opinion of a parisian (Paris)

Member Name: franck_

Product:	Paris
Date:	30/08/00 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful

Disadvantages: Hmm, too much tourists!

First, i want to apologize because my english is far from being perfect and because i have a strong french accent, you can imagine.

I did read your opinions and i noticed that we could highlight two main points: first, you like very much Paris; secondly, you dislike very much parisians. Those two points are ...hmm... understandable, because as a parisian, i can have both the same feeling, thinking sometimes that Paris is the most beautiful, funny and interesting place in the world, and sometimes thinking that Paris is the worst, most unfriendly and cold place in the world.
Well, if you want to do a really typical journey in Paris, try to go to La Défense (business quarter) at nine o'clock in the morning and you will meet the worst of Paris, people cold as Groenland stones and aggressive as Yorkshire dogs. I try to make you understand that parisians are not only cold against you: that's a true way of life! but it can depend on who you meet; who, where, when.

But i would like to talk about tourist too: first, i want to explain that british tourists make the effort, in Paris, in general, to ask questions in french, even if they don't speak french at all; that a way to show us respect, and really, it's great: hmm american tourists don't do that. I like very much british accent of british women, moreover (and the american accent is quite horrible!).
You have to know too that where us, poor froggies, are in Great Britain, you are not really models of kindness, and i feel something that could be xenophobia; so, you are not perfect too.

If you ask an indication to a french, if you begin a conversation, think that in France, we begin a conversation by saying "bonjour", "bonjour monsieur", "bonjour Madame", "bonjour Mademoiselle", it's really important! I know that american and british are not used to say "bonjour" to introduce theirself, but even if i know that, i'
;m first "shocked" when an american ask me something without this polite "bonjour". And if you don't speak french at all, begin your conversation by at least: "parlez-vous anglais?" (do you speak english). You will notice then that french people are not so rude that you think. We are just a bit strict about politeness.

Well, what to do in Paris? that's not quite easy, because generally speaking, tourist are here for a few day, less than one week. And you have to do "les incontournables", which are the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame (while i'm thinking about it, sorry for the poor musical "Notre Dame De Paris"!), les champs-élysées, the Seine river in boat (that we can call the promène-couillons, but i won't translate it!), Montmartre, le Louvre...
About the Tower Eiffel: if you want to climb it up, take care, you will loose half a day! That's a choice, and the sight is incredible. You have the best view of Eiffel tower from Trocadero square (where Navy museum and Mankind museum are).
About Notre Dame: you are OBLIGED to see Notre Dame; but you are OBLIGED too to take your hat off inside and to be silent. Tourists always forget that Notre Dame is a church...
About Montmartre: one of the "village" of Paris, and one of the most important place of art in the world, but there is many, many, many tourists... See the vineyard (which give a bad wine!), le sacré-coeur and La place du Tertre, a square where a lot of painters are.
About Le Louvre: try to arrive at nine o'clock in the morning if you don't want to wait a lot, and choose what you really want to see, because you need about two months to see entirely Le Louvre: i advice you babylonian and egyptian collections.

What to do apart "les incontournables"?
Orsay museum is according to me the most beautiful museum of Paris, in an incredible place (a former station): you will see 19th century wor
ks, so a lot of Van gogh, Monet, Manet, .... You MUST see that.
Rodin museum, Beaubourg, le palais de tokyo are really interesting museums too.

But the best thing you have to do is to walk, to lose yourself in Paris streets: there is just a quarter you have to avoid, the 19ème arrondissement (North East), apart La Villette. Excepted this quarter, go where you want.

Some metro stations are really beautiful : Cité (line 4, île de la cité), Concorde (line 7, rights of Man and Citizen are written on the walls), Bastille (line 1, some pictures record us Revolution, and you have a beautiful sight on Canal Saint-Martin and Colonne de juillet), Saint-Germain-des-prés (line 4, in this intellectual quarter, this station is dedicated to litterature), Arts et Métiers (line 10, this station looks like the catain Nemo submarine. Really!), Tuileries (line 1, dedicated to the century),....

Where to walk?
In Le Marais, between Rivoli street and Bastille circus (Station Saint-Paul, line one), you will see the old Paris. Go to Les Vosges Square (one the most beautiful square in the world) and visit Victor Hugo house.
I like very much to walk along the Seine: on the right bank, you have the bouquinistes (book seller), and that's a pleasure to find a book here.
Stop to Saint-Germain-des-prés Station, go slowly in the streets, go to the beautiful Saint-Sulpice Square, then take the Napoleon street until Luxembourg gardens (Proust and Gide wrote about those gardens). That's the 6eme arrondissement, one of my favourite place in Paris.

Well, what to do else?
You can go to theater. Yes, really! It will cost you 50 francs (5 pounds), and you can have a ticket esaily, cos there are a lot of theaters in Paris.
You can eat too, and very well for 100 francs. At each corner of street, there is a good restaurant.
And you can meet the (nice!) parisian people, the evening, around the bars and cafés of Bastille and those ones of
Oberkampf street (Parmentier Station, line 3).

I expect i help you a bit. If you need some informations, just e-mail me.

Some statistics to conclude:
Paris is the most touristic town of the world: 36 millions of tourists in a year, for a 2 millions people-city (10 with the suburbs); each tourist spend an average of 2.5 days: not too much to discover such a city with its people.

Summary: