Perhaps you’ve never been to Rome, but if you have then you may recognize a few things while wandering around Paris. For one thing, the giant Arch du Triumph is a straight up copy of the one in Rome. For another, mostly all the statues and Cathedrals look like Italy too.
Maybe it’s just me, but if I am going to see something I want to see the original, not a knock off. A lot of Paris is just a knock off because tkhey brought stuff in so Parisians wouldn’t have to travel. So why not just visit Rome instead?
Well for one thing, people in Italy are jerks. Paris locals are the nicest people in the world and that includes the U.S. Even in Chicago, if someone doesn’t speak the language we say forget you and good luck. In Paris, they bite the bullet and give you a chance. Parisians smile and laugh and seem to be very relaxed. It really makes you wonder if they all get a lot of ulcers.
The food in Italy may win overall, but the bread is hands down the winner in Paris. Eat a croissant. Hell, eat 5. I did. They’re cheap and they do the job. Buy a baguette and naw at it for the day. You’ll see the locals do this as well. I saw a woman with five sticks of baguette on her way at 7:30am on a Saturday. They’re serious about bread in Paris, and you should be too.
A Croissant with Ham and Cheese!
Most of the touristy museums and attractions will drive you nuts while you wait in line. At 11am on a Saturday the line for the Catacombs was around the block and potentially over an hour wait. If you go to the Louvre, make sure you know what to go see, it has 35,000 works of art and would take 6 months of speed looking to see everything.
I think that you’ll enjoy Paris for about a day and then the high mark ups on foods and tickets will get you down. I say spend about two days there. You’ll see enough.
Happy Travels,
-KW
Kevin West's Europe Invasion 