Revealing The Truth About The City Of Lights Myths & Stereotypes
For reasons that should be obvious to anyone who loves to travel, I was very excited to go to Paris.
Naturally, I had all the stereotyped visions of it in my head: beautiful with grand buildings and historical landmarks, harried and hurried traffic which would challenge me crossing the streets, dynamic big-city nightlife, lots of surly people and hurried cafes where you would be lucky to get a waiter’s attention, let alone a meal and a glass of wine.
Some of this proved to be true and some of it did not, but while discovering what is myth and what is reality about Paris, I also learned a few things that every traveler should know about the City of Lights.
1. ) Why Paris Is Called The City Of Lights
For starters, let’s start here. I had no idea why Paris got this nickname but when afternoon turned into evening, it became readily apparent to me. The entire city is a light show at night. This is especially so along the Seine River. The bridges are lit up and so, too, are the boats slowly crawling through the water. It’s romantic and beautiful and is the first image I now have when I think about Paris.
2.) The City Blocks Are ‘Las Vegas Long’
I did so much walking in Paris that I literally wore out my shoes. They came apart on me (I left them on Charles de Gaulle’s doorstep. Which was not difficult, nearly every building has the name Charles de Gaulle on it). I’m telling you this to so you will be prepared because those blocks so huge they are what I call “Las Vegas long.”
Let’s take walking down the Champs Elysees, for example. It doesn’t look very long and seems to be a rather pleasant stroll to the Arc de Triomphe. Er, not exactly. I walked and walked and walked and seemed to no closer to the arc. I also kept losing sight of the Eiffel Tower. This seemed impossible but believe me it’s not, and it took quite a bit of walking aimlessly through streets and alleys to finally find it.
3.) The Paris Nightlife Is Fun But A Bit Disappointing
I had heard all sorts of great things about Paris nightlife and while I had a pretty good time, overall I was disappointed in it. I guess it’s because a former expat who lived in Paris told me how much he loved the Latin Quarter.
So I went there first and it’s mostly small bars that seemed more casual than wild spots. When I attempted to go into some of them, the doorman would not let me enter. Two bars were full of girls yet I was not allowed to enter and was actually pulled back by the shirttail one one occasion. I could not figure out why they would not let me go into those bars and it put a sour taste in my mouth about the Latin Quarter. These bouncers were the only rude people I encountered in Paris, by the way.
So I went to the Bastille, another area with a street full of more small bars, and had a blast.
4.) The People In Paris Are Quite Friendly
Maybe it’s because I smiled a lot and said ‘bonjour” to everyone, but from the tourist representative at the airport who helped navigate me to the hotel to the waiters and waitresses in the cafes, I found everyone to be very friendly in Paris. This friendliness put a bounce in my step and as a result, I wound up spending a lot more time drinking wine in the cafes than I ever envisioned when I was thinking of what I would be doing in Paris.
5.) You Had Better Be Alert Crossing The Streets In Paris
As I mentioned earlier, I did a lot of walking in Paris. And it’s overall a very pleasant walking city. But whenever I came up to a crosswalk, I stopped and made sure the coast was clear. For starters, the crosswalk signs are confusing. While it may appear that you have the green light, cars are still zooming down the road or worse yet, sitting at the light with drivers revving the engines as if they are just waiting for you stick your toe into the intersection. I found myself waiting for other pedestrians to show up and crossed when they did – strength through numbers!
But nothing could prepare me for what I encountered at the Arc de Triomphe. Here, there’s a traffic circle with something like 11 lanes of traffic. I walked around and around the thing trying to find out how to cross the street without getting attached to someone’s bumper. Eventually pressed a crosswalk button, closed my eyes and sprinted to the historic landmark.
I later learned from a friend there is a pedestrian tunnel to the arc.
Overall, I really enjoyed Paris and in fact would not mind moving there someday. Maybe then I’ll figure out why I could not get into those Latin Quarter bars.
Cheers!
Note: I shared this article with a social media friend who is living in Paris and she “enlightened” me to the City Of Lights nickname: “The nickname City of Light (singular) refers to enlightenment, philosophy, boheme, not so much city lights (that too).”
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