But how does a tourist feel like in Paris? Tips and tricks anyone?
Long time ago a friend of mine said it’s better in life to not have such high expectation, because when you do, the disappointment can also be big. Therefore I had not so great expectations, but still there must be something great about Paris, otherwise why would all people be so “wow” about it?
Piece of advice: For those of you with no sense of sarcasm, I recommend to skip this one.
Leaving the fairy tales for magazines, here are the real facts:
It’s crazy expensive.
But that’s not news for anyone, most touristic places are crazy expensive. If you not coming from Switzerland, you will probably notice you need around 10 euros for a meal (I’m talking about the cheap falafel places, and with something to drink maybe, but you are better off with some take away).
Nightlife? I would stick to going to a bar, where you pay around 6 euros for a beer. But sure, you can spend 20 euros just to get into a club. And then 4 euros to leave your jacked at the wardrobe.
French people do not speak english.
Most tourists say they don’t want to, I would say half don’t want to, and the other half just refuses to learn it. And they are pretty arrogant about it too. But it’s manageable, if you are a polite person.
It’s full of homeless people.
Big cities attract even more people. Regardless of their condition, dreams or expectations. Paris is also a city that shelters an awfully big number of people without a home.
It’s stinky.
Well I guess it’s hard. Don’t be surprised when you will want to sit someplace like a park or near Seine and the fresh odour of pee will strike. Eiffel Tower is there, lovely gardens, small and cosy restaurants, and everything nice. But it’s an old city and it’s huge. There will be smells not so lovely.
People living in Paris don’t like tourists.
Because it gets so crowded by tourists, and because they stop in the middle of the street to check their map. And I would say because tourists are on holiday and french people, who actually live there, have to go to work. Fair enough.
The french population is a very diversified one.
People have called me racist. My observation was about the diversity of a multicultural city like Paris. I guess it’s something to do with history and french speaking country.
The Eiffel tower is overrated.
Yeah, it’s impressive, but it’s a tower and if you choose to go on top, you will get amazing photos of a city with no Eiffel tower. “Where is that?” will your friends ask. I don’t believe it’s a must, unless you have a goal to get on top of all the towers of the places/cities you visit. And I got a pretty good image of the tower sitting in front of it, and watching out of the crazy crowd chasing Pikachu around ( I visited Paris in THAT time)
Full of tourists and crowded.
It’s hard to take a good photo of you anywhere. But at least you can ask someone to take a photo of you. Good thing now we have cameras and smartphones with billions of megapixels and we can crop photos.
Most people don’t have patience.
I guess it’s from the over flood of tourists all the time. People rushing in the metro, and everywhere. Don’t stop in the middle of the way to check your map or phone, because someone will bump into you for sure. And get annoyed about it too.
It’s just huge.
It takes forever to get anywhere.The metro map is still a mystery. But there is hope for more, because they use a different colour for each one and they still have some available colours. And they also use numbers. But there are also other means of transport, like busses, or you can even rent a bike. Or Uber.
Most people I’ve met in Paris were not french.
In big cities it happens a lot. Most people moved there because they work or study there or they just loved it so much and decided to never leave it. There must be a reason for which it’s so popular, right?
These are just a few of the Paris travel tips I wanted to share. But in the end it does have some remarkable structures and I like the bohemian part of it. It’s a nice, overpopulated city, still a great destination for artistic people and art lovers.
I can’t disagree with many of your thoughts here but keep in mind, first impressions are just that. I first went t to Paris as a student on holiday from Switzerland where I was attending university and I was not a fan. A few years later I was working in marketing for Air France in New York and as a result spent quite a bit of time in Paris and the same over the years since. I truly love it and like any place I have my favorite places, hotels, restaurants, etc.
The other thing to keep in mind is that you can’t determine your thoughts on all of France based on Paris. It’s a different world so to speak when one goes to Normandy or south of France ( Provence, etc) and the same holds for everywhere I believe (don’t base Germany solely on Berlin or USA based on NY, etc)
However, glad you got to at least experience Paris 🙂
I totally agree with you that you can’t form a complete opinion about a country based on one visit to only one city. I would love to go back to France and see more of it. And I am sure I will have a different perspective after I will visit some smaller cities in France. Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
[…] Therefore I had many transport options. Low-cost airlines, buses, trains, bla bla car. Everything. My thoughts on Paris here (sarcasm […]