Going To Paris Sunday

[ruprecht]

I hope you guys have a great week while I'm gone, it should be a nice break for you from my stupid threads. Try not to burn down the forum while I'm gone, though it looks like Urblock might have that accomplished by the time I leave.

Also, don't let me come back and find my Hot or Not thread buried on page two.

I won't let that happen. In fact we should be seeing a fitness chick here soon.

 

[Warden of the Northeast]

Thanks for all the recommendations and well wishes my boys.

 

[airtime143]

Everything! Versailles, multiple museums, the catacombs. The first day will be kind of lite with only the dinosaur museum and the Eiffel Tower planned.

One of my favorite pictures is one of me in the catacombs... 10 second exposure due to flash not being allowed down there. Cool as hell.

 

[airtime143]

No time for that, perhaps another time. This is the first time I'm going out of country so I'm devoting every second to Paris.

Maybe hawk comes across as an asswipe... but you dont get treated badly if you are polite.
Across the board, every time I have been there (i used to go every other year for 2 or 3 weeks) I have been treated well... even in early 2003 at the height of the "freedom fries" douchebaggery.

Every time I whipped out my english to french translation book and tried to order something or ask a question in french, I was answered in english.
If you give an attempt to speak their language, and not come across like an asshat, they will accomodate you in english.

 

[airtime143]

No time for that, perhaps another time. This is the first time I'm going out of country so I'm devoting every second to Paris.

Definitely do notre dame, and then hit the latin quarter.
In a day just by walking, you can hit Notre dame, walk over to the latin quarter (Saint michaels fountain area on your map, just to the southeast) and it is a great place to shop and eat and rest.
Then head over to the Cluny museum- medieval art in a really neat old gothic mansion built in the same vein as Notre dame itself.

Beyond that, taking the Metro to Gare de Lyon and walking back up to the bastille is pretty damn cool.

...As far as the catacombs, the cemetary where Jim Morrison was buried is right by one of the most popular stretches of the catacombs- worth a trip- it is loaded with names you would recognize.
Also, when in the catacombs, pay attention to the access points of the french resistance that terrorized the nazis- they used the catacombs to creep around and strike all over the city.

You can see world war 2 scars everywhere- Look around the upper windows of old buildings- you will see chips and bullet holes where snipers would pop their heads out, tak a shot, and duck back for cover... most buildings still bear the scars.

It is really easy to walk past a place without realizing what happened there in history- there are so many layers, you could miss an entire century of cool shit without ever noticing.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

Maybe hawk comes across as an asswipe... but you dont get treated badly if you are polite.
Across the board, every time I have been there (i used to go every other year for 2 or 3 weeks) I have been treated well... even in early 2003 at the height of the "freedom fries" douchebaggery.

Every time I whipped out my english to french translation book and tried to order something or ask a question in french, I was answered in english.
If you give an attempt to speak their language, and not come across like an asshat, they will accomodate you in english.

This very well could have been it. I went right after college and back packed through Europe and drank a lot of booze. Paris was really the only place where I felt like people didn't want me there. My two buddies and I walked into a Bar and we were just stared at and couldn't get any service. In another bar, I tried to say 'bonjour' to some ladies and they just laughed at my accent. Probably because I sounded like a hick from Iowa.

On the other hand, the people of Belgium and the Netherlands were much more welcoming. It's all about experiences and people have different encounters.

 

[The Hawk]

Stay away from the moving pup tents

 

[Gustavus Adolphus]

Punch a mime.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

You're going to see a lot of homeless people with animals, too.

 

[Tater]

Never been, but have a safe trip and post up some pics.

 

[BlackHawkPaul]

Does CCS go to war if ISIS kills Warden in Paris?

No, but Grimson sends his thoughts and prayers.

 

[Ares]

No, but Grimson sends his thoughts and prayers.

Do you like trains?

 

[theOHIOSTATE!]

Have a good trip.

I am going to be honest, France (Paris) is one of the worst deals in traveling....literally spent 4-5 days there, spent like 1800 bucks and had maybe 1-2 days worth of sightseeing and no fun. Everything is overpriced and the people are not that cool.

Just my observations....

Italy > France

 

[Warden of the Northeast]

Have a good trip.

I am going to be honest, France (Paris) is one of the worst deals in traveling....literally spent 4-5 days there, spent like 1800 bucks and had maybe 1-2 days worth of sightseeing and no fun. Everything is overpriced and the people are not that cool.

Just my observations....

Italy > France

You're much more well off than me I'm sure. Probably the most expensive dinner I'll have will be $40 and I'm staying in a hostel which saves big bucks.

 

[remydat]

I would say to try and make as many friends as you can. I pretty much Facebook friended just about everyone inhale any sort of decent conversation with and would keep in touch periodically.

Made my later trips to Europe a lot cheaper as a lot of times I would just tell them I'm coming back and they would offer up a place to crash.

The last time I was in Zurich for work i wanted to pop over to Geneva after my work trip was done. Let this girl I had met 2 years prior in France know because i saw she had movef ro Geneva. She pretty much offered up her whole place for me to crash as she said she could just stay by her boyfriend's. I took them out for dinner and drinks as a thank you and that was pretty much all I had to paybfoe room and board for 5 days.

 

[theOHIOSTATE!]

I would say to try and make as many friends as you can. I pretty much Facebook friended just about everyone inhale any sort of decent conversation with and would keep in touch periodically.

Made my later trips to Europe a lot cheaper as a lot of times I would just tell them I'm coming back and they would offer up a place to crash.

The last time I was in Zurich for work i wanted to pop over to Geneva after my work trip was done. Let this girl I had met 2 years prior in France know because i saw she had movef ro Geneva. She pretty much offered up her whole place for me to crash as she said she could just stay by her boyfriend's. I took them out for dinner and drinks as a thank you and that was pretty much all I had to paybfoe room and board for 5 days.

...and Remy is much more well off than me.

Switzerland is big ballin'.....

 

[remydat]

Nah was working on the audit of a Swiss multinational and so every summer the group audit team in Zurich would invite the Senior Managers and Partners of the component teams from around the world to a big planning session with the client in Zurich all expenses paid.

Our firm policy is all international travel had to be booked business class so pretty much got business class tickets and stayed at a 4 star hotel on the company dime. I just used to make sure I took vacation before and after the trip so pretty much just had to cover the vacation part.

Didn't hurt that this was after spending almost 3 years living in London so i had built up a network of friends in Europe to the point there wasn't a major city in Europe where I didn't have some sort of friend or acquaintance. When it was all said and done probably visited over 20 countries in Europe many of them multiple times over the course of 5 years.

Now within the last few years been hitting up Asia every Winter holiday as I'm all Europed out at this point.

Go back to France still because I have this friend that owns an art gallery there and he knows i go to Asia every year so he always asks me to visit a **** ton of art galleries particularly in Vietnam and take a bunch of photos of the art. There is a decent market for Vietnamese art in France due to it once being a colonial possession so anytime I end up buying shit for him he pretty much pays for me and any artist I find that he likes to come to France to work out a partnership. It's gotten a bit hairy at times because they don't like you taking photos of the art unless you buy so I always end up buying a fee cheaper pieces just to build the relationship and then they let me take photos of whatever the **** I want.

 

[RacerX]

Yeah I would say it's not like they are dicks. They are just indifferent to people they don't know. But if you make the effort they generally will meet you halfway and reciprocate.

I think English speakers just assume everyone knows English but imagine someone coming into you in America speaking German. For most of us we aren't going to bother with that person because they don't speak English.

I think they do indeed hate Americans, but in a subtle way. I think the more remote/rural you travel in that country the more redneck it becomes, similar to America, it becomes a bit more evident.

In Paris and the South of France I have always been treated well, because I was there either on business or at a resort for PTO. I noticed an appreciably lower appreciation in a couple towns in the Rhone Valley.

Great country, too good for rifle-droppers.

 

[RacerX]

Nah was working on the audit of a Swiss multinational and so every summer the group audit team in Zurich would invite the Senior Managers and Partners of the component teams from around the world to a big planning session with the client in Zurich all expenses paid.

Our firm policy is all international travel had to be booked business class so pretty much got business class tickets and stayed at a 4 star hotel on the company dime. I just used to make sure I took vacation before and after the trip so pretty much just had to cover the vacation part.

Didn't hurt that this was after spending almost 3 years living in London so i had built up a network of friends in Europe to the point there wasn't a major city in Europe where I didn't have some sort of friend or acquaintance. When it was all said and done probably visited over 20 countries in Europe many of them multiple times over the course of 5 years.

Now within the last few years been hitting up Asia every Winter holiday as I'm all Europed out at this point.

Go back to France still because I have this friend that owns an art gallery there and he knows i go to Asia every year so he always asks me to visit a **** ton of art galleries particularly in Vietnam and take a bunch of photos of the art. There is a decent market for Vietnamese art in France due to it once being a colonial possession so anytime I end up buying shit for him he pretty much pays for me and any artist I find that he likes to come to France to work out a partnership. It's gotten a bit hairy at times because they don't like you taking photos of the art unless you buy so I always end up buying a fee cheaper pieces just to build the relationship and then they let me take photos of whatever the **** I want.

Which firm are you at? I worked at kpmg consulting for 2 years for returning to CA for law school.

 

[remydat]

I've been outside of Paris and all around the country side as well and didn't get that at all plus I'm a person of color to boot. But again I think it boils down to language. The more you get out of the city the less likely you are to have people that speak English so the French you encounter don't hate Americans. They are weary of anyone that doesn't speak French.

I never felt it because most of my experience in the French country side was me traveling with my girlfriend when I was living in London. She was French Portuguese working in a French hotel in London. We'd go to France for the weekend like twice a month.

It would probably be different if I wasn't with her but don't think it's isolated to Americans is my point. It's an issue with foreigners in general particularly if they don't speak French.