PalenQ

I've heard it over and over from friends and others who have just gone to Paris once and say yeh it was great but it was dirty - dirtier than other European cities they visited..

To me Paris may not be the most spic-and-span city in Europe but it is no worse than any. I just cannot understand why folks from the U S or especially Asians I tutor find Paris dirty.

Maybe a few decades ago I would have thought that with the doggie doo but the Caninettes and Vespachiennes seem to have taken care of that!

Now these all are for the most part one-time European travelers but the sentiment seems very common.

Do you find Paris any more dirty than other European cities?

azzure

I find Paris to be dirtier than London but cleaner than Rome. London, especially the tourist parts, is quite spic-and-span. Rome has more litter and definitely more graffiti. Paris is about as clean as NYC (which is a lot cleaner than it used to be).

PalenQ

And BTW I am and they are not talking about dirty air - a plague due to geography I understand - inversion caused by hills on each side.

LCBoniti

Certainly no dirtier than any large city in the US.

I did feel that in Germany they must roll the streets up at night and send them to the street laundry. I almost felt I could eat off them.

ira

>Why Do So Many Folks Think Paris Is Dirty?

Because they live in places like Whitefish, MT?

Michael

Part of a recent report by a Parisian on her travels in the west:

Des routes magnifiques, des camions immenses et beaux comme des jouets, comme flambant neufs tellement ils sont entretenus...Mais comment font-ils donc pour les garder dans cet état?...des agglomérations immenses sans mégots par terre....saleté que j'ai retrouvée à Paris [my emphasis] dès mon arrivée...

kerouac

Frankly, the dirtiest big city that I have seen in Western Europe is Amsterdam.

adrienne

Pal - dirty in what way? Trash in the streets? I think it's the American and Asian tourists throwing around their street food wrappers.

I never see trash on the streets but perhaps I avoid the "dirty" parts as I don't go to the Louvre or Eiffel Tower. I do see the street cleaners coming along all the time, cleaning the streets.

Graffiti is not dirt; it's urban art. It may not appeal to some but it's clean.

More specifics please about this alleged dirt.

You have to see the trash around my upscale suburban neighborhood. Thank goodness for my neighbor who walks the streets daily, picking up bags full of trash.

PalenQ

Well actually I dismiss them and have never probed exactly what they think and why - maybe clochards everywhere?

StCirq

Must be those filthy, ugly locks.

Michael, was the writer referring to the western USA? DC is a lot dirtier in general than Paris, IMO. We certainly have streets full of cigarette butts.

Michael

was the writer referring to the western USA?

yes. LA, SF and LV which she otherwise did not like.

spaarne

Why Do So Many Folks Think Paris Is Dirty?
Posted by: PalenQ on Apr 8, 14 at 4:03pm
I've heard it over and over from friends and others who have just gone to Paris once and say yeh it was great but it was dirty - dirtier than other European cities they visited..

Yup, dog pee at every lamp post. They generally curb the dog for a poop but never clean it up. I stepped in a pile on my last visit.

PalenQ

Well yes there are also pee stains from clochards and others causing the ashphalt to turn black where the streams have gone and I still see older men relieving themselves on lamp posts - maybe that is part of it - smells at places of urine.

adrienne

>

Clochards are not dirt! Besides, Paris has very upscale clochards. In the 6th they sleep on mattresses! The duvet is optional.

Ask questions next time someone complains. Get the entire story for us and get GPS quadrants so I avoid all this dirt!

I tell you what's dirty - Budapest! I had to buy new socks because mine were so dirty I could not get them clean. It was real dirt.

adrienne

Who the heck goes to Paris and trains their eyes on the bottom of lamp posts. Geez. I never thought that would be an interesting sight. I'm busy looking at the hunky Frenchmen!

PalenQ

adrienne - I suppose they echo this chap's take:

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/fra...rty-paris.html

PalenQ

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...0144556AAh0PAO

The question this person asks is "Why do so many people say Paris is dirty" - same as my question so I think it is a common stereotype true or not.

Well clochards may smell themselves but it is their pissing in public which I have witnessed many times that causes a stench - making the automatic toilet free was supposed to help solve the problem but they serve also as a place to shoot up - not spic and span clean as they once were when folks had to pay IME.

again I do not share the sentiment that Paris is dirty or at least any more than any large city. Many comments have the metro smelling awful and this I agree with on older lines with lots of detritus laying on the tracks in stations.

The lack of public trash cans due to fears of terrosim may contribute to this dirtiness.

kerouac

Since when has urine been dirty?

But in any case, I would say the smell of urine in the streets has dropped about 95% since I moved here.

greg

Perhaps the Asian student you tutor is from Singapore?

Padraig

And when will you get around to dealing with the last 5%, kerouac?