Is Kyoto better than Paris?

TXZZ wrote on 6/24/05 7:51 PM:
Is it? I would assume kyoto would be better but is not visited as
often because its further but i would like to know for sure. Is
kyoto, japan better than Paris , France?


That's like comparing a moldy raisin (kyoto) to great vineyard (Paris).

Onigiri wrote on 6/24/05 9:10 PM:
japanese call kyoto-ites or whatever they are the french of japan
because they are arrogant snobs and i have been there and i agree. I
HATE KYOTO ! I will never got to that place again the people act like
they are all on drugs and spaced out. I had people yelling at me to
move the double parked car i was in and i was laughing at them i swear
to gawd they were turning red and wanted to kill me , i have alot of
stories about that place , those people are the most messed up japanese
on earth and i really mean it... tokyo kicks ass !


brilliant green is the only thing good to ever come out of that place
but i never met them personally


Sorry to inform you that when Tokyo kicks your ass, that is not a
compliment.

Tokyo is 100 times better than Kyoto , Tokyo Has old temples too and
the people are not Zombies Like in Kyoto.

I would hate to be a Chink in Kyoto now that would really a sad reality

Kenneth wrote:
TXZZ wrote on 6/24/05 7:51 PM:
Is it? I would assume kyoto would be better but is not visited as
often because its further but i would like to know for sure. Is
kyoto, japan better than Paris , France?


That's like comparing a moldy raisin (kyoto) to great vineyard (Paris).

You mean to a once great wine that has since turned to vinegar, don't
you? I've been to Paris at least 50 times. The first half dozen were
interesting. Beautiful architecture and some interesting shops. Get
past the buildings and there just isn't anything left worth bothering
with.

If you're going to Europe make it London, Budapest, Rome, Amsterdam or
take a ferry down to Tangiers and over to Fez.

Paris just isn't worth the effort.

in article , Onigiri at
wrote on 6/25/05 8:18 PM:

Tokyo is 100 times better than Kyoto , Tokyo Has old temples too and
the people are not Zombies Like in Kyoto.

I would hate to be a Chink in Kyoto now that would really a sad reality


Tokyo has more money, has more industry, has more commerce, and has more
power. What it doesn't have is style. Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and Nara are all
more interesting places to visit.

On 25 Jun 2005 08:43:31 -0700, "Tchiowa" wrote:

You mean to a once great wine that has since turned to vinegar, don't
you? I've been to Paris at least 50 times. The first half dozen were
interesting. Beautiful architecture and some interesting shops. Get
past the buildings and there just isn't anything left worth bothering
with.

If you're going to Europe make it London, Budapest, Rome, Amsterdam or
take a ferry down to Tangiers and over to Fez.

Paris just isn't worth the effort.

I would be courious what makes London, Budapest, Rome, Amsterdam or Morocco
so much better. What are you searching in your trips ?

Kenneth wrote:
TXZZ wrote on 6/24/05 7:51 PM:
Is it? I would assume kyoto would be better but is not visited as
often because its further but i would like to know for sure. Is
kyoto, japan better than Paris , France?


That's like comparing a moldy raisin (kyoto) to great vineyard
(Paris).


a what ?
a great vineyard ?
are you sure you have ever been to paris ?
Paris is in france, you know ?
it is a big dirty city, full of northafrican muslims
When have you been in paris ? More than 10 years ago ?
And have you tried to talk to people there ?


Syphilis, sive Morbvs Gallicvs (Syphilis, or the French Disease)
is the title of a Latin epic poem written by
Girolamo Fracastoro or Hieronymus Fracastorius, (1483-1553).
It is the first known reference to this important French contribution to
civilization.
While Islam is the cancer of the world, France is definitely its syphilis.
http://www.****france.com/index.html

http://www.jack-travel.com/Paris/Par..._Parisians.htm

Paris-Parisians-Les Parisiens

Who are the Parisians? Are they the prostitutes in leather mini skirts on
rue St.Denis, the“clochard” sleeping off a bottle of red wine in the Metro,
the society hostess in Chanel, the yuppie stockbroker weaving home from the
Bourse on his scooter, the children from the Opera Ballet school
affectionately know as “les petits rats”, the au pairs hiding from their
mothers in the city’s American bars, the Algerian greengrocer or the
Portuguese concierge, the stately African chief from Sierra Leone, the law
student from La Sorbonne and the old lady in the in her bedroom slippers
feeding the pigeons. People are what lend any city its vibrancy and Paris
is no exception. Stripped of its human population, Paris would be no more
than a collection of buildings and monuments, architecturally beautiful
maybe, but a sad, cold place nonetheless.
John Steinbeck once wrote: “No other city in the world has been better
loved or more celebrated. Scarcely has the traveller arrived that he feels
himself in the grip of this city, which is more than a city. A great part
of the allure of Paris lies with the Parisians themselves, with their
charm, their individualism, their diversity.”
For the 23 millions who visit it each year, Paris is a grand seductress, a
mistress or a lover. Hundreds of thousands of people are carrying on an
illicit affair with her. Some manage a quick fling, others the love affair
endures a lifetime. But some visitors and Parisians have their favourite
stereotypical types whom they love to hate, from the haughty, patronising
shop assistant too busy adjusting her lipstick to give the customers the
time of day, who refuses to let you enter his cab because are not heading
in “his” direction, and to the indifferent bureaucrat who keeps you waiting
for three hours only to inform you that you lack a vital document (usually
your electricity bill :-)) without which he is unable to help you. But this
happens in all major cities all over the world.
Recent campaigns in the French press exhorted Parisians to good behaviour
and deplored the sometimes-unfriendly welcome, which is become rather rare
lately. Parisians are no longer under any illusions. Only 38 percent
consider themselves kind, while almost unanimous 92 percent admit they are
under stress. 82 percent also own up, with more than a touch of Gallic
pride, to being “individualistes”, a description which anyone who has had
more than a passing acquaintance with the city may suspect of doubling as a
convenient excuse for a multitude of sins of the “me first” variety.
And yet, the American author Arthur Miller, who spent many years in the
capital and was better placed than most to make and objective judgment,
stated that he had more respect for the French “than any other nationality
on the face of the earth.” While conceding that “the French may not be the
jolliest, happiest or the easiest people to get along with, a Frenchman
makes the best kind of friend. Though he may be difficult to get to know,
once he lets you into his life he’ll be your friend forever.

http://www.atkielski.com/inlink.php?/main/ParisFAQ.html

City of Paris
As you may have guessed from visiting my site, I am quite familiar with the
city of Paris, France. There are some questions that people regularly ask
about Paris, so I thought I‘d assemble them into a list of frequently-asked
questions (FAQ) here on my site. If you have other questions of a general
nature concerning Paris that you think would be interesting to have
answered on this page, feel free to submit them to me via feedback.

Summary of Questions
How do you say Paris in French?
How big is Paris?
When is the best time to visit Paris?
Is Paris a safe city?
Aren‘t there all sorts of terrorists in Paris??
Are Parisians rude towards Americans?
Where is the Left Bank?
Where is the Latin Quarter?
Can you recommend any good hotels or restaurants?
Is there a place that can burn a CD with my digital photos in Paris?
How can I live and work in Paris?
Is it expensive to live in Paris?
Is the Métro dangerous?
How do you get around in Paris?
What is Disneyland® Paris like?
Where can I get fast food in Paris, just in case?
Does the City of Paris have a Web site?
Do you speak French?

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Q: How do you say Paris in French?
A: The Parisians themselves (and other people who speak French) pronounce
the name of the city as /pa?i/ (like "pah-ree" if you aren't familiar with
the International Phonetic Alphabet).

[Return to Summary]

Q: How big is Paris?
A: There are about eleven million people living in the Paris metropolitan
area, and something over two million living within the city proper (which
is confined to the area within the boulevard périphérique, the expressway
that completely encircles the city). This means that Paris has roughly the
same population as Los Angeles. Paris is the largest city on the Continent
and the second largest city in Europe (London is somewhat larger).

Although Paris is similar to Los Angeles in terms of population, it is
smaller in terms of area, especially when you look at the city proper,
which is only a few kilometres wide. Paris was built before the era of
automobiles, so everything had to be within walking distance, and this is
why the city itself is so compact today (everything is still within walking
distance). The suburbs, however, have expanded in the same sprawling way
that one sees in Los Angeles.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: When is the best time to visit Paris?
A: The best time to visit is in spring or fall. Paris has an extremely
temperate climate, and it never gets very hot or cold. However, the best
weather in the city may be enjoyed during the long spring and fall. The
spring season runs from roughly April to June; the fall season runs from
roughly September to October. The weather is the same in both seasons,
generally cool and sunny, with occasional clouds and occasional brief
showers. Prior to April, the weather is usually a bit chilly, and after
October, it tends to become a bit gray and rainy. Winter in Paris is not
extremely cold (temperatures rarely drop significantly below freezing), but
it can be dreary. Summer in Paris can be uncomfortably warm. If you are
interested in the weather at this particular moment, CNN has a nice weather
page on the city that is continuously updated.

The spring season is the most popular with tourists. The fall season has
many of the same advantages, but without the tourists. Few people visit the
city in winter, so if you come then, you‘ll encounter mostly natives. In
July and especially August, many Parisians go on summer vacation, and the
city is very quiet, with mostly only other tourists walking around in the
summer heat.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Is Paris a safe city?
A: Paris is much safer than American cities of comparable size. Crime
rates are low overall, and violent crime is very rare. Crime in general has
also declined sharply in the past two years or so, mainly due to increased
police activity.

The above notwithstanding, if you are visiting the city as a tourist, you
are more at risk than are residents of the city, so you should be extra
careful. Paris isn‘t any more dangerous than any other city in itself, but
as a tourist, you are more vulnerable to what little danger there is.
Obviously, a tourist—with lots of money, no familiarity with his
surroundings, and his attention diverted by the dazzling glamour and
romance of a large city like Paris—is a much more tempting mark for, say, a
pickpocket than a resident of the city would be. Put succinctly, the risk
is in being a tourist, not in being in Paris.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Aren‘t there all sorts of terrorists in Paris?
A: No. You know, I could well ask the same question of Oklahoma City,
based on what I see on TV. More people died from one bomb in that city than
have been killed by all terrorist acts put together in Paris. Does that
mean that Oklahoma City is a hotbed of terrorism? I don‘t think so.

If you enjoy fostering your own paranoia, you can find lots of information
on travel precautions right here on the Web. Good advice, but don‘t let it
spook you.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Are Parisians rude towards Americans?
A: Not in my experience.

Parisians have a rather curt style and cynical attitude, but this is pretty
typical of the residents of any large city. Parisians are the French
equivalent of New Yorkers in the U.S. If you find New Yorkers to be rude,
you‘ll probably feel the same way about Parisians.

Keep in mind that, in touristy areas, the locals deal all day with
tourists, and tourists can be really, really stupid. It‘s exasperating at
times, and patience can wear thin on both sides. Some people working in
these areas can‘t handle it, and become pretty rude after a while. Just
ignore it. What you see in touristy spots isn‘t typical of the city as a
whole.

One other thing: Watch your own behavior. In my opinion (and I see lots and
lots of tourists, so I know), tourists are often a thousand times more
boorish than the natives, no matter who the tourists are, and no matter
what country they are in. American tourists are some of the worst
offenders, sadly.

In the specific case of Paris, you‘ll find that speaking French—any French
at all—will endear you to the natives. How well you can speak it isn‘t
nearly as important as the sincerity of your effort to speak it. Outside of
tourist areas, few French people speak English, and your efforts will be
appreciated.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Where is the Left Bank?
A: The Left Bank is the part of the city that is on the south side of the
Seine River. It is called the Left Bank simply because it is on your left
if you are in a boat floating down the river (which flows from east to west
through the city). The northern side of the river is called the Right Bank.


[Return to Summary]


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Q: Where is the Latin Quarter?
A: The Latin Quarter is at the eastern end of the Left Bank (that is, the
southern side of the river). It is so called because it is an area filled
with university students, and in the olden days all the students learned
Latin. It is one of the most charming areas of Paris, particularly the area
just south of the Seine River and Notre-Dame Cathedral.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Can you recommend any good hotels or restaurants?
A: I‘m afraid not. There are thousands of hotels and restaurants in
Paris, and I haven‘t tried them all. Anyone who claims to be an expert on
hotels and restaurants is lying, unless he evaluates such establishments
for a living (the only way he could ever get enough experience to qualify
as an expert).

Your best bet is a good travel guide, like the Michelin guide. It‘s a lot
less romantic, but it‘s more objective and accurate.

I‘ve always been puzzled in particular by people who ask residents of a
city for advice on hotels. A resident is just about the last person to ask
about hotels in the city, since he usually has a place of his own and has
never stayed in any of the city‘s hotels. Asking about restaurants isn‘t
quite as bizarre, but still, most residents have just a few favorite
restaurants, and have never even tried 99.999% of the restaurants
available. So asking Parisians about Paris hotels (or, to a lesser extent,
restaurants) is often a waste of time.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Is there a place that can burn a CD with my digital photos in Paris?
A: Most photo labs in Paris can burn CDs from digital camera memory cards
(such as Compact Flash cards), for a fee. The Photo Service chain of labs
is the one I prefer, and they offer quite a variety of services for digital
photographers.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: How can I live and work in Paris?
A: You need to have lots of patience, and you need to wade through a
great deal of red tape. Moving to Paris is like moving to another city in
your own country, only about a hundred times more difficult. It can be
done, of course, but it‘s not the sort of thing that you undertake on a
whim. Even in the best circumstances, it might take a year or two to
arrange, and sometimes it can take much longer.

Your best and safest bet is to go to work for a large, multinational
company, and then gradually work your way internally towards a transfer to
Paris. Of course, you‘ll need some sort of skill that the company needs in
Paris; janitors and mail-room clerks are rarely sent overseas. Anyway, if
you manage this, the company will handle most of the red tape, and you‘ll
probably be well paid (believe it or not, many employees have to be
persuaded to accept an assignment in a city like Paris, and this is usually
accomplished with money).

If you don‘t wish to go the route above, you‘ll at least need to make sure
you have a job waiting for you in Paris before you leave your home country.
Obviously, this isn‘t easy, but if you‘re very highly qualified or very
clever, you might succeed.

Books have been written about overseas work. Go down to your local
bookstore, or Web-surf to a place like Amazon.com, and buy a couple. There
isn‘t any way I can cover anything useful here in just a few paragraphs.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Is it expensive to live in Paris?
A: Unfortunately, yes, it is. There are few disadvantages to living in
Paris, but by far the number one disadvantage (at least in my opinion) is
the cost of living. Paris is one of the most expensive cities in the world
(although several large U.S. cities surpass it, and so does London), and,
worse yet, Parisian salaries do not adequately take the cost of living into
account, alas! In addition, income tax and sales tax rates are ruinous,
especially for single people (and most people in Paris are single, because
almost no one can afford to raise a family within the city itself).

To give you some idea of the cost of living, consider that an ordinary
audio CD costs about $19 in a French record store, and a cup of coffee on
the famous Champs-Élysées may cost $12. The greatest expense is housing:
even a parking place (just the parking spot marked on the ground, not a
garage or anything) can cost $26,000, and a decent apartment might sell for
$275,000!

After adjusting for taxes and COL, salaries in Paris are about 1/3 of what
they would be in the U.S., for the same work.

I keep hoping that this will change in the future, but it hasn‘t thus far.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Is the Métro dangerous?
A: No, the Métro (the Paris subway system) is not dangerous. It is true
that you‘re more likely to encounter trouble in the subway than, say,
sitting at a café, but that‘s a relative risk; in absolute terms, the risk
is still quite small.

Consider this: Each year, about 6000 people are assaulted in the subway in
Paris. This sounds like a lot, until you realize that over two billion
people take the subway each year. The risk of being assaulted in some way
is thus about one in 365,000. In addition, most assaults occur under
conditions that most people would consider risky to begin with: in deserted
suburban stations late at night, etc.

Pickpockets are the main risk for tourists. Watch your purse and wallet on
crowded platforms and in crowded subway cars.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: How do you get around in Paris?
A: I walk, unless I‘m in a hurry, in which case I take the Métro. I also
take the subway if I have something heavy to carry. I don‘t normally use a
car in town, unless I need to transport something too large to carry (a
chair or something like that). Driving in Paris isn‘t difficult, but the
traffic is horrendous, all the time (except at three in the morning on
Sundays in August).

[Return to Summary]


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Q: What is Disneyland® Paris like?
A: Disneyland Paris is like a scaled-down version of Walt Disney World®.
Disneyland Paris includes a Magic Kingdom theme park in the usual style,
although it has fewer attractions than its U.S. counterparts (although some
of the ones it has are quite impressive, such as the “new-and-improved”
Space Mountain. It also includes a small village near the entrance to the
theme park with shops, restaurants, a movie theater (not dedicated to
Disney movies, alas!), a Wild West Show, an aquatic circus, a Planet
Hollywood, and so on. Nearby within the resort are several superb but
rather expensive hotels (however, you get what you pay for), including the
largest hotel in Europe, the Newport Bay Club. Each hotel has a theme, and
all the themes are well-executed. There is also a golf course in the
resort. Other attractions are planned, but I don't believe that any of them
have been built yet.

The operating hours of the theme park are much more restricted than those
of its peers in the U.S., especially during the off-season (any time other
than summer, primarily), so beware. Many attractions, restaurants, etc.,
within the park are closed outside of high season.

Disneyland Paris is not 100% owned by Disney, and unfortunately its other
owners apparently do not feel compelled to maintain the superlative
standards to which true Disneyphiles like myself are accustomed (the local
management seems a bit too willing to cut corners on maintenance and
operations). However, the park is still distinctly a Disney park, and it is
lightyears ahead of anything else in Europe. It is well worth a visit, if
you are visiting Paris with children, or if you just like Disney theme
parks.

[Return to Summary]


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Q: Where can I get fast food in Paris, just in case?
A: Fast-food restaurants are thick on the ground in Paris, so you should
have no problem.

Because of the importance of this vital question, I‘ve now split the
response to it into a separate essay, under Paris Fast Food.

[Return to Summary]

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Q: Does the City of Paris have a Web site?
A: Yes, at http://www.paris.fr.

[Return to Summary]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Do you speak French?
A: Yes. It‘s the national language of France, and you cannot hold down
most decent jobs without it. I like French, so speaking it is not really
that much of a burden for me, although I‘m far from being as fluent as I
might like.

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 22:29:48 GMT, "Dieter Aaaa" Dieter
wrote:

While Islam is the cancer of the world, France is definitely its syphilis.
http://www.****france.com/index.html

Do you realize that advertising and doinbg the apology of a website that
contaisn ****-name.com is a serious indicator that your IQ is most likely
below the average human level ? ...