lauren_s_kahn

I have been to the sewers several times but not the catacombs. Most of the time, when in Paris, I am in Paris with people who have never been before and end up doing all the same things first time tourists do. It is much more pleasant to avoid all of that and just do some less visited sites.

I have no idea what I will do for the rest of today having finished with the blog up date--which can take 1-2 hours a day. The blog began as advice for home exchangers because I answered the same questions over and over again and got tired of doing that. Then it went on to memorializing my trips and I acquired quite a following--which was very surprising to me, but fun.

The photos will get put up evenutally. I am always behind on photos which wait for the end of trips when I have a more powerful computer.

And the name "AlteCocker"? I translate it on the blog as "OldFart" but it is actually a bit "worse" than that--sort of VielleMerde if you know what that means in French.

Thanks for the positive comments. The literary critics need to move on--thank you. They always read and then feel compelled to make the same comments every time. Boring. I am not going to change my style of writing no matter how many times, nukesafe and others, you express your utter disdain. Again, DO NOT READ MY REPORTS if my writing style is so offensive. Have a nice day.

pariswat

Well
VieilleMerde, it seems you didn't acknowledged that Nuke made a point of apoligizing and expressing that his intention was not to hurt anybody.

Ps : I preferred OldDog, a Cocker being the first dog we had in the family. But if you prefer being called VielleMerde, your call.

Again, don't forget you are on a public forum. Allow us to not like your style. There are so many blogs to read from, I'm sure I can find other ones.

I didn't find your writing offensive, just boring.
Imho. And it is not for me 'every time' - it is my first time.
And that's why I don't write trip reports. I don't want to bore people with my TR, but if I were to write, I'd have to suffer critics, both positive and negative.

pariswat

Ps
I wouldn't have made any comment had you refrained from attacking Nukesafe, whom I consider a real gentleman.
And would love to meet somewhere sometime.

You want us bad critics to move on when we don't like your style ? just do the same when someone doesn't please you.

Have a good day all.

LancasterLad

I love what Altecocker writes.
It's off-beat, quirky, includes a lot of stuff that other people might be embarrassed to include, sometimes very funny.
I wasn't keen on the 3rd person stuff to begin with, but why the need to be a sheep?
I'd love to be a fly-on-the-wall.
I think she's more Old Ma Clampett than Vielle Merde...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwzaxUF0k18

More please!

northie

Enjoyed your report. We absolutely loved Musee Branly for its architecture, displays, garden and cafe

lauren_s_kahn

I had a snack in the Cafe Branly. Yes, it is a very nice museum but few Americans get here in a typical stay because they are focussed on doing what the guidebooks say they should--and what their friends have done. If you have the opportunity to return several times, you get off that track but few do.

Busy updating the blog at the local Starbucks. It has become part of the routine.

lauren_s_kahn

Just a remark on why I set up my own blog. If you see a lot of the negative reports here (as well as one false apology), that is one reason why I refuse to place my trip reports directly on fodors.

Also, on my blog they remain to assist others long after they would disappear on fodors. Many of those making the negative remarks about my name, style of posting, etc., do so every time faithfully reading everything I write, but with a compulsion to say something negative.

When I view some of these totally ridiculous negative comments, I think of what my mother used to say, "If you have nothing nice to say, then you should say nothing." It is evident that not all mothers gave the same advice and, if they did, some of you did not heed the advice. And, yes, there are a lot of sheeple in here. One starts up and their "friends" just have to join in--just like children do in kindergarten.

There are places for comments on my blog but, if someone starts up, they just get deleted. So, do not expect any of my trip reports to be placed on fodors where I do not have as much control.

I think I am going to do a historic walk focussed on Moliere this afternoon, but, then, I could change my mind. After all, it's a holiday and there is no schedule.

Happy travels to all of you.

Coquelicot

Everyone is entitled to write a trip report in their own style. I like variety. I have liked lots of trip reports on Fodors, have loved a few, and always start reading any trip report with great anticipation.

Lauren_s_kahn, I've read all of your adventures and am following along on this one. I know it will be fun to read about.

kerouac

According to the statistics, the <i>Musée du Quai Branly</i> is the only national museum in Paris where locals outnumber foreign visitors.

kerouac

Oh, and regarding sushi, it is the #1 delivery item in Paris -- but only in Paris because obviously it is pizza in the rest of France.

PuddinHead

So OP says <b>"If you have nothing nice to say, then you should say nothing."</b> This is hysterical, way funnier than anything on her blog.

Read the blog, and you'll see that this is a woman who thrives on complaining and whining. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

In the few days that she's been in Paris this trip, she's griped and moaned about the following:

- The baggage claim system at CDG, which OP says is slow and badly designed

- Acoustiguide tours in museums. The one at the Picasso museum is an exception; however, the speaker is not a native Anglophone and puts accents on the wrong syllables.

- Her physical problems. She had "severe indigestion" and didn't sleep well, and had "the usual problems with her aging back" (one of 4 references to back problems).

- OP went to a very nice restaurant. She complained about the bus ride ("The only problem with this is we get to see some of the "local color"--the transvestites who haunt the road sides looking for clients"), the price of wine, and those Americans who don't meet OP's standards ("It is a sad fact that many Americans really should not eat at this sort of restaurant.")

- One of her cousins who inconvenienced OP by passing away and one of her tenants who inconvenienced OP by having an apartment problem, just as OP was getting ready to travel.

It's not that OP's blog isn't entertaining. It is, in a perverse, unintentionally funny way. OP's blog is condescending, and a terrific 1-st person view from one of those nasty, self-important old ladies who can't really imagine doing things any way other than her way.

Well bully for the OP and her blog. But she really ought to figure out that if she is entitled to complain about just about everything, then other people are indeed entitled to complain about her. And thanks for the good laugh, OP, about following your mother's advice.

kerouac

That is an excessively negative way to describe what she has written, which I found mostly entertaining and only a little annoying, but I really can't find fault with PuddinHead's last paragraph.

manouche

This is not award-winning literature, for crying out loud. It's a friggin' blog!!! You want something from Dickens, go read "Great Expectations" - jeez, but this is a hard audience...

Belinda

Many years ago this poster was harshly critical of a review my then teenage daughter wrote on another website. She suggested she go back and rewrite it for a higher "grade" from her. I think she can/should be open to criticism of her own writing.

crefloors

OMG, some things never change. This OP has been around a long time and for some reason, there generally is "conflict" eventually on most everything she posts.

However, I enjoy reading anything I can get my eyes on about Paris, so it's fine.

Micheline

Looking forward to reading more Lauren.

DebitNM

In our home, the Yiddish use of Alte Cocker usually meant a "self appointed know it all".

And the translation was old $hitter.

elizzie4000

Yes, the OP has been around for years and years.

I remember her back when AOL had a Travel Forum. I really don't have the proper choice of words to say just how so much of what she posted was negative. And outright attacks on other people and picking apart what people posted about their trips to Paris. Often very judgmental and condescending.

crefloors is right. Just about all her posts ended up with some kind of conflict with fellow posters when she would challenge them about their TR's or knowledge or about anything they would have to say about Paris.

And she posted some really personal stuff about some fellow posters that she had met in person. She was even banned at one point if I recall correctly.

<<"If you have nothing nice to say, then you should say nothing.">>

Indeed. And even more ironic.

PuddinHead said
<<Well bully for the OP and her blog. But she really ought to figure out that if she is entitled to complain about just about everything, then other people are indeed entitled to complain about her. And thanks for the good laugh, OP, about following your mother's advice.>>

I haven't read any of her blogs. Didn't know she was 'back.' But, if what PH wrote is true, then I agree.

330east

Hey, Cocker. Talk about irony. A simple post about a trip to Paris and a huge thread about 3rd person, 1st person, 1st person plural etc etc. Why "irony'? Bec. this takes me back to the old AOL travel board, which you, Alte C. might remember. Personal attacks, insults, name calling, one-upsmanship, and on and on. Se ya.

crefloors

It's a fun read lauren and I like the personal fun stuff. I wrote three trip reports, but not here because I didn't want to put up with some of the poo poo. I wrote them some years ago on TTG when it was first going. LoveItaly was even popping in over there at the time. People liked them so it was fun to do.

I like a personal report because anyone can say "we went to the Louve, was the Mona Lisa, ate a sandwich, sat in the park" etc. Yea, so OK. I like the personal experiences. I'm also enjoying Kovsie thread.

I glanced at lauren's blog tonight and I didn't read word for word, no time right now, but I didn't see a lot of complaints except the back and I can relate because my right hip hurts like hell when I am on my feet for a long time and my right thigh goes numb. Feeling returns when I sit down for a few minutes, so I'll be complaining about that when I get to Paris next year.

I am just enjoying reading trip reports again, haven't been to the Europe board much the last couple of years.