed to purchase sanitized plastic sandals for both feet. Nevertheless, their own footwear is only returned when they leave the island.

Most visitors arriving at Paris by the sea, come to marvel at the huge, towering steel structure named "Bras d'honneur", or translated into English - Arm of Honour.

It is an engineering masterpiece, constructed and commissioned by the government of Gallo which has ruled for thousands of years with a policy of zero tolerance to visitors coming to Gallo Island. The famous Arm of Honour Tower is a worldwide symbol of Gallo culture, and represents the famous greeting, and farewell gesture to all visitors by all the inhabitants of the island.

The gesture that means "I don’t care" or "Get lost" is called "Bras d'honneur". This gesture involves bending an arm in an L-shape with the fist pointing upwards, and the other hand grips or slaps the biceps as the arm is raised vertically.

It is roughly equivalent to saying "fuck you" or "up yours" in English

Bras d’honneur Tower was built in honour of Gallo culture, together with the bent elbow and pumped fist emblem on the national flag. Both are symbols and conveys the clear message of Gallo island’s people, their need for complete isolation and separation, telling all others around the world “up yours” or worse.