Lara Wanders Around Paris, France
I found this old post 12 years ago about my time in Paris. My memories of my time there are far more positive then they were at the time. The next time I go to Paris, I'll do the trip better prepared!
I found this old post 12 years ago about my time in Paris. My memories of my time there are far more positive than they were at the time. The next time I go to Paris, I'll do the trip better prepared!
I have been to Paris twice and didn't like it either time.
The first time was in high school on a school trip. We were there for two days on a whirlwind tour of Europe. We saw the Eiffel Tower, which was overcrowded and had the same view as any tall building. We had an hour to run through the Louvre, which would have been cooler had we had more time. We visited a perfume museum, and I bought my ultimate favorite perfume, Fragonard by Fragonard. We toured the nauseatingly gaudy Versailles.
We ate some French food that was drowned in some sort of sauce. My memories of the bread and cheese were good, though. In general, I had expected something more. The romantics and the movies made it seem like the place should glitter.
The second time I went to Paris, I went with my husband and one-year-old son. We lived in Paris for a month like locals. We shopped, attended church, and wandered around like the locals. We were able to celebrate our 8th anniversary at a café near the apartment we had rented for a month. The rest of the meals were bought at the local Monoprix, which still cost double our budget anywhere else. I also have to mention I was in the early stages of pregnancy, and it was horribly hot in Paris in August!
We went to most of the same places I visited in high school and quite a bit more. I did enjoy the cathedrals and the museums. We saw the Arc de Triomphe and parts of the various arrondissements. We even strolled down the fashionable Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, the Luxembourg Jardin, and the bridges over the Seine River. I still didn't really get what there was to jump up and down about.
In my opinion, you need to go to Paris to spend money and stay in nice hotels that have central air and heat. If you go with a tight wife-of-a-PhD-student budget, you won't be able to do much. The draw of Paris is the shopping. If you don't like shopping than you won't like Paris. They probably do have some of the best food in the world, but I wouldn't know. You get what you pay for. Paris is not in a hurry. People sit around and watch people. I didn't see people in high fashion, just wearing what they liked, like everyone else.
Don't get me wrong. Paris is not a horrible place, but it isn't on my top 50 to go back to. I just don't mesh with it.