What are the ups and downs of Paris?

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Lily

The ups: So much culture, plenty of sightseeing, great shopping and great food! The downs: They are just so damn rude!

Overall what a fantastic city! Enjoy!

europe

I went to paris this april and loved it. I heard the people were rude but found just the opposite. I stayed near the louvre and took the walk to the eiffel tower. Paris is sooo romantic and the people there dress well and are sophisticated and nice as anything. You must remember to speak as much frencha s u knoe. Remember to alwasys say merci an bonjour and u should have no problem.

Rockin' Mel S

Paris is very nice - a bit dirty. bathrooms are not that clean.

The people were not at all rude. And I found English was fairly widely spoken at least in the touristy areas. As an earlier post mentioned, try to speak French and be polite and you'll be fine.

We did all the usual touristy stops. Two of the more impressive stops that I was unaware of before our visit were St. Chappelle & Sacre Coeur. I would recomend both of those. They are not exactly unknown, there were lots of people at both but if you're not familiar with them you might want to google them or check your guide book to see if they would be of interest to you.

Paris at night is very pretty.

christophel08

I don't really agree with rillifane, the 18th district is a very popular quartier, but it is interesting to visit. Avoid Pigalle part (too much prostitution). BarbÃ©s is a very living part, with very few white people. Interesting but go there with few money and stuff that could be stolen.
Concerning the last part of your question you will not find countryside in Paris. The most beautiful forest in the area of paris is the Fontainebleau forest, in that town there is also a beautiful castle.
You can take train to that town in Gare de Lyon train station. There is one train every hour and it takes more or less 40 minutes.

Have a good trip

HÃ©lÃ¨ne

u should buy a magazine which is called pariscope, it's the program of what's happen at Paris. U can find this mag in the little shop which are on the street.
go to latin area also, nice to make party, try oberkamp also to move on the nignt, ans the gay area...

GirlinParis

NO !!! Paris is not a dirty City and we have cleaned bathrooms !!!!

many "parisiens et parisiennes" are very nice...even with american people... LOL ;-)))

If you want to discover "parisiens" in the real life, you can try to create you some friends in http://www.netinthecity.com/ site...and discover some expositions and clubs

catkittykitten

i've only been to paris the city, the city's pretty hectic and dirty. the people can be a bit snobbish and none can speak english so it's pretty hard to get around. but the clubs are great and if you want to go to the underground clubs it's better if you have a friend take you there.

Rillifane

There really isn't that big a gulf between tourist Paris and Paris of the locals, at least to the extent that the locals are people of the same social and educational class as the tourists.

There is a Paris that tourists rarely see but it is the Paris of the working class and the poor. Frankly, you don't really want to see that version of Paris which includes the dreary banlieues (suburbs) of high rise post war tenements that ring Paris and to which the less well off and non-white have been exiled.

lost in space

watch your wallet.they like to pick pocket

wires

Unless you know a local, the real Paris will be hard to find. All of Paris is pretty much a tourist trap and expensive. It's still fun to see. If you make an effort to be friendly and try to understand and speak French, the locals are willing to meet you half way. The Louvre is great, the Eiffel Tower is exciting, and history is everywhere. My wife and I ate lunch in a place that was built in the 1400's and nobody thought that was special. Of course the Roman ruins are around 2,000 years old. The castles are wonderful. You can see many with just a short car trip. We stayed in the small, colorful hotels, not the big franchise things.

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