I've read a decent amount of negative stories surrounding vacationing in Paris. The relentless pick-pocketers, aggressive gypsies, tourist scams, and this story were all the major ones that I've read about. To be quite frank, I had really low expectations coming to Paris. On my first day, I realized how much of a tourist city Paris is. I've never seen so many tourists anywhere else before; I recalled seeing about 6 Chinese tourist groups as well as enough selfie sticks to rebuild another Eiffel tower in about an hour of being in Paris. However, my first impressions of the city was actually really positive because the architecture in Paris was beautiful.
Paris is a sprawling mass of buildings. Quite picturesque when seeing the city from an overlook.
Public transportation is a bit of a confusing nightmare if you don't know any French. But I was grateful of how extensive it was, allowing me to hit every single top tourist attraction with minimal walking. The museums and tourist attractions were amazing. The Louvre museum was massive and I gave up after 5 hours not because I ran out of things to see but because I got too tired. The other attractions were just as beautiful, such as the majestic Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame, Basilica, etc. The only thing that slightly irritated me was the mass amounts of tourists for each destination (it was not fun waiting an hour in the rain for museums). I was supposed to visit Versailles but due to a combination of being closed on Tuesdays and terrible rainy weather, I wasn't able to make it.
The infamous Louvre pyramid. There were about 10 trillion tourists and way too many Chinese international tourists taking wedding photos here.
Walking the streets of Paris, it was fascinating seeing so many Chinese people; they were either French-Chinese, mainland Chinese tourists, or weird Chinese-whatever hybrids like me. I don't know if it's just me, but it was incredibly fascinating seeing the French-Chinese population exist in Paris. There were a ton of Chinese restaurants/shops and lots of things written in English, French, and Chinese. That was really unexpected. I was particularly interested in how growing up in France was like for them, but sadly I never got the chance to meet any.
When they said how small the Mona Lisa is, they were not joking. Shit's a tiny painting.
Countless TV shows, books, and articles have all exclaimed that the best food in Europe and possibly the best food in the world is French food. Sadly, in my short time there, I wasn't able to rightfully try true French cuisine. Due to monetary and time constraints, I ate most of my meals very cheaply (food from supermarkets) and conveniently (cheap hostel food). If it means anything, the cheap food that I had in Paris was very good. I promised myself that the next time I come to Paris, I'm going to set aside a big budget just to go out to eat authentic French cuisine.
Wow look at all the happy couples. Kind of ironic that some of the locks are combination locks right?
One massive thing I would like to note is that drivers in Paris are a bit insane. I've been to China. I've seen the chaos of the roads and how aggressive drivers can be. I never thought I'd see that same mentality in a western European country. Due to the combination of small streets, pedestrians, roundabouts (roundabouts are amazing for cars but complete shit for pedestrians), cyclists (both motorcycles and bicycles), sketchy people, and a confusing traffic light system, walking the streets of Paris is a bit frightening. Getting from point A to point B requires 110% concentration or you're either gonna get mugged, hit by a car, or even worse, lost.
Generic Eiffel tower photo.
I'm glad I came to Paris to see what the entire fuss was about. Paris feels like a city designed for tourism. I did go to a CouchSurf meet up to talk and hang out with the locals, but that wasn't really enough time to get to know them well. Just exploring the city during the day, I would consistently see restaurants and gift shops on every or every other street I passed by. I guess if you were traveling in a group or with your family, that this would be kind of nice to see as there'd always be something to do. As a solo traveler trying to get a real feel of the city though, this kind of made me a bit sad. I don't think Paris would be a city I would revisit if I planned another trip to Europe. The big touristy city type isn't for me.