Don't believe all the negative hype about Paris... Its a myth. Based on other people's comments, I expected to constantly be confronted by rude arrogant Frenchmen. This was not the case; although I encountered a couple rude taxi drivers, the biggest dickheads I came across were drunk American fratboy types. I found the people to be friendly, and when I asked for help on the subway (with my extremely limited French vocabulary), people were usually very helpful.
Paris is the closest thing I have seen, in Europe, to a major American city such as NYC or Chicago; only its much more scenic, and the women are better looking. Never before have I seen so many cool statues and fountains. The music scene is impressive. In London, Amsterdam, and Brussels its mainly a techno/electronic scene - Not 100%, there are other forms of music as well; but Paris is very much happening as far as jazz, blues, rock,and reggae. There is also a cool cafe scene there, with lots of great food everywhere.
I spent a week there in late April of 2000, but I only had 3 free days to really explore the city. My favorite places to hang out there are Luxembourg Garden/Palace (a nice place to chill out and people watch, or read a book, or whatever), and especially the Latin Quarter, which is very cool. I also quite enjoyed the river near the Latin Quarter, all kinds of artists and vendors everywhere, selling a lot of cool stuff, including lots of very old books (in case you're into that).
As a matter of fact, Paris might be my favorite European city so far, even over Amsterdam - Those who know me may find that comment shocking :-) I hope to get back there very soon, and hope even more to eventually land a contract there at some point. Many thanks to my friend Mr Phil (and his wife, Marti) for giving me a place to crash, for letting me use his computer and net access, and for taking me under his wing and turning me on to some good cafe's and good live music
I have separated the pictures onto 3 pages, click on the links below to get to them.
