To love Paris and to think ‘Paris syndrome’ is a myth?

[BarbaraVineFan]

Currently coming to the end of a marvellous short break in Paris. I’ve been here lots of times and also lived here for a while when I was a child. In all this time (but especially this most recent holiday) I haven’t found any evidence of any of the accusations levelled against Paris. It’s not dirty- in fact, it seems notably cleaner than the last time I was here in approx 2009) and it isn’t enormously expensive, especially compared to London. What’s more, it’s often said that Parisians are rude, but the people I have met and interacted with have been without exception polite and courteous. Am i missing something? I would honestly live here again in a heartbeat. Does anyone else agree?

I bloody love Paris and had a lovely time with DD when we last went a couple of years ago.

I agree OP - I love Paris - everyone has been friendly to me! I can speak French pretty well though so wasn’t shouting at people in English 🤦🏼‍♀️

Grittier areas are par for the course for big cities and it didn’t bother me. I was supposed to go for my 40th but it was peak Covid and I was gutted

@bostonchamps I'm a SW Londoners, where is the amazing pocket where only tourists are annoying? 😆

Completely agree. I love Paris.

I love Paris and never found the people rude but it probably helps that I can speak basic French

It's dirty and chaotic places, like any big city. But there's so much that's beautiful.
Rude Parisians are a myth IME; been a few times and find people professionally polite at worst, and at best warm, friendly, helpful.
I think it helps if you observe French slightly formal manners – be sure to say hello when you enter a shop, say thank you for every little interaction etc, use 'Madame' and 'Monsieur'.

Interestingly I noticed that the trend in Paris for the Olympics has been very much away from paved spaces, and towards “English-style” park planting. The area around the base of the Tour Eiffel looks light years away from what it looked like a couple of decades ago when it was a bare paved plaza - now it’s a garden. Lots of the parks which used to have just the traditional French gravel have now been replanted with grass and plants that are clearly influenced by Northern European sustainability trends - bee gardens, wildflowers and lots of verbena bonariensis. The angry French traffic has also been partly shoved out of the way for big Dutch-style bike lanes and pedestrianised areas.

The city also seems to have adopted very Anglophone fashion trends in food and culture - loads of adverts partly in English, menus full of Scottish beef artisanal burgers, bread and butter brioche puddings with English custard and and Heston Blumenthal style stuff, eg. earl grey tea mousses in everything. Plus a lot of Spanish and Italian style deconstructed tapas, feta and watermelon and burrata salads. It was markedly hard to get actual traditional French style bistro food because the trend in Paris seems to be very much away from that right now! Which is something of an odd experience if your reference point is Paris ten or twenty years ago!

I hadn’t realised what “Paris Syndrome” was in relation to Japanese tourists, so that was interesting to learn. I guess the closest analogue is the reaction lots of British and American tourists have to visiting India. I’ve known a fair number of friends, both from the U.K. and the US, who have booked a trip that they think is going to be like a Bollywood film; and upon landing in India have been so horrified and overwhelmed by the whole experience that they’ve got on a flight straight back home again.

I guess the closest analogue is the reaction lots of British and American tourists have to visiting India

Exactly! And it was mainly pre-internet as well, so much harder to research, no Google maps or online translation.

If you were a British or American person from a monocultural area, whose only experience of Indian culture was Mughal art and some of the fluffier period dramas about the Raj, your reaction to being suddenly thrust into the middle of Delhi's main bazaar (with jetlag, and nobody around who spoke English) would be probably pretty similar to Paris Syndrome.

I’ve never heard of Paris syndrome but I love Paris, it’s so beautiful and cool and so easy to navigate. I’ve been loads of times and never not loved it. My fave city by a mile.

Paris is heavenly. I won’t have a word said against it….

I didn't like Paris, sorry! I can't really put my finger on why, I just felt underwhelmed. There was a horrendous smell around the Eiffel Tower too.

There are some lovely towns near to Paris though and I didn't find anyone rude. The only place people have been rude to us is Italy but I still love it!

I'm not a capital city person really, I prefer non capital cities like Seville, Istanbul and Krakow. I do love Budapest and Rome though for nice capital cities.

I agree with what you’ve said OP - but my experience of Paris is limited.

One thing they really need to do is sort out the Gare du Nord, though. It’s grim, especially compared to St P International.

I don't like it, then I'm not a fan of French culture or big cities so the combination doesn't work for me. I'd much rather Bruges, Ghent, or one of the Nordic cities.

Yes - those cities are lovely and you can walk everywhere!

My daughter recently got a job in 'Shakespeare & Co. bookshop. I lived in Paris in my twenties, and have been visiting a lot lately. I thought exactly the same, ie: I would love to live here again ! `

Yes I agree. I absolutely love Paris . I have been numerous times, mostly with work and I am in love with the place. If I win the lottery I would buy a lovely apartment somewhere close to Le Marais .

I must have visited Paris perhaps 30 times in my life - yes, there are edgy parts, but on the whole it’s a great place to visit - I still haven’t run out of things to do there and I probably never will. I often think people’s hatred stems from a traumatic exchange visit in their youth :-) If you don’t like Paris then you probably won’t like London or Berlin either

Do not agree. Have spent 15 years going to Paris for work several times a year. Just got a new job and celebrated I never need to go again. Gare du Nord is a shit hole in comparison to arrival in London. The food is MEH at best and Parisians are rude. I hope to never see it again.

We are going next week. Can’t wait

Last time I went, I was shocked at the amount of dog shit everywhere. I’ve never heard of “Paris syndrome” and thought I was the only one who thinks it’s over-rated!

@FeetLikeFlippers You're not alone - so overrated.

We stayed in the Batignolles area, and I found it utterly wonderful. Not too expensive either.

I did my undegrad in Paris years ago and have been going back a lot. It is dirtier than London with exception for few streets but definitely cheaper, and is fabulous in its own way. I never found Parisians being rude but I speak the language. They just turned grumpiness and complaining into national sport :) and I can't stand that.

Paris syndrome ?

My son and DIL moved to Paris two weeks ago, and I was really impressed.

I went with DS in August to scout out apartments, and was really impressed with the suburbs. We looked at Issy, Meudun and Chaville. Everywhere we went was immaculate, and the people really friendly. The public transport (IDF) was really easy to use.

DH and I drove them out two weeks ago, and again we were really pleased. They didn't need our help on the Sunday, so we took the train into Paris and just wandered around (stopping frequently for refreshments the toilet), as the weather was not to be missed. It was great.

What I found with Parisiennes is that they are all extremely polite and you can get a long way by being polite too - smiles, bonjours, etc. For what we were doing, the French was easy, but if we stumbled, they were happy to step in with English.