Paris?

Here are a few pictures from my trip to Paris in November. I am feel awfully spoiled in saying this, but, I really wasn't that impressed. It must be because 99% of Americans are immensely enthralled by the place (probably owing to the fact that it is one of the only places they been, and the amount of movies it has been in is innumerable), and I just think that there are plenty of other fabulous cities throughout Europe that get less credit that do certain things better. Vienna has better architecture. Spain has fabulous food. Copenhagen is more quaint. Stockholm has wider streets and great cafes. Koln cathedral is more impressive than Notre Dame. Belgrade has great nightlife. Amsterdam and Gent have more beautiful canals & rivers. All of the above are cleaner...... nonetheless, it is still a very nice city (brownie points for a fantastic subway system?). Like with any city, though, I would need to spend more time to get a good feel for it. The food, I must say, definitely lived up to the reputation. I stayed at my friend Aurelien's place, whom I met when he was living in Chicago. He has a friend who reviews restaurants, and thus recommended to us to a place with a great trade off of price/quality. Although my entree was about 23 euros, one of my priciest meals this past year, the duck was simply amazing. The escargot, also, was phenomenal. I guess my Paris-upset could have been easily predicted, as I seem to have a particular penchant for seeing places that nobody else really wants to go to (like..... Skopje, Macedonia....or Qatar!).

There it is folks.

Ah, hijacking monoliths from Egypt always makes for a much more beautiful plaza.

Mmm Crepes.

Requisite Eiffel photo.