Paris, love it or loathe it (or something in between)

asp3

asp3

Senior Member
Location
Silicon Valley, CA
There have been various views of Paris shared in another thread. I thought I'd create a topic to share our views of Paris.

My overall reaction was meh. I've been to Paris once in mid April 2013. My wife was in London to install an art exhibit that was only up a week so it didn't make sense for her to come back home during the exhibit. I'm pretty sure she also had to fly to Venice after that to set up an exhibit there as well. Anyway I flew over to London for the opening of the exhibit and we decided to spend five days in Paris while the exhibition was going on.

Almost everyone I know loves Paris and thinks it's one of the most romantic, charming places around. For us it was disappointing overall.

On our first day into the center of the city on the metro we were struck by the amount of graffiti on the areas we were going through. Also the people on the metro and on the streets all seemed to have sour faces and brusque demeanors. I came up with a new word for the people of Paris, melandour because they seemed to be both melancholy and dour at the same time.

The city itself had some beautiful buildings, great art and interesting places. However the food wasn't as good as I expected it to be and it also tended to be rather expensive. My favorite things from the trip were the covered areas between the buildings that had little shops and the cool modern buildings around La Defense.

I think I'd consider going back again but I'd want to do so when the weather was better.

To top off our disappointing experience there my wife had her iPhone pick pocketed on the metro and had to spend a lot and jump through hoops to get another one.
 

We'll never have the money to travel, but Paris, was always a place I dreamed of visiting, but reading your post has allowed me to scratch it off my list of dream getaways.

You're so fortunate, Asp, in having been able to enjoy travelling like you have.
 
Like you Asp, I wasn’t enamoured by Paris. Parts were good/great, others definitely were not. It was only three days, so I know that’s not a fair trial. The food was not as expected, again great or mediocre. Travellers revenge after one meal. It hit when trying to find a public washroom the next day. The stories of rude Parisians definitely was accurate. I’d give Paris another chance, if the world ever settles down.
 

I forgot to mention our recurring question of the trip was "Where's the charm?"

I also forgot to say that we did run into more helpful and pleasant people while there than the stereotypical rude French citizen. We did run into one or two but that was about it. We also weren't chastised for seeing if people spoke English rather than having them endure my broken French.
 
I was there 40 years ago but our first day my friend had to fight off a bunch of street urchins who openly tried to take her purse.

Enjoyed the sites, saw the picture, climbed the church, visited the burlesque, strolled the river bank but did not cry when it was time to catch the train out. People rude even as they processed our Visa cards and bagged our purchases.

Loved the small towns in France where the people were friendly and you could usually walk to a hotel or B & B from the train station.

Was only ever back to Paris once and that was to change train lines. Taxied across town to a different station.

We
 
I spent quite a bit of time in Paris, back in the early '60's, when I was in the military. I enjoyed all the sites of that city....Eifel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Montmartre, etc. I spoke a few words of French, and had no problems getting along with the locals. Paris was one of my favorite places to go on a weekend.
 
Aunt Marg said:
We'll never have the money to travel, but Paris, was always a place I dreamed of visiting, but reading your post has allowed me to scratch it off my list of dream getaways.

You're so fortunate, Asp, in having been able to enjoy travelling like you have.
Click to expand...

I agree I do feel very privileged and fortunate to be able to experience a lot of the things in my life.
 
Since I was stationed in France with the A.F. in the mid 50s, I had occasion to visit Paris rather often. While the city itself was quite interesting, I did not like the Parisians for the most part. In areas such as Bordeaux, the Saar and Alsace regions those folks were terrific. I loved the left bank of Paris as it was full of artists of all stripes and just a fun place to visit and stay.
 
Regarding the food in various countries, what I have noticed with reasonable consistency in my travels is that the food you find in specialty restaurants in the US that feature food of other cultures, is that the food is not representative of the food you typically find in the countries being represented. What I mean is that the food being represented is "high end" food of that country, rather than the every day or commonplace restaurant food people in that country eat. In these US specialty restaurants, the chefs are putting their "best foot forward", which makes for an enjoyable, but often not truly representing, experience.

Tony
 
I'm somewhere in between. I took my two teenagers there in summer 2009. We rented a small flat in the 6th arr as our base. That was wonderful and made us feel at home. We spent 8 days there and saw most of the historical and touristy sites. We were approached by gypsies at Notre Dame but I was two steps ahead of them and waved them off. On our way to Champs Elysee to watch the Tour de France finale, my children were spat at by some bum as we walked past him :mad: Fortunately his aim wasn't good. Aside from those two events, we had a great time. I wasn't all that impressed by the food or attitudes either, but I didn't let that deter me.

Would love to revisit France to include some of the other areas, such as Normandy, the Loire valley, the French Riviera.
 
Hate Paris... can't stand the rudeness, the crime, the dirt, .. the extortionate prices... nothing enamours me, you'd have to pay me to go there again..we went quite recently by train to a suburb just outside Paris having not been to Paris for years... and things are so much worse than I'd even remembered them ...
 
Don M. said:
I spent quite a bit of time in Paris, back in the early '60's, when I was in the military. I enjoyed all the sites of that city....Eifel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Montmartre, etc. I spoke a few words of French, and had no problems getting along with the locals. Paris was one of my favorite places to go on a weekend.
Click to expand...
In the 60's it was a beautiful, enchanting romantic place... it's traded on that ever since.. and it hasn't been anything remotely like that for decades...
 
My first trip to Paris was a 3 day stay on my way back to the U.S. from parts farther east in the mid 60s. We were put up in a small hotel on Place Pigalle, which is a block down from this colorful establishment at Place Blanche. Never did go in there.

paris_moulinrouge.jpg


Aside from the fact that (1) many people in Paris at that time didn't like Americans, (2) I was out of money and (3) when the mousey hotel manager found out we were American, he threw us all out; Regardless, I had a good time seeing the city and taking pictures (like the one above). I suspect Paris today has numerous things in common with some of our seedier large cities (e.g., San Francisco, Chicago, etc.) No urge to go back. Been there, done that.

If, you want an entertaining ride through Paris, see the classic, short film/video by Claude LeLouche titled "C'était un rendez-vous" or Rendezvous. It's about a high-speed ride in a Ferrari ( actually filmed in a Mercedes with Ferrari sound track dubbed in) through the streets of Paris early in the morning to meet a date on the steps of the Sacre Coeur.

 

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