Paris and its tower prove to be more than an Eiffel... (Paris)

Member Name: Sugar Matty O

Product:	Paris
Date:	12/08/01 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Arc de Triomphe & Eiffel Tower are still worth a visit

Disadvantages: Generally dirty areas carrying an unnerving threat - people make sure they know they're lookin at you, Inflated prices for basic needs - spose thats tourism for ya, Paris in name but without the grand associations

Recently I was extremely fortunate to visit Paris on a long weekend - being that I'm still a fledging when travelling abroad I thought this break would be a good excuse to dust off the old GCSE in French and mingle with some beautiful people. People may think - in fact, me included beforehand, that because of its landmarks and reputation, the streets of Paris are paved with gold and plushness and chic come as standard. This however was certainly not the case and in truth I found regions of the area as welcoming as a good old visit to sunny Southend (before anyone complains, that's where I reside).

Having negotiated the brilliantly efficient SNCF and Metro systems to reach our port of call Porte D'Italie, the conceptions of high-living quickly vanished upon arrival. Now while every place has its good and bad areas, Porte D'Italie in places was doing a very good impersonation of some rundown ghetto that breeds trouble. Far removed from the splendourous bars and restaurants, I had trouble finding anywhere half-decent to get a meal as the majority of places seemed to be very resort-orientated, offering your basic 'foreign' food at a price that wasn't too kind on the wallet. The streets were filled with rubbish and grafitti and possessed a strange sense of animosity - maybe this was me being a foreigner but I couldn't help feel that this was a hostile environment. A very unglamourous feel to the area had me scratching my head wondering if we were still in the same place.

To go with the general malaise of this particular area came an abundance of beggars and homeless people. I have never come across anything like this. I mean I've seen beggars but never have I seen them come onto the train, give a big speech to everyone explaining their plight and then going round the carraige with their begging bowl before jumping off at the next stop. Even those propping up street corners casually had their hands held out. Again, eve
ry country and region has such problems but I would never have imagined it to be on such a blatant scale, particularly with women lining subways and trying to use their children as a sympathy vote for a hand out.

Finally, the areas surrounding the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees. While each are particularly impressive structurally and visually, I smarted at being stung for a tenner for two halves of Cola on one of the many average restaurants on the Elysees strip. While the row of stores and shops in extensive there isn't really anything to get too excited about. Particularly grotesque was visitor fascination with the underpass where Princess Diana perished, acting as if it was a celebrated monument in its own right. With inflated food and merchandise prices from your basic 'scran vans' also in attendance, it's no wonder the French stay away from their own monuments. Charles de Gaulles airport sums up the area in its entirety by initially looking eye catching with its plethora of stairwells giving it a space-age look, but then giving way to corridors of rubbish-lined nothingness with very little to offer when there's time to kill.

I'd definitely like to return to Paris but am glad I made the trip initially for the way it opened my eyes to the realities of the region. Predictably the not so glamorous areas are overlooked but it still proved a culture shock most first-time visitors should be aware of...

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