A Trip to France - Paris

By Iuri Tarabanov

Paris is a marvelous city, simply wonderful and beautiful. It is called the Capital of the World, and this is true only because it is being visited by all the people from all the places of the world. Actually, the crowds on the streets consist i think mostly of the tourists that can be easily recognized by the thick cameras on their necks and amazed glances constantly thrown around.

The locals are quite calm though and I would say – not pretty fond of the tourists. Though I did not meet any hostility myself personally from the locals, but they say that it is quite easy to annoy a Frenchman from Paris just asking something like «Where can I find the Eiffel Tower here?». He would probably answer you in French, because the French people are even at the top of the impolite tourist rating when they travel themselves – they try to speak their native language even abroad in the hotels and on the streets.

The city itself is gorgeous, very proud of itself and this is earned. Almost every building has it's own history and is quite old. You won't see actually any skyscrapers in the central parts of the city except one lonely black tower near one of the railway stations and of course the Eiffel Tower. The locals are very proud of the old building and overall the old shape of the city. That is why even the construction of the Eiffel Tower in the 19th century has raised a great complaints of the locals because they thought that this «monster of metal» destroys the original shape of the historically rich city.

But the tower was built for some technological exhibition as the monstrous gate to it. And it remained, in spite of the protests. And with the course of time, the commercial effect of it's existence prevailed over the complaints and it got into the everyday life of the France. Even the real estate costs almost double price if you can see the tower from your windows.

The modern business skyscrapers are also part of the modern Paris life, but the business quarter is located a little bit aside, at the border of the city and is called «Defence». And these skyscrapers are really huge. I have never been in New York or any other city with traditional business parts full of skyscrapers, but I was really impressed, for the first time in my life I have seen such tall building in real and I think even the Empire State Building won't impress me much after those. There is also one strange building in the middle of the district in the shape of arc and you can get on the top of it with two elevators and the look from out there is just wonderful – especially in the night. I have taken a couple of outrageous pictures with a DSLR-Camera with one minute exposure.

Did you ever see how do they park their cars in Paris? I am not sure if they do it in the same way in other French cities, but that was really funny. There were 2 cars with quite a lot of space between them to park in. And a man with the VW Golf, which is a pretty short car, wanted to park in. You would say – it is a piece of cake, what is the problem? But it was even worse – he has driven the Golf between the cars backwards, pretty slowly, but absolutely without looking into the mirrors. Half a meter, 30 cm., 10 cm., bump! Only after he has bumped the car that stood in the back, he decided to switch to the first gear and put the car straight. But this should have also be done with the feeling... and sound! He has stopped moving forward only when he heard the bump with the front car. After that he released the gas and has let his car roll a couple of centimeters back, went out of the car and gone away, as if nothing happened. After that I have tried to find a single car without scratches on bumpers – I did not find a single one.

So, if you want to have some fun in Paris – welcome, but not with your own car.
Have fun in this wonderful world.

Iuri Tarabanov writes about interesting travel experiences. His Travel Deals site is http://www.travelime.com