au revoir Paris and 5 things I dislike about you
Location: Paris, France
No. of days: 3
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are my own, from my personal experience. If you disagree, please chill out and take it with a pinch of salt!
I know this could be controversial because I've had very different feedback from people about Paris depending where they come from. I got bullied by a French auntie while I was shopping in London years ago, and I have been scarred by the French ever since. Europeans, in general do not seem to think very much or well of Paris, and almost all British I spoke to told me "don't bother" about going to Paris or "you didn't miss much" not going to Paris. BUT, how can I NOT go when it's Paris right?
Asians, in general have a much more forgiving view of Paris, most love it for its "romantic-ness", and a few people I know even proposed on top of the Eiffel Tower. Maybe it will feel more romantic in autumn and winter, but certainly not in summer. So, what's my beef with Paris?
Before I go into the things I dislike and start sounding like a sad old sod, let me start with the things I do like.
1. French Patisserie
Giant macaroons!!!!
'Nuff said.
2. Condensed city, easy to navigate
Basically all the key tourist spots are along River Seine, so as long as you can tell which direction along the river you are walking along, you pretty much won't get lost.
3. Little sidewalks and cafes
The little cafe culture everywhere probably emerged from Paris, where every cafe is supposed to serve great coffee, has a nice porch for people watching or reading a book, and has yummy pastries. 3 days is very insufficient to fully explore the proper cafe culture given that there are tons of things to see and places to go, but at the recommendation of my French colleague, I went to this one...
Mariage Freres
Which I got very shocked when I walked in because the interior looks like this...
Looks familiar?
For those of you still scratching your heads, it looks suspiciously similar to a certain Singapore homegrown Tea shop that has branches in Takashimaya and MBS. I used to think highly of them, having done well as a local brand until I realised they pretty much copied everything from here. (don't want to name names and get into legal trouble!) Pretty sure it was the Singapore shop that did the copying because this shop has been around way before the Singapore one existed.
That aside, my French colleague recommended I came here for tea, but I ended up having lunch here and I'm happy! It's a bit light for lunch so if you're a big eater stick to tea!
I loved the green tea toast!
Ok now, for the dislike bit.
1. Beware of thieves!
People tell me I have a negative view of Paris because I got pickpocketed here. Didn't help that someone I know also got pickpocketed here too. The thieves here are so skillful chances are you pretty much wouldn't realise until it's too late. In my friend's case, her bag got slit and in my case there was no slit, and carrying a backpack with a metal hook buckle, it is still a mystery to me until now...
That aside, this is my number one because friend and I spotted a thieving looking person looking for his next target at the metro station ticketing counter. The good news is, if you are alert enough to tell that there are potential thieves around, you'd probably be more aware of yourself. The bad news is, what about those who don't look like thieves? That makes it double the problem!
Even the metro stations didn't make me feel safe as the tunnel walks transferring between the various metro lines were poorly maintained, smelly, dirty and dark. Lots of quiet and/or blind spots which means if you get into trouble in one of the blind spots, you're on your own.
2. This place is dirrrrrrty
One thing that got me really annoyed is how the smell of pee permeates almost everywhere in the streets. And I mean EVERYWHERE. This is probably not surprising given the lack of toilets in this city but still...
Let's not even go into the rubbish strewn everywhere on the streets.
3. Expensive
Amongst the list of EU countries I visited (between Spain, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy) I would go as far as to say Paris is the most expensive with regards to food and drink so far. Maybe its for good reason, given that the French seem to have a knack for making expensive things: Chanel, LV, Longchamp......
This is a very standard local breakfast set in a non-tourist area and costs EUR 7.5 or 7.95. (Two crossaints, one coffee and half an OJ)
4. The Queues
I moaned about this in Rome but at least there is a way to get around the queues in Rome - pay! But not in Paris. Money is not going to help you skip the queues at La Fayette, LV megastore, Laduree, etc. Not "normal" money anyway. And tourist spots like Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum. It reminds me of Hong Kong where it's almost impossible to get anything without queuing.
Special mention to the Louvre, where the Mona Lisa portrait resides.
Do bring a camera with 20x optical zoom to take a picture of the original Mona Lisa.
Of course, this isn't even a queue, but worse because there is no beginning and no end. :(
The Louvre from the outside
5. Discrimination
Clearly a large number of EU countries don't speak English as their first language but nowhere else have I come across bad service simply because I can't speak their local language. Now, a single traveller girlfriend of mine said she did not suffer any service abuse but my travel partner did, for all the times she has been to Paris (maybe 3 times in the past few years for work).
On multiple occasions while dining we received next to no attention and slow service while other French-speaking people walked in later than us and got served much faster than us. (Receiving menu, taking orders, delivering tap drinks like Coke.) I don't think we were being difficult because I'm not even referring to delivery of food knowing that that varies according to the complexity of the order but we suffered abuse for everything else in the whole process.
I was on the verge of going crazy until I witnessed ah tiongs getting French treatment because they spoke French. I don't even know what form of discrimination this is: too-bad-you-don't-speak-my-language ism?
So make sure you have lots of patience before you visit Paris.
Other notes...
1. Eiffel Tower
Now I am not a fan of paying obscene amounts of money to go up metal tourist traps for the view (Tokyo Tower, Singapore Flyer, London Eye - I've been to all of them but not been UP) because I figured you can always go up a tall building nearby and achieve the same effect. Not in Paris because there is nothing taller than Eiffel Tower within a radius of... many many kilometres? But that's not why you should go up because as a tourist you pretty much can't tell the difference between what's what from the top.
My reasons for recommending going up were:
- the building is curved inwards and so is the lift. I am in awe at the engineering of the lifts that goes along the insides of the bottom half.
- The lifts have ceiling to floor transparent doors. I stood at one of the corners of the lift and literally feel my legs going jelly because
I was wondering if this old cranky lift is going to breakdown in the middle and trapping me and the maybe 100 other tourists around me.I got a kick out of seeing Paris grow smaller and smaller beneath my feet as I went up the second top half.
And the view from the bottom is just as impressive:
2. Lock bridges
If you didn't watch the TVB drama Triumph in the skies 2 (衝上雲霄 2) you probably don't know what's the fuss about this one. At least it led me to an unconventional "tourist spot" in Paris, if anything. Basically a few bridges along River Seine got so saddled with locks that one of them was closed for a while recently as it semi-collapsed under the weight of the locks. Unfortunately I went to the "wrong bridge" - this is not the "official" one.
My friend didn't watch it so wasn't half as excited as I was to finally see it but she admitted it was a sight to see. Now who's this Alan Tay?
3. Fast cars
I might have succumbed to this if my driving license didn't get pickpocketed the day before:
Ferrari and Lambor for EUR 89, anyone?
But then again tourist scams are aplently and this may be one of them so it's probably a good thing I didn't get to do it.
4. Picture Perfect
Again at the recommendation of my French colleague who advised me that if you go behind the pyramid at Louvre, you should be able to see in a straight line Tullieries to Arc de Triomphe to Grande Arche. Another engineering feat. I didn't figure that one out but if you do please let me know.
This was what I got:
Can't even get to Arc de Triomphe
That's all folks, au revoir!
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