The Berkeley Guides:
Berkeley Guide to Europe:
France:
Paris
Paris is one of the most written about, raved about, and spat upon cities in the entire world. Droves of people have come for hundreds of years looking to inject their lives with beauty, glamour, culture, scandal, and romance. They have sung about Paris, painted her, found themselves, lost their religion, and learned how to eat well and smoke too much.
Paris is a city for sensualists. The leering gargoyles hanging over heavy doors, the smell of freshly baked croissants, the pulse of jazz through overcrowded streets, the young and old couples making out along the Seine, and that first sip of wine to start off the evening all are part of the Parisian obsession with the physical world. Paris voluptuaries explore the city during the late-night and early morning hours, when the boutiques are blessedly dark and the footsteps of party stragglers echo through the streets. When day breaks, though, Paris puts her face on. Fashionable 85-year-old matrons parade their freshly coiffed Pekingese pooches past boutique windows, spruced-up facades of medieval buildings, and artfully arranged pâtisserie (pastry shop) displays. Cafés fill up, and the strong, dark coffee starts to pour, wiring up the professionals seated at little bitty tables packed along the sidewalks. All the while, tourists sweep through town, trying to see in a week what locals haven't seen in a lifetime.
All this action can be overwhelming, and you might feel this is a place where people were meant to shop, not live. But whatever Paris's shortcomings, you and a few hundred thousand other travelers will come to her in awe and admiration again this year, and will revel in an atmosphere as heady and full-bodied as a good French wine.
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