I can't undestand all the hatred for Paris on MN

[2026IsMyYear]

Just that really - i just don't recognise the Paris that people post about on here!

I have been many many times & spent a month there not too long ago

I adore it & would happily consider living there.

So much to see & do, so much history & beauty

I am obsessed with modernism & early 20th century literary history. There are amazing museums, galleries & libraries. Love the flea markets & clothes & shoe shops.

Great food & wine!

I've never found it smelly (certainly no worse than major UK cities) & i have never felt intimidated or been followed etc

I am now in my 50s & a v seasoned savvy traveller & I've been visiting Paris since i was 20.

I adore it but often feel like an outlier here!

No, no one. Just this woman in Paris apparently.

I'm polite but if they want my custom then they need to be pleasant back. It is they who miss out if I take my trade elsewhere, which is what I meant by my inequality of vendors/buyers.
But I'm done; nobody on here has convinced me that I ought to return to Paris any time soon.

Same as london then

From where? I paid about €14 from cdg

Don’t think anyone is trying to convince you.

Tbh, I thought it was considered polite and the standard in most cultures to greet the shop owner when you enter their business. You may be a customer, but you’re still
coming into and onto their property.

Well one day in Jonzac the station worker at the station deliberately told us wrong info so we missed our train to Bordeaux. Long time to wait for another one. Was with my mum and she was furious! So rudeness anywhere and e everywhere ime. Thank god wasn’t on our return journey to the airport.

Les vacs

🤣

Nothing against Paris itself...

But my God, I wish they'd invest in upgrading the Gare du Nord. It's a horrible entry to the city.. I feel really proud of St Pancras International in comparison!

Is it a Gallic two-fingers to UK visitors, I wonder? 😂

@Thechaseison71 gare du Nord !
Four of us and 4 small small suitcases.

Yep this is true.

Had wonderful visits to Paris in the past. There are around one million things to do.
We hadn’t been for years when DH randomly decides we should go there for a long weekend for his birthday last September. I read lots of negative things on MN and presumed it had changed significantly for the worse…

…not a bit of it! It was bloody marvellous. There were amazing things we just happened to perchance upon on our long weekend, including: Monmartre Cemetery (good alternative to Pere Lachaise if you can’t be bothered with the trip out there) and the bonkers Stravinsky Fountains.

Why on earth didn't you get get an Uber? About €15

Or the RER train to St Michel?

For that to happen it seems as though you didn't research your route beforehand so a sitting target to be ripped off

Kind of astonishing that people think norms of politeness that are an extremely well established part of any social or business exchange in France shouldn’t apply to them. (And somehow makes the French people observing those customs rude)

It’s considered extremely rude not to greet a French person before entering into any conversation.

Just because it’s not rude in the UK doesn’t make it any less true.

If you are visiting and don’t take the trouble to find out what polite behaviour looks like, you can’t really get cross if people don’t treat you in the way that you consider polite. This isn’t just about France, but anywhere!

I daresay Paris will cope ;-)

I've never known a country that expects tourists in it's capital to speak the local language." Really? england 🤣🤣

I didn't think people in Paris were rude, even when I accidentally spoke Spanish when buying a hot chocolate, because we go to Spain a lot so my head was in 'holiday language' mode.

The gare du nord is dire! Was speaking to my mum as she’s off to place near Carcassone soon and hates flying. She said one of the main reasons not to use the GDN was it was dire and the taxi from it to the other station (terminal?) was hard to walk and very expensive. How can this be possible? I only really fly or go elsewhere in France so can’t comment.

I think its a backlash to all the fawning about all things French. The constant banging on about how slim, beautiful and effortlessly chic the women are, the so superior culture, what they eat, when they eat it, how well socialised their children are, it all sets a very high bar, so when people visit they expect something more and are disappointed.

I cringed at that comment, too! How dare people in France not automatically speak English! 😂

I imagine that poster actually got treated and spoken to like crap (as they claimed) because they were an entitled twonk, rather than because they were English.

Au contraire- multiculturalism has given Paris a massive cultural shot in the arm.

Perhaps stick to Torquay?

The kindness person I ever met in France was a Parisian Traffic Warden! ETA....probably the kindness person ever anywhere really because she did something she didnt have to do at no cost or benefit to her that could, thinking about it, have got her into trouble if her superiors found out.

I asked her, in my slightly iffy French, whether I needed to pay to park as I was struggling to understand the signage on the meter. It was clear you didnt always have to pay but the caveats were really confusing. She asked how long I was going to be and I said about 10 minutes as I was nipping into the supermarket. I had the kids with me. So she said "Its ok, just go" and she stood guard the whole time so I didnt get ticketed! I loved that woman, couldnt thank her enough!

I could well imagine a warden in Britain waiting until I had left and then ticketing me anyway if the power mad inadequate who patrols my local car park is anything to go by (NATWALT, yes I know!)

We found the Gare de Nord fine. Off the train, clear signage to the taxi rank which (as previously mentioned) was a reasonable price - couldn’t have been much easier. On our return, we were dropped at the main entrance, and there were clear signs to Eurostar entry. Though it probably helped that DH had got a deal on an upgrade so we had a nice lounge with free drinks and snacks to wait in once we were through the border checks (which were easier than if we’d been flying).

I agree.

As I said above, I dont like Paris because ..... I dont. I am not a city person, and I find a lot of it had a very "unsafe" feel about it, in a way I have never felt in the touristy bits of London (which I also dont like). But the infrastructure, the people, officialdom were all fine. No more expensive than any other capital city and in many respects, easier to navigate.

I did notice though that there is a particular antipathy towards English and American people who make no attempt at all to speak French which I can completely understand. I was forgiven for my ropey French because it was clear I was trying, I was understandable ish and I apologised a lot! The woman in front of me in a takeaway was basically looked at blankly when she pointed at a picture and held up four fingers, she got angry and left empty handed. I was dying of contact embarrassment and made a point of saying that we are not all like that when it was my turn! Got something in my bag I didnt order or pay for, but whether that was coincidence or kindness I will never know, but I like to think it was kindness!