Impressions:
Things I Loved:
1. The flower shops , especially the outdoor ones - these are breathtakingly beautiful and fragrant. I couldn%26#39;t resist stopping at each one and just taking in the colors and trying to identify each one.
2. The food- everwhere we ate
3. The architecture- I can%26#39;t say enough about how beautiful the buildings are
4. The energy of the city
5. Seeing people walking their dogs everywhere
6. Seeing people ride bikes everywhere
7. Feeling safe to walk around at night and allow our teenagers to go about on their own
Things I Disliked:( only 2 but...)
1. Cigarette smoking everywhere! That was really a negative both because it stinks but also because of all the known health risks. I was surprised Paris is so far behind in prohibiting this in public places.
2. Having to watch out for dog poo on the sidewalks since no one uses a scoop. Really.
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Thanks for posting your likes/dislikes. Your list reminded me of our great trip earlier this month. Yeah, the dogs are quite wonderful and everywhere we went in Europe (not just Paris) their dogs seem so much more laid back and %26quot;quiet%26quot; than many of the dogs we see here in NYC! They also tend to be smaller.
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Bonsoir Oylmpiad: Your posting is very useful and wonderful(fantastique) to get, especially (7)%26quot;feeling safe to walk the streets at night....) Both of my two daughters have decided They want to travel to Paris with moi, and the youngest one loves to just venture out for say an item at thepharmacie, stay gone for hours and pop up, and although she is 34 yrs the idea of her doing so very far away from home in a foreign country was unsettling in so far as wndering how safe the streets are at night. I am a lover of markets and streets filled with the buzz of active people; and flowers are one of my many passions. so I am excited.
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Thank you. I could go on and on about my likes- but you have probably heard it all before. We really did feel safe though, after the first day or so of seeing women walking and riding their bicycles alone. And my kids loved the opportunity to be %26quot;independent%26quot;. On our first day we got separated from them in Notre Dame. They happily found their way back to the hotel after doing a bit of window shopping. None of us was really worried about any harm coming to them.
I forgot to mention that we were treated nicely every where we went by the French people. Since my husband and daughter barely speak (a little) French we were at a disadvantage often- but as soon as we said a few words %26quot;merci%26quot; %26quot;sil vous plait%26quot; etc we were fine.
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Olympiad:
I basically agree with you I%26#39;ve been to Paris twice and will be there again next month and onward to SPain.
But you know what? The plusses and minuses far outweigh one another.
And based on what you remark it is truely is a memorable place to see. Paris and France, while I don%26#39;t admit is the Best Place in the World-no place is.
It is indeed a remarkarkable place to see, be in and experience.
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Hi Olympiad,
Didnt you find many restaurants offering no smoking sections?....usually much larger than smoking areas...(though some do not).
If I have it correctly, you will be happy to hear that the French are outlawing smoking indoors as of April 1st.....in the whole country. Thats a pretty drastic one.....the whole country. Even we have not done that as yet though it seems to be happening state by state. Ireland did it last year and now France......
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Bea,
I can%26#39;t possibly imagine that you%26#39;re right about the ban on smoking in France. I can find no reference whatsoever to such a ruling and since I read Le Monde just about everyday, I%26#39;m sure I would have seen that as a headliner story.
Many French restaurants have non-smoking areas, but they%26#39;re not discreet areas and the smoke often bleeds over into the non-smoking area. There are about 3 dozen official non-smoking restaurants in Paris that subscribe to the city government%26#39;s new tobacco-free push.
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What???
No remarks about the Parisien graffiti?
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Ok Darth-- I will bite on this one.
The graffitti was pretty bad as we rode the train out of the main downtown area. It continued and got worse as we took the TGV to Bordeaux and on to Toulouse. My husband came here 20 years ago and he said there was no graffitti then. Pretty sad.
Le Poo Poo was our least favorite thing
Didn%26#39;t have issues with lots of smoke, found small non-smoking rooms at some restaurants. But the good seats were always in the smoking sections. My son is highly sensitive to smoke and didn%26#39;t have much trouble.
A non-smoking law in France?? Say it isn%26#39;t so! We don%26#39;t smoke, but I cannot imagine that law passing in France--I think that might be an urban legend coming to life.
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Graffiti is often used in Paris for burglars to communicate with one another. There is a complex system of symbols used to stake out an apartment, judge its contents, its owners habits, the building%26#39;s security level, etc. That%26#39;s one of the reasons there is such an effort to clean up the graffiti in the residential areas.
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same as truffaut, bea you must be the only person who has heard of that lol, all my friends are smoking, i am myself, truffaut read le monde, so well it would be a big news what you are writing here :) don%26#39;t know where you read that but that would interest me
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