nwtraveler

I love this post. My friends often ask me why I love Paris so much. And I tell them the ambiance, the architecture, being able to walk into a shop and make a simple inquiry in French (and being understood) the croissants, the chocolate croissants, the almond croissants...Where was I? Oh yeah, the bread, the chocolate shops and the many flavors available, the pastry shops with so many choices I usually end up getting two things.

I love the food in general, but especially the easy availability of rabbit and duck. The same items occasionally appear on menus here, but are usually more expensive. The history is fascinating, the museums and the ease of getting around.

I have only been 4 times, but I made myself go some place different this year. I have two weeks planned for Italy in October, which I am really excited about, but I'm already planning my trip to Paris for next year.

LLindaC

who's the guy with his hand in his jacket?

oh my

tod

Reading all the replies to this brilliant thread I have to tell you all about this book I found at my bookstore last week - LA VIE PARISIENNE ( Looking for love and the perfect lingerie) by Janelle McCulloch.

It is simply wonderful! You will read descriptions of Paris that bring you to tears.

Paris, they say, is the city that changes least. After an absence of twenty or thirty years, one still recognises it.

TPAYT

I loved reading this thread, and will do so many times. Sometimes I feel reincarnated and that somewhere in the past I lived there. Why else could I feel so comfortable anywhere in the city.

After five trips, my favorite time was in an apartment on Ile St. Louis, getting bread and pastry at the bakery and walking up 67 steps to our home away from home.

The best times are the quiet times walking along the Seine, sitting in a beautiful park, or just sipping Cafe Creme at a cafe in the rain.

Let's hear more!!!

veeolette

I was just whining the other day about how much I NEED to see Paris...people just don't understand that NEED.

Where shall I start? Walking down the street, looking up and there's the Eiffel Tower off in the distance (I know I'm in Paris at that moment)...watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle...Fromage Moufffetard studded with raisins...Poulet Roti...duck or rabbit or lamb on any menu anytime...Chocolat Chaud avec un Mont Blanc at Angelina...walking from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe...sitting on the stairs at Sacre Coeur and watching the sunset...a pear tart...ice cream from Berthillon...walking for hours in any direction...concerts in La Sainte Chappelle...Monet...Au Pied de Cochon...moules...huitres...scallops with the roe still attached...speaking French...listening to French spoken...museums...parks...everything!

I need to feed my addiction soon.

slangevar

The international side (as pointed out to me by Fodorites such as Kerouac):

Cheap, incredible Lebanese food in the 5th

Falafel on Rue de Rosiers in the 3rd

Hearty mint tea at the Café de La Mosque in the 5th

Eating smashed coconuts at the festival of Ganesh in the Indian part of town.

whoknew

Sitting windowside in a cafe on a rainy evening, eating creme brulee and people watching.

Standing in a chocolate shop trying to choose a gift for my dad, with the shop owner asking all sorts of questions and then she chooses an assortment of chocolates, wraps it beautifully, and also gives my friend and I several samples. (My dad loved it and wouldn't even share.) All as if she had all the time in the world, even though there were other customers.

Walking along the Seine enjoying the fall colors.

The architecture.

The food.

The people.

bozama

Napoleon

travelgourmet

Baguettes. I've had much, much better meals in cities other than Paris, but I have never had a piece of bread better than a really good baguette.

socialworker

Especially when buttered with that wonderful French butter!

Venezia123

In just one word .
Everything!!!!

aliwallace

I don't know anywhere else in the world where I feel so comfortable walking into a very good restaurant and eating 'tout seul'. Dining alone in Paris, sometimes, just feels good and when I look around, I often spot other woman diners just there to enjoy the great food and a glass a wine at lunch, what a luxury!

Michel_Paris

You are all "my kind of people".

Paris, ahh Paris.

Where to start..here, with obvoious bias and rose coloured glasses, some ramblings...

I like walking in Paris, both the busy streets and the little side streets.

It may mean coming across small store in the 6th that only sells items related to Le Petit Prince, or that nondescript street in the 4th that surprises you when you look across and see what remains of an ancient noblemans's house is only the entranceway with large wooden doors and mantel..now incorporated into a "newer building".

The cobblestone alleyways of Village St Paul..wide enough for one horse and carriage, the walks along the Seine, looking at the bouquiniste's old magazines...the windows of the Grands Magasins with their xmas animations and the enthralled look of the children (old and young)...

The history. so much happened here and so many of the greats spent time....this is where Napoleon ruled and is buried, here where Louis XV1 was beheaded and over there thown in a ditch near Marie Antoinette , and where this plaque commemorates a soldier shot in 1944 liberating Paris...the Procope where Ben Franklin and Robespierre ate...sitting in the arene de Lutece and wondering what the Romans did here so long ago.

The attention to beauty and style. Where you buy flowers of chocolates and they box it up like a little jewel...or ask if it is to be a gift and spend extra time adding those little touches that are never seen at home.

The women (I had to say it!) Their style, seeing a sense of style in the young and old, how they "put themselves together" with their scarves and accessories, and of course the accents, gallic shrugs and "ooofs" that as a male I find attractive.

The architecture...from the minimal number of high-rises in the core and the elegance of the Haussman buildings, the incorporation of the old and the new, to walking in the 4th and seeing chunks of the old city walls..

The museums...the large, the small...the lilies of Monet at the Marmottan, the grandeur of the Louvre, the praying child sculpture by Camille Claudel at the Rodin...and the gargoyles of Notre Dame at the Cluny.


The overwhelming array of colours as the sun hits the windows at St Chapelle making you see the timeless beauty of the work.

The food, always an attraction. To go into a restaurant and feel that pride has been taken to prepare the meal,with interesting and fresh ingredients. I like that they have appelations for so many items, like poulet de Bresse..who knew that chickens from Bresse were special. The waiter leaves you alone, I don't know his name, and he is efficient.

I even like the street cleaners in their green vests...there is something nice about having people going around trying to keep things tidy (strange, I know)

I can go to a street market and the vendor will share recipes, and ask when I will be eating a certain vegetable, and picks them out based on my answer.The cheese shop where the owner will give you a story on the cheeses, how they should be served and stored..and a sample.

The chocolate shops, the patisseries...no need to say more about these.

The flower shops everywhere with magnificent colours...

The sheer beauty of Place des Vosges, the Luxembourg Gardens, Palais Royal...

But mostly, it is those things that cannot be put into words (although some of you have done quite well!) , what I'd call the atmosphere.

One small tradition I like is on one of the last nights of a visit, standing on a bridge between Ile de la Cite and the Right Bank... looking at the Eiffel Tower in the distance, following the arc of light from the bateaux mouches as they illuminate the shores and bridges, lovers strolling along the banks of the river, the red neon sign of the Right Bank cafe on the street along the Seine...and realizing that this comes quite close to a vision of perfection.

ripvanwnkl

We recently returned from our 40th wedding anniversay trip to Europe including one week of "April in Paris". It was my wife's first trip to Europe, and my first return to Paris in 50 years, after spending 3 years there as a teenage American military dependent. Just as beautiful as I remembered it from the '50's and the Metro as efficient and economical as it was then. And a lot of my French came back as we immersed ourselves in the culture.

Just like citrouille, the starter of this thread, we found Parisians exceptionally helpful and polite (with the exception of a couple of waiters). But hey, your Paris experience is not complete without a rude waiter encounter!

Some highlights: a 4 hour Paris tour on Segways (highly recommended!), an impromptu singalong with a Japanese bachelor party on the Metro, and a fractured French conversation about culture and life with the Spanish owner of a Parisian laundromat while waiting for our clothes to dry. Il fait bon vivre!

SuzieC

I could only repeat what was written above.

All I know is, that from the first moment I set foot in Paris, my heart sang "Ahhhh....I'm home."

Barbara_in_FL

I love the sky. Someone told me once that Paris had great clouds...on the days when it is one big gray cloud it's not as appealing, but there are times when the sky forms such a perfect backdrop to whatever you're looking at that it makes me wish I could paint.

The walking, anywhere and everywhere.

The unexpected encounters and random kindnesses (this is something I love about cities in general).

The springtime, when the marronniers (sp?) and other trees are in bloom. I remember walking through the little park at La Muette one year and having blossoms float down gently all around me like confetti.

The general availability of bread, and the fact that being a boulanger is still a profession by itself.

Sigh. I just made my first trip back in over ten years, and it was not enough. But I have a milestone birthday coming up in a couple of years, and my husband is on notice of what will be required...

TravelRibbon

Reading all of this makes me smile and tear up. I miss Paris so much.

I agree with all that has been said. One of the things that I love about Paris is how I feel when I'm there. I feel more alive. There is something about the city that energizes me in a way that I've not yet encountered when I'm at home. It could be that when I'm in Paris, I'm on vacation and being home is associated with work. Who knows?

One year I traveled from the south of France to Paris. As soon as I got off the train at the station, I felt as if a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders. I knew I was "home." I've never had that happen since that moment, but it was nice. I felt as if I could breathe easier and I did.

TR

mcnyc

Even when it rains, and the stores are closed, Paris' charms remain, if not heightened.

There's a ferris wheel in front of a grand museum.

The history.

The potential shopping opportunities.

Most everything listed above by other posters.

luveurop

This thread is making me Paris so very much.

I love everything about Paris, except maybe the taxi drivers, they scare me.

I love the food, the wine, the language, the gardens, the streets, the cafes, the museums, the shopping.

I love all the unexpected treasures and pleasures.

And the men.

I've been 10 times. I can't imagine going to Europe without going to Paris. That seems almost a crime!

johnnydread1

I've been to Paris on about ten vacations. It was our favorite city in Europe ... until we arrived in Berlin. More diverse, cleaner, easier access, Berlin is now our destination for vacations.