Even while still in Paris, refectling on the trip was a mix of emotions and opinions that varied day-by-day and hour-by-hour. The city stands in total contrast to Dublin, being far larger and more impressive, and yet simultaneously far more unfriendly and unpleasant

At some point later I'll go through all the gory details, which would fill a novella if done properly, but suffice it to say the Irish Ferry ride and subsequent journey from Cherbourg to Paris was filled with adventure and mayhem, culminating in the theft of my Canon XTi camera, so much of the first few days in Paris were spent recovering from the ride and finally finding a used replacement camera (the price for a new model was much too high)

Even the delay and disappointment resulting from that episode couldn't put too much of a dent in the Paris experience though

Good

At times Paris was so grand and awe-inspiring it barely felt real. Being an old city in Western Europe, for some reason I had the impression that everything would be cramped and compressed. While that held true for the city in a functional sense, many of the sights were simply shocking in their size and grandeur. The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Versailles - all had an almost Hollywood sense of absurd disproportion

Even beyond the obvious landmarks, it was hard not to be continually impressed with the beauty and artistry of everything from the streets and canals to some metro stops. Some of the food was absolutely divine - my favorite being a fresh cooked nutella + banana crepe, which tasted so good it was nearly intoxicating

Bad

For all the good in Paris, there was a lot of unpleasantness as well. The language barrier was worse than I'd expected, with many of the French not knowing (or claiming not to know) English at all. "parley-voo anglay?" and a half-dozen other phrases only get you so far, and while my poorly remembered Spanish classes help a bit with reading French, they've been of barely any assistance hearing or speaking it

And yes, many of the French are rude, unpleasant and unhelpful. This was a stark contrast to Dublin and an impression I confirmed from talking with a number of other backpackers. Almost everyone on the metro and the streets look miserable all the time, and almost everyone who doesn't you eventually realize isn't French. It finally got to the point where I wound just smile at people on the metro simply to annoy them - the French seem to look down their noses at anyone displaying genuine happiness, as if they misunderstood the phrase "ignorance is bliss" to mean "joy comes from uncultured stupidity"

There were also unfathomable masses of tourists, partly a result of the poor weather for much of the week, and the odd hours kept by many of the Paris sights. For instance on Tuesday the only major museum open is the Musee d'Orsay, and the Tuesday I was in Paris it was also raining, which funnelled huge number of tourists into that museum

Ugly

The conventional wisdom isn't wrong - some of the Parisian smell absolutely awful, as do many of their metro stations. One of the stations in particular - maybe Chalet - smelled of month-old fermented urine and sweat, so strong I nearly gagged when I first arrived

Paris also hosts a simply absurd number of "bums", a term I'll use describe a broad spectrum of people who feed in an unpleasantly forceful way off the size of the city and it's tourist population. These range from the relatively pleasant street musicians at the top, and then spirals down into non-pushy nomadic street vendors, metro musicians, pushy street vendors(seriously, how many damn Eiffel Tower keychains do I need?), and metro bums begging for money, finally ending with the endless "speak english?" scam artists and the guys who need your social security number to bring about world piece. I understand any big city is going to have these social parasites, but after being asked "speak english" by a beggar for the 30th time in a day I was quite close to saying "yes: fuck off!"

Places

Louvre

I knew before entering that the Louvre was enormous, impressive, maybe the world's greatest museum, etc. I was still completely shocked by the size and quality of their collections as well as the museum itself, which is beautiful inside and out, and the size of a small town. The Egyptian & Babylonian exhibits, the huge collection of sculptures, and of course the paintings - any of them could have filled a worthwhile museum by itself. All of them together weren't half the collection in the Louvre

I'm not a huge museum person, and the language barrier meant I got less out of the museum than I might have, but it was impossible not to be awe-struck by the experience. When I saw "Code of Hammurabi" on the museum map, it was like "wait... THE Code of Hammurabi??"

I went for the first time on Sunday and had a great experience, but when I went back on Wednesday (to spend more time in some areas, and to take pictures - I hadn't had a camera for round 1) the crowd inside was at least triple what it had been before, and the stay was much less pleasant. You're there viewing many of the greatest works of mankind to the backdrop of rude, pushy, disrespectful throngs of tourists - it can't but lessen the experience

Prize for worst disgregard of treasures of human history is a tie:

• the people who wrapped their arms around an ancient egyptian statue to pose for a picture
• the girl who placed her head on top of a headless greek sculpture, again for what I'm sure will be a great snapshot on facebook

Yeah....

Central Paris walking tour

A handful of the backpackers from my hostel went to a "free" (tips expected) walking tour through the central area of Paris. While I nearly froze to death in the 50 degree weather in shorts and a t-shirt, the tour was a pleasant and efficient way to quickly see - sometimes from a distance - many of the major sites. Afterwards you'll certainly need to go back and revist many of the areas in more detail, but it provided a good outsider's overview of the city, and helped to plan return visits to the sights. The guide, George, was quite a character and made a good show of re-enacting some excerpts of famous Parisian speeches

Musee d'Orsay

The museum had a number of very impressive art pieces, especially the Monet and Van Gogh. I'm fairly clueless about art, but I visited with Ulisses (more on that later), who gave me a very helpful abridged overview of the impressionist movement. The museum's building itself, in and old train station, is also quite impressive

Monmarte walking tour

The late-afternoon tour of the Monmarte area of Paris, which we joined partly because George was again the guide, was similarly informative and amusing, but the sights were less worthwhile. Still worth the time during a week-long Paris stay, but wouldn't have been I was trying to do the city quickly

Arc de Triomphe

The Arc is worth the visit if only for the shock of its size - taking the long walk down Champs-Elysees Ave and watching as the Arc grows larger and larger before your eyes is quite the experience. I didn't take the ride to the top for the view, instead opting to walk to the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower

The experience of the Eiffel Tower was much more impressive than I expected. The way it's constructed, letting you walk under it and essentially through it as you climb - it's just very cool. Upon first arriving at the base I was disappointed to find more huge lines waiting to enter, but I realized the two lines I was seeing were for the elevator lifts up. Well, that's for chumps - there was no line at either of the stair entrances, and that was what I wanted anyway. Of course, by the time I was at the second level(out of three) I felt like I was having a heart attack, but I still say it's the only way to go

Unfortunately the elevator was the only way to get to the third and highest level, so I swallowed my pride and crammed into the lift to the top. It's well worth spending time on each of the three levels though - they're designed differently and offer unique views of both the city and the tower itself

By the time I'd satisfied my picture lust from the tower it was late in the day, so I stuck around the area to watch the sunset and the tower at night - it was well worth it. As it gets dark they turn on pleasant orange-ish lighting for the tower, and I took a fair number of pictures from the surrounding area during and after sunset. Just as I was about to leave though, they switched on a truly stunning light show, illuminating the entire tower in bright-white blinking lights. Apparently this is done 10 minutes per hour, on the hour - starting around 10PM, I think - it's a must-see

There's a reflecting pool opposite the tower that offers a great shot for photos. Unfortunately the best spot to take them is in the pool itself, which wouldn't have been much trouble except for the knee-deep water and 45-degree weather. I originally thought it wasn't that bad until I realized my feet were going numb within seconds - hence the lack of discomfort. I went in 4-5 different times, the last couple being the worst, because instead of hand-holding the shots I needed to setup the gorilla-pod and kneel in the water to check the framing. Let's just say I hope the pictures came out, because that experience may well have sterilized me

Pere-Lachaise Cemetary

I had only a short time at the cemetary before the heavy-handed security started kicking people out, so the only famous grave I saw was Oscar Wilde, whose gravestone had all sorts of devotional thoughts written on it. The cemetary was OK as a change of pace, but a little too out of the way, pedestrian and morbid to feel like time well spent in a city like Paris

Catacombs

I almost skipped the catacombs, after hearing one person call them "just a bunch of bones." Well, yes. If by that you mean the artistically arranged skeletal remains of hundreds of thousands of Parisians. Although not for anyone with a weak stomach, this really shouldn't be missed. Like everything else in Paris though, it's worth arriving early

Chateau de Versailles

I spent most of my last full day in Paris on a trip to Versailles - it's a cheap RER ride there and back. I was initially horrified by the huge masses of people - the line to get inside was in the thousands, and I nearly just turned around to leave. Luckily I instead took a walk around the side of the Chateau and saw the sprawling gardens surrounding it. While still fairly packed with tourists in some areas, the gardens are enormous, and I spent the entire day just walking around scenic and relatively vacant canals, flower gardens, animal farms, etc.

It was without a doubt the most pleasant day spent in Paris, even though(or because) I never bothered to try to get inside the buildings. The entire complex has the feel of a giant royal park, I suppose because it was. It's not hard to understand the peasants guillotining the people who would build such a sight and then wall it off from the public

Accomodations

St Christopher's

A modern, commercial hostel, Saint Christopher's was overall a very positive experience. I met quite a lot of other backpackers there from all over the world, and had a lot of good times. They have a bar downstairs, which is both a plus and minus. On the plus side it's a nice - if pricey - place to hang out with other backpackers after a long night walking. On the downside it attracts an older and louder crowd on Fridays and Saturdays, and encouraged the hostel not to provide kitchen facilities (so you'll be more likely to buy their expensive food and drinks)

Although it was located well outside the central area of Paris, the area felt fairly safe and was right on the waterfront of a canal. One night walking around I ran into some young people playing improv music on the canal at 2AM, met a French guy and Algerian, shared some wine - good times. The backpackers at the hostel were also very friendly, and I spent a fair amount of time in Paris travelling with around with a few of them, which was a nice break from solo-style

Square Caulaincourt

As usual I left plans until the last minute and wound up needing to jump to another Paris hostel after St Christopher's filled up nearing the weekend. Sq Caluaincort was in the Monmarte are of Paris, a bit seedier but more interesting than the north-east where St Christopher's was located

The crowd was much more eclectic - I met a turkish girl and a couple London emigrees who'd become street musicians. While an interesting experience the hostel was overall a less pleasant stay than St Chris - it seemed to be a converted cheap hotel, and had cramped rooms and barely any water pressure in the shower, although the staff were quite friendly