Yes, and it's absolutely worth visiting for the history.
-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Interesting things about Paris from a first timer...
- Thread starter Durien
- Start date
We are heading out to the Loire Valley Wednesday.
Took this today. The only place I haven't seen graffiti.
MMaRsu
Member
We are heading out to the Loire Valley Wednesday.
Took this today. The only place I haven't seen graffiti.
Mont st Michel is very nice. Went there last year. Make sure you climb to the top!
I'm starting to understand why europeans don't all have A/CWe are heading out to the Loire Valley Wednesday.
Took this today. The only place I haven't seen graffiti.
Miyazaki’s Slave
Gold Member
I have to go to Paris to give a presentation in December...dreading it actually.
The Goddamn Mike
Member
We did a wine-region-focused trip about 4-5 years ago. Started in Paris and ended there before flying back to The States. Bourgogne, Loire, Provence...hit some cities: Dijon, Lyon, etc., outside of the main regions we visited. I don't do "tours," so I rented a car and drove myself and my wife for the entire bit. The traffic circle around The Arc de Triumph is the craziest, jungle-law, pray-for-a-quick-death driving I have ever done...and I've driven through Jamaica. Apple maps also sent us - in the ridiculous rental E-Class we had been given (you do not want a big car in these cities) - down back-alley steps meant for pedestrians. I passed crates of empty milk bottles (or whatever) on stoops and imagined myself being in Ronin as I yelled at my wife for the piss-poor navigation (not her fault) and pondered as to whether or not we were getting out of whatever corridor we had wedged the car into...as the vehicle bumped along down staircases. Fun stuff.
I had my wallet stolen during the second Paris stint. It was found by, of all people, Joachim Noah's father...who apparently is really big deal in the tennis world (French Open winner) - I didn't know this until after-the-fact, but met him at his apartment in Paris when he handed me my wallet (there is more to this crazy story, but I won't waste your time). Long story short: he found it in a gutter after "the gypsy kids" had stolen it.
Long story short: Paris sucks, but France is awesome. They tell you the French want you to immerse yourself in their culture and speak their language. This is not true in Paris. I spent a month with Rosetta Stone before traveling to speak some passable, simple French. In Paris? "Uhg (said aloud). English?"
Everything/everywhere else in the country is fantastic. Great restaurants, great wine, great people. Just not in Paris. So, my advice is: spend as much time not in the city as you can.
I had my wallet stolen during the second Paris stint. It was found by, of all people, Joachim Noah's father...who apparently is really big deal in the tennis world (French Open winner) - I didn't know this until after-the-fact, but met him at his apartment in Paris when he handed me my wallet (there is more to this crazy story, but I won't waste your time). Long story short: he found it in a gutter after "the gypsy kids" had stolen it.
Long story short: Paris sucks, but France is awesome. They tell you the French want you to immerse yourself in their culture and speak their language. This is not true in Paris. I spent a month with Rosetta Stone before traveling to speak some passable, simple French. In Paris? "Uhg (said aloud). English?"
Everything/everywhere else in the country is fantastic. Great restaurants, great wine, great people. Just not in Paris. So, my advice is: spend as much time not in the city as you can.
Paasei
Member
Not sure about Philly, but definitely true about Paris and (most of) France.
Dude, this had me laughing out loud literally. So far I have been in that circle twice and each time I start laughing. All I can think of is the Trains, Planes, and Automobiles scene where rhey are driving between the 2 semis and Steve Martin looks over at John Candy who is dressed like the devil and is laughing. I got the front seat in the taxi and I was like faaaaaaaaaa
I love the fish and chips here and the croque monsieur. The pastries are also awesome.
The funniest interactions have been with me defaulting to Japanese. I think it is because I have done soooo many trips to Japan that my brain is switching automatically to Japanese. My wife just looks at me and laughs.
ForAcademicPurposes
Gold Member
For us, France is a country that you have to drive through to get to Italy.
kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
If I have to choose between France and Italy as a vacation destination, Italy always wins. Lovely country.
HarryKS
Member
Will say this: It is absolutely better than you might think. If you look around enough. It's not just hype, it's the real deal. There is something for everyone or almost everyone there, the hardest part being finding it. So dense and varied.
Don't just visit the Chateau de Versailles, visit the town. You'll notice the difference in terms of cleanliness right away.
Don't just visit the Chateau de Versailles, visit the town. You'll notice the difference in terms of cleanliness right away.
vindafarna
Member
Thanks for the fun and interesting read, OP. I am curious to visit and experience Paris one day.
Today we are going to the Loire Valley to see the Chambord and Chenoceau Castles. Another wake at the crack of dawn tour.
We had dinner last night at 10:00pm and it was delicious. People were trying to come in at 11:00pm for dinner and they were turned away because the place was closing. I also had coffee ice cream yesterday that I wish we had back in the states. It had a much stronger flavor of coffee than the different brands I have tried in the states.
The amount of water we are going through is pretty insane. We went through 5 caraffs for breakfast (in addition to a double espresso). 2 full 1 1/2 litre thermoses, another (2) 2 litre bottles and (2) 1 litre caraffs at the restaurant at night. It's so hot and dry that I get cotton mouth if I am out for longer than an hour. Today is supposed to hit 35 I believe. When we go to Florida, sure we go through water. This is next level, more like Vegas.
People are super friendly. The train staff are a huge help. Lol they prefer for me to speak to them in English instead of taking twice as long in French. We try, they get their amusement, then we just speak in English. We had and awesome taxi driver who was cracking us up. Talking about soccer and stuff. We don't follow it so he was explaining all the world cup stuff to us and who will probably be in the final amd such.
We had dinner last night at 10:00pm and it was delicious. People were trying to come in at 11:00pm for dinner and they were turned away because the place was closing. I also had coffee ice cream yesterday that I wish we had back in the states. It had a much stronger flavor of coffee than the different brands I have tried in the states.
The amount of water we are going through is pretty insane. We went through 5 caraffs for breakfast (in addition to a double espresso). 2 full 1 1/2 litre thermoses, another (2) 2 litre bottles and (2) 1 litre caraffs at the restaurant at night. It's so hot and dry that I get cotton mouth if I am out for longer than an hour. Today is supposed to hit 35 I believe. When we go to Florida, sure we go through water. This is next level, more like Vegas.
People are super friendly. The train staff are a huge help. Lol they prefer for me to speak to them in English instead of taking twice as long in French. We try, they get their amusement, then we just speak in English. We had and awesome taxi driver who was cracking us up. Talking about soccer and stuff. We don't follow it so he was explaining all the world cup stuff to us and who will probably be in the final amd such.
p_xavier
Authorized Fister
From my favourite game series. Ys. Par-Ys name of the capital.We are heading out to the Loire Valley Wednesday.
Took this today. The only place I haven't seen graffiti.
Just enjoy what our ancestors built, it's crazy.
If I was too cryptic, Ys the game was built around this. Par-Is was where the Is people moved afterwards creating Paris.
Last edited:
you see shit like that, NO ONE questions that humans built it, and yet folks still wonder about other humans just stacking blocks to make a pyramid?We went out to the Loire Valley today.
That place is Chambord.
Château de Chambord & Domaine (Officiel) https://share.google/5c8cvKgXq3gBEqaL9
Château de Chambord & Domaine (Officiel) https://share.google/5c8cvKgXq3gBEqaL9
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
That's always what I've experienced. People from Paris are rude, but to be fair that is pretty much the case in any European capital.
The first time I went to Warszawa I was shocked at how rude the people were there compared to the rest of Poland. Just unreal.
The Goddamn Mike
Member
Loire valley is fantastic and has so many amazing places to visit. Check out Chinon, as well, if you get the opportunity. It's like very-mini-Minas Tirith, but French. We stayed at a small "chateau"/truffle farm to the north of the city. You have to adventure down the city's roads to get to the only grocery. This is where the car went down the steps. However, going up the steps (on foot) there is a plethora of shops/cafes/restaurants/tasting rooms, etc. It's like visiting another world.
We did a tour group for both the Loire Valley and Mont St Michel. I wouldn't do it again. We had no time to do anything other than look at what we went to see. I didn't want to drive and the train to some of these locations are out of the way ESPECIALLY st Michel
The other thing that is amazing is how fast the food comes out. Order, ready in like 5 minutes.
I also tried 2 French beers. Chambord and Old Darki. Chambord was a wheat beer and Old Darki was more of an amber ale. I liked the Old Darki better as I am more of a porter/stout person.
If any of you have a dark beer that you think they might have here let me know and I will give it a shot. I may go out tonight. France plays Morocco tonight at 10:00.
The other thing that is amazing is how fast the food comes out. Order, ready in like 5 minutes.
I also tried 2 French beers. Chambord and Old Darki. Chambord was a wheat beer and Old Darki was more of an amber ale. I liked the Old Darki better as I am more of a porter/stout person.
If any of you have a dark beer that you think they might have here let me know and I will give it a shot. I may go out tonight. France plays Morocco tonight at 10:00.
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
I like how the son of a bitch stopping greater went through all that effort only to have that first post cock block his ass
I remember being a piece of shit too
Speaking of the French thing I'm reminded of the words Lemew, wee wee, hush huuuh or what that phrase they use
The gay accent. Let us oray
I remember being a piece of shit too
Speaking of the French thing I'm reminded of the words Lemew, wee wee, hush huuuh or what that phrase they use
The gay accent. Let us oray
p_xavier
Authorized Fister
What pisses me off is you can see how much society loved itself by the beauty of its buildings. I mean we have 1M$ studios now.
We went up to the Sacre Couer Bassillica expecting the worst as youtube described this place as a haven of villains; people who force bracelets on you, 3 card monte everywhere, people with clipboard.
Now I understand this is a Wednesday afternoon but we saw none of this. No one got in our faces. It was f'ing busy but didn't see a lot of scams going on.
So far my biggest offense has been trying to use French. I give it the college try and they say, "oh I speak English". Super friendly to me especially while I'm butchering their language.
They have an app here for getting around the subway called Bonjour RATP. Holy crap man it has quickly tested my nerves. I am in the subway looking for line 12. I see an arrow for line 12 but the app is telling me to go outsode and go to another station 7 minutes away.
I go to the "help desk" who speaks no English and we get by as best we can. Sure enough, I didn't have to leave the place and go to this other station. When it works, it is great. When it doesn't, it causes all kinds of confusion.
Now I understand this is a Wednesday afternoon but we saw none of this. No one got in our faces. It was f'ing busy but didn't see a lot of scams going on.
So far my biggest offense has been trying to use French. I give it the college try and they say, "oh I speak English". Super friendly to me especially while I'm butchering their language.
They have an app here for getting around the subway called Bonjour RATP. Holy crap man it has quickly tested my nerves. I am in the subway looking for line 12. I see an arrow for line 12 but the app is telling me to go outsode and go to another station 7 minutes away.
So I just got back and some things I wanted to reflect on.
1) I thought the French and even European people are awesome and friendly. We actually talked to a young German couple who were awesome for quite a while just bs'ing. It was their first time to Paris. She asked if she could have some of our bread as we were finished and she was super hungry and waiting to order.
2) Food was good but I don't think mind blowing. Just me. The baked goods were really good. It was delivered super quick.
3) Architecture was awesome. (As expected)
4) Mona Lisa was overrated compared to the rest of the paintings in the Louvre in my opinion. There were some MINDBLOWING paintings there. The Winged Victory statue was awesome. I didn't spend as much time as we wanted to here because of our cancelled flight and needing to reschedule. The day we rescheduled to closed early because of the heat.
5) we did 2 tour groups. One to Loire Valley, one to Mont St Michel. Both did not give us enought time to see things. But given the location, renting a car would have been a much better way to get there and stay longer than public transportation.
6) We went to sacre couer and did not remotely see the bracelet or other scams. Actually we did not see a lot of the scams that were getting drummed up on YouTube. I was telling my wife, I am wondering if these videos were created by locals to try to keep the tourists away. However we went there on a Wednesday mid day I believe. As it was also as hot as hell, it made me wonder if the scammers thought their time was better spent elsewhere than baking in the sun.
7) more parks than I thought with actual greenery. If you have ever been to Japan, a lot of the public parks in neighborhoods are devoid of grass. These had grass and shade and the statues were kick ass.
8) The Lafayette Galleria is a mall for those who want to blow money on nonsense name brands. Lol $3500 for a purse wtf? Lol. I also didn't see places to by computers or electronics. Grocery shopping was interesting.
9) I brought 200 Euro with me (along with my bank cards) I didn't use my cards, and most of that 200 went towards bottled water. Seriously. Toward the end of the trip I started just buying 6 packs of water and putting them in our tiny fridge.
If you have any questions about anything let me know.
Would I go back for another vacation there? I don't think I would just because I kind of had no interest to go in the first place; my wife wanted to go and it was our 25th wedding anniversary.
1) I thought the French and even European people are awesome and friendly. We actually talked to a young German couple who were awesome for quite a while just bs'ing. It was their first time to Paris. She asked if she could have some of our bread as we were finished and she was super hungry and waiting to order.
2) Food was good but I don't think mind blowing. Just me. The baked goods were really good. It was delivered super quick.
3) Architecture was awesome. (As expected)
4) Mona Lisa was overrated compared to the rest of the paintings in the Louvre in my opinion. There were some MINDBLOWING paintings there. The Winged Victory statue was awesome. I didn't spend as much time as we wanted to here because of our cancelled flight and needing to reschedule. The day we rescheduled to closed early because of the heat.
5) we did 2 tour groups. One to Loire Valley, one to Mont St Michel. Both did not give us enought time to see things. But given the location, renting a car would have been a much better way to get there and stay longer than public transportation.
6) We went to sacre couer and did not remotely see the bracelet or other scams. Actually we did not see a lot of the scams that were getting drummed up on YouTube. I was telling my wife, I am wondering if these videos were created by locals to try to keep the tourists away. However we went there on a Wednesday mid day I believe. As it was also as hot as hell, it made me wonder if the scammers thought their time was better spent elsewhere than baking in the sun.
7) more parks than I thought with actual greenery. If you have ever been to Japan, a lot of the public parks in neighborhoods are devoid of grass. These had grass and shade and the statues were kick ass.
8) The Lafayette Galleria is a mall for those who want to blow money on nonsense name brands. Lol $3500 for a purse wtf? Lol. I also didn't see places to by computers or electronics. Grocery shopping was interesting.
9) I brought 200 Euro with me (along with my bank cards) I didn't use my cards, and most of that 200 went towards bottled water. Seriously. Toward the end of the trip I started just buying 6 packs of water and putting them in our tiny fridge.
If you have any questions about anything let me know.
Would I go back for another vacation there? I don't think I would just because I kind of had no interest to go in the first place; my wife wanted to go and it was our 25th wedding anniversary.
ForAcademicPurposes
Gold Member
Have you eaten a croissant?
I had a chocolate au pain but not just a plain croissant. My daughter ate a bunch of croissants. I just asked her what she thought and she said they were better than here as they were more buttery.
Last edited:
ForAcademicPurposes
Gold Member
Today was a good day.
The Louvre is full of amazing art, takes around 12 hours to see it properly. People crowd around the Mona Lisa because it's famous and they want to take selfies.
Leonardo's Virgin of the Rocks is in the hallway nearby and usually no one is looking at it.
