Travel

Growing up in a family with a father who was the CFO of a company called Diebold we travelled quite a lot. My father was in charge of international affairs within the company which made for some very interesting weekend excursions. When this first started we were relocated from the lovely providence of Ontario, Canada to an even more lovely place...Paris, France. Le Vesinet, France to be more specific (a cozy quite town right outside of Paris.) Although I was young when this happened I remember quite a bit of information. On the weekends we would travel to London, Switzerland, South Africa, Germany; you get the picture. So I'm here to tell you the truth about all the hype on all these closely knit countries and what it's like when you're actually there.

Paris: Oh Paris, who doesn't love you after-all? Any female these days seems to be infatuated with Paris. Here are the cold hard facts on what it's like to be in Paris.

-Paris is not what you think it is

-Paris has some of the best and worst smells in the world. First you pass a Patisserie and you'll get the fragrant lure of lovely french pastries, they are absolutely beautiful in the windows, and the next minute you make a sharp left onto a new corner and there will be urine stains on the walls of the city, and guess what? It smells so much worse than you can imagine. As we all know the French are very fond of alcohol. This means that when everyone gathers on the Seine River in the middle of paris when the sun goes down and they all indulge in their lovely plethora of brightly colored bottles they will quickly need somewhere to let all of that liquid out. This happens to be the city walls.

-The small towns outside of Paris are incredibly quaint. The most cozy, lovely, peaceful villages I've ever encountered. All the sidewalks are cobblestone and there are romantically small cottages with all sorts of vine and shrubbery creeping up these structures.

-There is something a lot of people do not know about the French that really may change their minds about France. The French are a quiet, reserved group of people. When you go to France and you're American you are immediately noticed. The French know we are abnormally loud and that offends them so if you go to France try and contain your excitement. This is a big reason why I was raised as a quiet child. A lot of people think I come off as shy, I am just quiet.

-At night the Parisians come out and dance, not that nasty stuff we do here in America. The Parisians have separate sections for all different kinds of dance: Salsa, Waltz, Swing, and anything else with immense amounts of classy and grace.

-The crime rates in France are scary high. Every home in France has a sky-high, iron fence in front of their homes, at least the height of their home. Our home had a gravel driveway that came out of the iron gate and we frequently found all sorts of gang signs written in the gravel outside of our house. My mother would franticly dust them away with her foot before any communication was made to anyone through the signs.

-Oh and if you go to France stay FAR AWAY from Le Bois de Boulogne. It's the largest park in France and it's filled with drug dealings, prostitutes, and all sorts of strange things. In the day-time it should be a lot safer, but I wouldn't take my chances.

-Oh and they don't have luxury hotels, big movie theaters, fast food, Quick-E Marts. BUT they DO have small cafés with lovely views of passers-by. The food is amazing. The Chateuxs on the countryside, if you have the time to drive to them, are incredibly astounding and awe-inspiring. Over all France really is a lovely place. It is kind of culture shock at first if you've never been there, but it is truly incredible. I would move back there in a heartbeat if I could.

8/10