- it smells
- it's covered in graffiti
- it's knee deep in litter
- the Parisians make a special effort to be more rude than anyone has to be
- but only if you can find any that aren't on strike.
Five visits had only served to reinforce the points.
So it is fair to say I stepped aboard the Eurostar with low expectations as K and I headed off for a quick visit last month. I still had the Time Out Guide from my last visit, and read the introductory paragrpah, which concluded by introducing the then new Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe. He had just taken over with a promise of action to make Paris a "greener, cleaner" city. Fat chance I thought.
How wrong I was. After a charming weekend in Paris, I can report I am cured on all counts of Paris Syndrome. There is no litter, and consequently less of an odour. There is some graffiti on the outsides of some trains and on the walls on the run into the Gare de Nord, but little elsewhere. There wasn't a strike! And the Parisians were actually calm, cheerful and polite. The place was just a lot more chilled out than I ever remembered it. The city is also full of people whizzing around on bikes, which you can hire from points all over the city for a €uro. It was all trés plaisant.
So in the last year I am cured of Prague Syndrome and Paris Sydnrome... Who knows, I may yet learn to love Barcelona.
I used those bikes when I was in Frankfurt. You sign up with your bank account. Then you call them when you find a bike you want, they give you the release code and off you go! I rode along the side of the river - they have wonderful grass banks which people sit on and a wide bike trail. It was wonderful. And so it should be cos I sure as hell couldn't find anything else that was vaguely interesting in Frankfurt.
ReplyDeleteI heard on the news that some of the bikes in Paris were being stolen, but then again the news editors love to emphasize the negative.
I adore Paris. Perhaps because I studied French and it symbolized so many authors and artists for me - kind of like London did when I first got there, before it just became home.
I love the old hotels where marble stairs are so worn that the slope, I love the fact that an elevator is called l'Ascenseur because they believed you should only use it to go up and walk your lazy ass if you are going down.
I love La Defense - that amazing building at the centre and how you can look all the way down the Champs Elysees. The shopping part of the Champs Elysees is vile - full of tourists and the abomination of Americana.
However it's a short trip on a lovely subway - so much more relaxed than the tube in London - to the Prieux St Germain, the delights of which David introduced me to.
I remember arriving in Paris late at night and it being no issue at all to get dinner at a nice restaurant. How the people next to us giggled at our trying our best to order in French - they DO hate the English but if you start by trying to speak broken French, you see their attitude change at once.
I love having crepes with Nutella on the street.
I love how dogs are allowed in restaurants.
I love how lunch should take three hours.
I love how you walk around and cross over the Seine on a bridge and look to find a scene so utterly beautiful. It may be because I come from the colonies and not from Europe, but I find it all so beautiful.
If you want to see a completely different side to Paris, rent the movie La Haine.
Love you, kiddo.
xxx