First, a disclaimer.The City in itself is wonderful. Not as mythical and picturesque as many suggest, but definitely up there with the most beautiful cities of the world.
But it doesn’t matter if it’s heaven on earth. Throw Parisians in there and you might as well be in the mounds of hell.
Filling the city with Parisians is quite evidently a sick practical joke God played on the world. Letting the natives loose in Paris is akin to letting a drunken beer bellied topless Englishman loose in an idyllic Mediterranean village.
Quite frankly, they ruin the aesthetics of the place.
For such a beautiful city, aggression should be hard to find. But on the contrary. It’s on every corner.
Let’s start with the metros. You need to be as flexible as a ballet dancer to avoid tripping on a homeless person or the umpteenth dog coming down the stairs. The stations stink of urine and aggression. I’ve been on countless metro rides where fights have broken out. There’s no consistency or time or place discrimination in the fights either. Totally random.
You need to be ready to defend yourself and fight for everything in your daily life. Be prepared to pounce and let out your claws at any moment. I was once admonished for holding a few pennies on the metro. “You shouldn’t be showing your wealth off” is what a total stranger snapped at me.
People are curt and defensive whenever you ask them anything. They walk around with an eternal meteorite sized chip on their shoulder, moaning about everything and satisfied at nothing. For a people that insist on calling strangers the polite “vous” instead of “tu”, they sure know how to make it very clear (politely) that your very existence is pissing them off.
The lack of multi culturalism in Paris also bewilders. You never hear any foreign languages that emanate from anyone apart from tourists. For such a supposed international city, the fact it’s so insular is quite ridiculous.
And God help you if you don’t speak French. I’m lucky I do so I never had any problems. But a lot of my fellow students in college were routinely ignored or made to feel like total social lepers for speaking English. The food in restaurants may be good (when it arrives). But try ordering it in English. It’s worth it just to hear the sighs and sneers of the waiter.
And it’s not like the waiters spare the French from their rudeness. I was once in a restaurant where a perfectly dressed native, who was sick of waiting for his food, told the waitress he was better off eating at home. She told him to go home then. The man huffed and puffed and got up waving his arms in the air.
The manager came out. He asked what the problem was. The man answered “I’ve been waiting for 30m for my food and your waitress told me to go home.” The manager, there to calm the situation, promptly replied “She’s right. Go home”.
No wonder Americans are in utter bewilderment when they visit. Coming from a country where they’re so nice in shops you feel guilty if you aren’t in Greece sized debt when you leave, it must be a huge culture shock for them.
But that’s Paris. A beautiful and historic city ruined by the sheer bad tempered and never ending unpleasantness of the people that inhabit it. Would top a great places on earth list- if it wasn’t for the offspring it’s hoisted on the world.
Ridiculous place.
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