Paris, as always, is beautiful, wonderful, elegant, interesting, delicious… and expensive!
A taxi ride from CDG airport to the city center will set you back $80, a four-star hotel room – around $400 per night, a simple lunch for two – $75, one grande cappuccino at Starbucks – $6, a pint of Kronenbourg in a neighborhood brassier – $10. a gallon of gasoline – almost $8.50. I am actually using a fairly favorable exchange rate of $1.35 to 1 euro.
However, the best things in life are still free – you can hold hands and walk for days admiring the Louvre, Latin Quarter, the Pantheon, climb the steps of Montmartre, bask in the autumn sun on the benches of Tuileries Garden, window shop along Blvd Saint Honore, and watch the entire world parade in front of you as you pause for a moment somewhere on Champs-Elysees…
See the flocks of Asian tourists queuing up in front of the Louis Vuitton designer store. Pay close attention to the swarms of Gypsy teens as they collect signatures for a “noble” cause then demand a hefty contribution. Note the noisy, friendly and slightly drunk contingents of Bosnian soccer fans, wrapped in colorful flags and wearing funny hats – a few thousand of them were bussed to Paris to support their national team during the tonight’s match vs. France.
Don’t forget the badly dressed Russian men and their freely spending wives clad in the ultra fashionable and ultra expensive outfits. The Russian dolls are clearly on the mission to once-and-for-all dominate their Moscow girlfriends, who don’t make a habit of shopping in Paris.
Note the absence of Muslim women draped in black burka. Just two years ago they were all over the most expensive parts of central Paris. Where are they now? Could it be that the Arab Spring has kept them anchored at home?
Watch the Parisians eat mountains of food during their lunch time and only drink a beer or one glass of wine in the evening. Perhaps the night time eating is usually done at home, rather than in public.
In general, just enjoy yourself. you are very lucky to be walking these magical streets and to be making these smart-ass observations.
Keep on traveling,
Lenka info@lenkatraveler.com