An ok break but not the 'Capital of Love' (Paris)

Member Name: dagenham

Product:	Paris
Date:	15/06/09 (11 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice cakes

Disadvantages: Cold, wet, expensive

I visited Paris in December 08 for a weekend and must say that as a place, it is very over rated.

Me and my partner for the Euro Star train to Paris. Once you get to the station you must queue for a taxi at the side of the station. While we was waiting it was raining, so we got extremely wet. There is some cover but this is not long, as opposed to the queue which is. The average taxi price is around 12 Euros' but you constantly get people coming up to you asking if you want a taxi for 100 Euro plus and you will not have to queue. While in this queue we saw a group of tramps fighting. These tramps try to put everyone's bags in your taxi (yes the whole 10 centimetres) and then want paying for it. Things like this would never happen in most other countries.

The weather in December is horrible, absolutely freezing cold and raining. There was that much rain that the grass around the Eiffel Tower had become like a bog and it was very hard to walk in. The Eiffel Tower itself has lots of Africans walking round who pester you and try to sell you Eiffel Tower merchandise.

Although the food is supposed to be exquisite, we went to two big name restaurants and both were very expensive but the food was no better than what you would expect in an 'ok' restaurant in England.

We stayed in the Marriott River Gauge which was not a bad hotel. I would recommend it for the fact you have to travel into the centre of Paris by Metro and this was certainly an experience. While on the metro an accordion player walked up and down the carriage playing for the passengers and later a French man got on with a guitar and two amps, and sang in English. It was very unusual to get buskers on trains but it was delightful.

There are silly little things to like about the city, such as there are cake shops everywhere and I hav never tasted cakes like this in my life, they were amazing. There were some very nice boutiques in Paris also, but you would need a lot of money to really appreciate them.

I would recommend going on the sightseeing bus. It was very good value for money, everything is in English and they are very regular. The bus takes you to the main shopping street in Paris by the Champs Elyse and this in itself is an experience and very worth visiting.

Overall Paris is an ok but expensive break but in winter it certainly is not the 'capital of love'.

Summary: Go to Paris in summer and not winter.