I LOVE PARIS

Have old you folks that ILOVE PARIS? Finally got enough knucklehead students to plop down their down payments for the trip and it is a go. We will probably have 40 students or more going. This will be my third trip. Don't miss Paris. Go there to photograph, to sightsee, to eat, to eat , to eat.
Now, to my countrymen and women, none of the rumors about Paris that pervade America are true. Paris is dirty. Not true. It is as clean as a big city can be. If you find a grungy little corner somewhere call it character. You will be wading through ankle deep dog poop with every step. Not true. Didn't see any. I do wonder about all the rolled up carpeting in the gutters. Water diversions? The French are rude. Subjective, of course but my empirical evidence proves the opposite. We had a wonderful meal one evening at Cafe Sud, (opera district 4 or 5 blocks behind Madeline church) Once we began talking to the diners around us, haltingly in my best high school french, they opened up and everyone of them began conversing in very fluent english. We went late into the evening talking over wine and coffee about all things French and American. The only person that I ran into in Paris that I could consider rude was the lady taking money at the toillet at the Tuillerie gardens. She seemed to be asking all the men if they were going to use the pissoire or a stall. I guess there was a price difference. I wanted to say,"I'm an American and we don't tell". I just handed hera abunch of coins and answered the call of nature. Next rumors. The food is great, the women are all beautiful, there are no fat Frech people. Actually these rumors are all true. There must be a city law declaring that there must be 3 bakeries on every block. How do you stay slim with so many pastries tempting you? Give in to the temptation. Eat,you're too skinny. and your in Paris freaking France. Go to Paris and photograph, photograph, photograph. It is as beautiful as any city I have seen.
bon voyage
Monsieur Jack B

...And by all means take you biggest tripods and large format cameras with you. The best place to photograph is the National Assembly building next to the Orsay. The city is really clean, except for one place the tour guide kindly pointed out, American Park. It looked like a run down dirty needle park. They seen to love Americans. Tip generously they don't have a very high tax on anything. I think its 20 to 30 percent. I saw a waiter go to the manager with the tip I gave him and he said can I keep it. The manager seem to split it with him, so slip the tip into his pocket.

Really this is humbug. The American Park is really really dirty but Paris is clean and friendly and tipping is small. The tax is high but it's their system. The best thing in Paris is the Louvre. After that everything else is just nice.

Amen to the beauty of Paris. I just wish I had brought a lightmeter the last time I was there so all my church interior photos would have come out. Make sure you take your students to Sacre Coeur, the vistas are breathtaking.

I'll second that about the Sacre Coeur. I just got back a couple of weeks ago, having used 2 canonets the whole time. Lovely trip.

I just got back from 5 days in Paris for the Thanksgiving break. Absolutely stunning. My most recent gallery entries are from my trip. I had a decent photo of Notre Dame's interior turn out as well. And the most beautiful women in the world are there. Vive la France!
James

blackmelas said:

PARIS.....(snip)..... the most beautiful women in the world are there. Vive la France!
James

Click to expand...

I don't know if this is true. Possibly Prague.

Clearly, more research is in order.

.


.

sacre coeur

athanasius80 said:

Amen to the beauty of Paris. I just wish I had brought a lightmeter the last time I was there so all my church interior photos would have come out. Make sure you take your students to Sacre Coeur, the vistas are breathtaking.

Click to expand...

I've already told them to get in shape by going to the football stadium and carryin their lf gear up the steps. I actually think one of them is doing it.
JAck

Proof

df cardwell said:

I don't know if this is true. Possibly Prague.

Clearly, more research is in order.

.


.

Click to expand...

Immediately go forward with your research. This is important
Jack

Try to take the less obvious routes there are some amazing parts that aren't mentioned in the tourist guides. Take the underground a bit less and walk a bit more it's worth it. Ohh and watch out with the girls in Paris the don't always shave under their arms!

cheers!
Quinten

Quinten said:

Ohh and watch out with the girls in Paris the don't always shave under their arms!

Click to expand...

This just supports my claim made above. Parisian women are head and shoulders and armpits above... the world's most beautiful!

Curt said:

...And by all means take you biggest tripods and large format cameras with you. The best place to photograph is the National Assembly building next to the Orsay. The city is really clean, except for one place the tour guide kindly pointed out, American Park. It looked like a run down dirty needle park. They seen to love Americans. Tip generously they don't have a very high tax on anything. I think its 20 to 30 percent. I saw a waiter go to the manager with the tip I gave him and he said can I keep it. The manager seem to split it with him, so slip the tip into his pocket.

Really this is humbug. The American Park is really really dirty but Paris is clean and friendly and tipping is small. The tax is high but it's their system. The best thing in Paris is the Louvre. After that everything else is just nice.

Click to expand...

Hi Curt,

Being an AIP (American In Paris) and an LF photographer, I can assure you that it would be a great hassle to bring a big tripod here. I suppose it could be done, but permits are required to photograph in most parks and in front of major monuments with a tripod. Multiply that by forty students. As I've posted elsewhere on this form, the thinking seems to be: "Tripod=Professional. Professional=Money. Money="We want our share". THAT'S the "real" France! Any instance of dog-doo or rudeness pale in comparison ...

Taxes on restaurant food is 19.66%. As I write this, there's a big controversy in France around the promised reduction of this tax. President Chirac said he'd roll the tax back to 5.5% —the same rate McDonald's and other fast-fooders pay. But he knew in advance that the European Union wouldn't allow it. So now he can say it's not his fault, but the restauranteers are still howling, "We don't care ... you promised! But enough local politics. What's important to know is that a 15% tip is usually included in the price of your meal. Extra tips left by customers are sometimes pooled and shared by all of the waitpeople, which might explain why the waiter you described asked his manager if he could keep his tip.

By the way, what and where is this "American Park"? I've never heard of it!

Lastly, to confirm .. Yes, Paris is a very beautiful city. Anyone wanna contact me for a non-touristic foot-tour (time-willing, and with advance notice), no problem. Dinner's on you, but you'll have your just desserts.

Prague is beautiful too, especially the historic old center. I used to live there too. The people are wonderful. Not as many cafés as Paris, but plenty of beer! BOTH cities have beautiful women. That's why there's a good train system in Europe!

I couldn't tell you where it is because we had just arrived and took the "city tour". The tour guide slowed down and pointed it out. It didn't look very big. He pointed out a George Washington statue just after it though.

severian said:

Have old you folks that ILOVE PARIS?

Click to expand...

I appreciate your enthusiasm for Paris, I've been there myself. While I don't believe all the stereotypes about the French, I'll still take Germany over France any day.

Christopher Nisperos said:

I can assure you that it would be a great hassle to bring a big tripod here. I suppose it could be done, but permits are required to photograph in most parks and in front of major monuments with a tripod. Multiply that by forty students. As I've posted elsewhere on this form, the thinking seems to be: "Tripod=Professional. Professional=Money. Money="We want our share". !

Click to expand...

Confirms my informations:
Pro photogs working in Paris have told me years ago that a tripod can cause trouble when the police passes by. I used it anyway at night at places where the police seldom comes to, but one should know the facts.

Concerning the city itself I'd like to add a thought. What makes Paris so unique is the fact that it is a 4-dimensional place. The first 3 dimensionsn for the geograpical structure, because leaving aside the Banlieus the inner Paris with 2 millions of inahabitants consists of a bunch of several and totally different cities.
the 4th dimensinon is the time. 1000 years of history have left back architectural witnesses, and many many of them are are still there !

It had not worked always as it should have worked ( see Les Halles, Italy Belleville etc) but Paris conserves it's really huge historical heritage with an enormous effort and this makes it unique.

Eugen Atget photgraphed Paris from 1890 to 1925 with a huge old glass plate camera for documentary purposes because he saw his "Old Paris" vanishing. But following his tracks you find more places which stayed untouched then vanished ones, after almost 100 years. Amazing experience.

One should know tho the basics of the Parisian history, especially the last 400 years, otherwise one does not open up the fascination and attraction which is below the touristic surface.
But thisis a prerequisite anyway for all famous cities you want to visit, isn't it ?

Regards,
bertram