Bursting The Myth:Paris And Misconceptions

11.11.2014 Paris, France

"I stand defeated in the air of nostalgia on the memories of my first #KissOfLove I ever had, the golden lights beaming with glory in rhyme as if creating the perfect setup, the Eiffel Tower witnessing my wild emotions cautioning me of wind that might sweep me away and reminding me that I have crossed my wicked teen age and at the same time discarding it as just another routine feeling and I stand there still smitten by ‘love in the air’ as I swear to come here again."


On 2nd Floor Eiffel Tower
Access to these floors needs appointments
For which you can either book at Buying Your Ticket For Eiffel Tower
or go for guided tours like Skip the Line Eiffel Tower by Paris City Vision like I did

Paris Is Not Off the Beaten But Deserving

As one of the speakers in TBEX Europe 2014 said that “off the beaten" is one of the misused terms we have heard lately and repeatedly used. I wonder what brings me back to the places which are not off the beaten but deserving. Paris I had thought before as monotonous; with probably nothing much to see apart from the glittering Eiffel Tower and I had almost made up my mind to skip it for it is the place jaunted or rather haunted by honeymooners. But as my luck had it ,I could not only experience half a day which left me craving for more ,I also took my Royal Jordanian flight which I loved for food and services back to Delhi. It's the feeling of merriment and class,  that makes Paris a little different

Bursting the Myth: Paris is Non-Friendly

As beautiful as it gets,Notre Dame from Seine River Cruise
@tourcourtesy Paris City Vision.
Can language be a barrier to enjoy the sight,I don't think so...

'Be careful, sometimes non-verbal signs have double meanings in different languages' said a French gentlemen sitting next to me in the airport metro on conversation with 'How people in France aren't  always as been portrayed worldwide, and how they have helped me with figuring out directions with signs if they didn't know English'

As one of the families from Singapore I met in Venice told me on their trip to Paris "In Paris, people have a little high nose, but they are nice, and that's how they are". I have had heard and overheard in India, people warning me on their tales on how they have been misguided when they spoke in English, was not something which I faced in my half a day visit to Paris.

I felt, people in Paris were not sugarcoated polite but on the face as if they prefer to speak 'Please take me to' as 'take me to' and that's by choice and as the family said "that's how they are".I was helped everywhere, including hostels to metros to Paris Tourism kiosks to even general people on road and my tales tell a different story than the usual. If you feel that you are not been paid attention to, move on. There are better people everywhere.

Bursting the Myth: Paris is Unbearably Expensive

Smart Place Paris Entry
Adding a fun stay need not be expensive to your itinerary
Plus you have bike tours,pub crawls and many other things you can be part of!

As Indians, we tend to calculate every penny we spent, sometimes even converting every cent we saved. Sometimes the ways, we travel, makes our journey expensive. And some places deserve that luxury. Now depending on if you are travelling solo, or with friends, or with partners, Paris can burn a happy hole in your pocket, or you can conveniently live like any other European city. When visiting places of interest, there is not much you can do to minimize entry costs, but you can always minimize travel costs of getting there.
As a matter of fact, the closer you get to the monuments and the likes, the higher your stay cost becomes but you save on travel time.

The dorm room I shared with three other girls
And this one had a bathtub yey!

For me I stayed at a pretty cute hostel called "Smart Place Paris" at Gare Du Nord,and I could conveniently take metros worth 1.5 euros and buses which weren't expensive to any place. I also liked the neighborhood as It had railway station, lot of eateries and basically reasonable stuff to shop around like a gown for 10 euros which I missed.I also felt for me, half a day was unfair, Paris surely deserved days. But thanks to Paris City Vision and Atout France, that I could do the best of what I have got in those hours in a very well organized way, and so can you. Will write about it in next post.

I felt Paris has so much character than just Eiffel Tower or Disneyland and it certainly is about slowly adapting to the groove that Paris has which many of us miss it during our first visit.

Like for example, do you know what are the famous food joints in Paris and what are the festivals that France(in general) celebrates?

Bursting the Myth: Paris has a confusing metro

For a first timer,Paris is organized
but has different layers to it like water waves.

I wouldn't say that it is not true for a first timer, it is heavily organized so much so that for a person who landed and just have a day might get confused on metro a line,b line,yellow line,blue lines,over line,under line.The platforms are huge, and the people are busy.

"For a moment, I felt I could conveniently fit myself in the character of Kangana in Queen movie, knowing where to go but not knowing what might take me there. I would stare at the stop names inside the metro lest I miss mine and I was heavily under doubt if anyone here would help me if anyone else snatches my bags"

Happy part is help is available everywhere. When buying ticket, ask where you have to get down ,so how can you reach there ?Ask at the Paris Tourism Information center which I found at many of the places in Paris and voila, it’s no longer as confusing!

Bursting the Myth: Be Careful of Your Personal Belongings

Flashing your euros is a strict no no and so is bringing your valuables and not paying attention. Your lackadaisical attitude can cost you money, passport and valuables! But then again, it isn't as unsafe.

Paris what I have had heard from several sources was that it has an image of notorious pickpockets in busy hours. In metros there are constant announcement to take care of your personal belongings. T here are incidents that these people work in groups, and the moment you skip your attention, they either form a group in front of you or they work themselves out to take things off your backpack or pretend that something fell over, and they take your stuff nothing which I faced or my immediate peers did.

But as a general rule, be careful of your belongings anywhere in Europe and all over, so that you enjoy your vacation and at the same time be responsible of what you own.

With this starting note, we are going to delve down into "what to do in Paris in half a day" and excuse me further if my lines are poetic ahead because that's how it's meant to be in my next post.

/*This was my solo trip but without the help of Paris City Vision and Atout France,the trip would have been incomplete rather impossible*/








7 comments

  1. Another great post depicting your travel experience. Loved it!:)

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  2. Happy to hear your views as yes the myths are well established!

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  3. Interesting experiences... Thanks for sharing this.

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  4. @Nikhil:Thanks Nikhil,I think there are so many stuff to write about misconceptions that people have,something that was age old,but no longer apply :)

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  5. @Mridula:I wonder why so..! Thanks for dropping by.I would also be writing another post on another country for which the myths proved out to be true...

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  6. @Chaitali Patel:Thanks Chaitali,Thanks for dropping by...

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  7. Loved the article and the information's..Really it was amazing. Thank u for sharing your experience.

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