Before: Parisians are rude.
After: They’re not.
Before: Paris is dirty.
After: It’s not that dirty.
Before: Paris is over-rated.
After: It’s not.
Before: The French are arrogant and hate speaking English.
After: Not true.
Before: Paris is expensive.
After: …
Ok… yes, it is VERY expensive. Got me on that one. That’s my only complaint of Paris – its damn expensive. More so than London. I’m not going to talk about 5 euros for each can of coca-cola on the Champs de Elysee, because you know what, you can get it for 1.5 euros elsewhere (WOW! HOW CHEAP! –_-) In the cafes, the cheapest espresso taken sitting down costs about 1.50 euros (cheaper at the bar, but that’s really for speed, no seats at all). The cheapest street food, crepes with nutella in them, costs 3 euros. A hamburger costs 1 euro. A ride on the metro costs 1.60 euros or 1.16 euros if you buy a carnet of ten tickets. Restaurant food is 15 euros and above for a meal at lunch-time.
But other than the price, I like Paris. I really do.
Chronological order of what happened in the past 4 days, briefly:
13 Apr: Arrived in Paris, met Thierry, went for dinner with his classmates and a drink in a pub afterwards
14 Apr: Promenade Plantee (deserves a whole post on its own; very good urban renewal initiative). Strolled along River Seine. Very beautiful. Notre Dame (just another church, but with 10x more tourists). Saw the Louvre from the outside – its HUGE, I mean, I knew it was going to be large, but nothing prepared me for the scale of it. Jardin des Tuileries – well-maintained and beautiful garden, flowers in bloom, people resting on deck chairs facing the fountain, I joined them for a while and just sat there listening to music.
Champs de Elysee. One of the most famous streets in the world. Looks a lot like Orchard Road actually. Not as exclusive as I thought, it most certainly pales in comparison to Ginza in Tokyo on the ‘unaffordability’ and poshness level. Arc de Triomphe.
Impression of Paris: Beautiful. Very, very large city, and I made the mistake of trying to tackle it all on foot. It feels like the entire city is filled with huge landmarks, some of which I can’t pinpoint. Stately-looking palace-like buildings and such.
15 Apr: Eiffel Tower. Ugh, its not as good as expected. Nowhere near breathtaking. And the park behind it is quite crap as well. Walked to the front of it, crossed the river and sat down on the bench relaxing, listening to music and trying my best to like it. I love Paris, but the Eiffel Tower is looking pretty ugly at this point in time…
16 Apr: The other half of Promenade Plantee. As I said, beautiful, and I’ll need another post to cover it all. At the end of Promenade Plantee, couldn’t find the metro station, but a friendly born-and-raised-in-Paris old man brought me all the way to the station. French people are friendly after all!
Parc de Bercy. Paris is ridiculously beautiful. How did the French perfect the art of making good parks and planning cities so well? This is just a small park, usually off the tourist track, but its tranquil, quiet and gorgeous. Groups of young Parisians (comprising different races, I was heartened to see) sitting on the grass, talking, eating. Couples kissing and rolling over each other.
Opera station. All the huge brands for shopping, like H&M, Zara, blah blah. Galeries Lafayette, a famous department store, is very, very opulent. Like the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney – a very classy shopping centre. Nice view from the terrace on the top floor. Somehow walked towards Gare Saint-Lazare, one of the train stations in Paris, and shops became cheaper, streets more bustling. Enterprising young people selling bouquets of fresh, lovely flowers to passers-by.
Spent long time walking to Eiffel Tower. Saw nice church along the way. Yeah, many churches so far, but this one was quite beautiful, though I know I’ll probably forget it in a few days’ time. Sunset by the River Seine, with orange sky and Eiffel Tower in background, river and willows in foreground. Stunning. I love Paris. And the Eiffel Tower is just breathtaking at sunset. Took many, many photos of the same thing.
Sat down with good view of Eiffel Tower, ate a crepe from street stand and braved the cold. Eiffel Tower is positively glowing at night, shimmering with brilliance… Left only when the sky got almost completely dark at 9:30pm.
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Well, Paris is immensely beautiful. I love the parks, the River Seine, the architecture, the stylishly-dressed people, the dense network of metro trains (with buskers hopping on and off), the gorgeous weather, and did I mention the parks… they’re just superb…
Some people come to Paris and never leave. I understand that perfectly now.
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