Rome or Paris?

I like Italy more than France, but Paris more than Rome. In other
words, Rome doesn't offer me the best of Italy and there it especially
pays to join it with another Italian destination (at least daytrip).

Rome hits you more in the heart, while Paris is more cerebral. Paris
is more organized, architecturally tidy, a consistant level of good
food, and a wider range of museum stuff (like modern). But the charm
and the slight inconsistancy of good food in Italy mean you will
sometimes attain higher highs than in France... at least very, very
memorable expreiences. And the smaller towns, esp on Italian coast can
be extremely entrancing.

So if unambitious, Paris gives you the most with least effort. Ranging
occasionally out of town, Rome would give the best return. But without
the constraints of tour schedule, you may want to consider even more,
esp since you can fly everywhere within Europe for practically no money
(www.whichbudget.com). To give you a shove in this direction, I will
brave the PollyAnna lashback and mention some dark sides of Paris and
Rome. Occasional visitors may not have noticed them, but I have made
many visits and can say these eccentricities do exist:

In Paris it is now fashionable to have huge dogs. You may not notice
the dog poo as much in years past because it was formerly everywhere in
small plops, but now after you have stopped scanning for it you can
encounter it in massive wet piles. You can badly slip on these, or at
least find they totally slime your shoes and lower clothing. If you
are lucky enough to avoid an accident, you can see remnants where
others have repeatedly scraped off their shoes on the curb. Too bad
they don't install cleaning stations everywhere. When you put on your
shoes in the morning, wash hands afterward since they will always have
a fecal coating; too bad your waiter or food handler may not do this.
K-9 flea fountains can be encountered in restaurants and even a museum.

In Rome, the place I've had the most supremely transcendant food, I
also encounter touristy unexciting food. Early on I had the worst
disappointment of all. Had a cold soup of churned up vegetables.
Tasted foul, but I thought I should give new experiences a chance.
Later I almost died from an infection of the surface of the brain which
the docs said had to come from ingesting raw pests about the time of
the soup. Have since found this is typically caused by infected snails
not being removed from veggies before chopping (without cooking).

"jcoulter" wrote in message
.. .
Schizoid Man wrote in
:

Hi all,

I had posted a message yesterday debating whether I should go to Paris
since I am now minus my traveling partner and my interpreter.

I have decided to do the next best thing - book a travel tour for a
week. There are two that suit my dates exactly - Rome and Paris.

Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and
museums.


My wife and I and now my daughter all agree that one can find all ranges
of food in either place, but in our experience it is easier to find a
warm welcome and good food in France than in Italy. Yes, I know, I hear
it all the time how great the food is "everywhere" in Italy. In truth it
is easier for us in France, maybe we are just different, c'est la vie.

And my experience is the exact opposite, especially the warm welcome. As for
good food, there are more expensive good restaurants in Paris, more
inexpensive good restaurants in Rome.

As for museums, Rome is a living history museum. Paris has better art
museums.

Marianne

"Mimi" wrote in
:


r us in France, maybe we are just
different, c'est la vie.

And my experience is the exact opposite, especially the warm welcome.
As for good food, there are more expensive good restaurants in Paris,
more inexpensive good restaurants in Rome.

Oddly enough one of my favorite cheap restaurants in Paris is Pizza Roma on
Rue des Ecoles. Best eggplant parmagiana anywhere outside of my kitchen.



--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

In article ,
jcoulter wrote:

So go to Paris, you can see the major sights on your own and you can go
at your own pace and perchance find love. At least you can spend time
watching in any park or along the Seine, watch closely you may see more
than you planned.

More than you would expect to see on Six Feet Under?

poldy wrote in newsoldy-7822E6.15053124062005
@comcast.dca.giganews.com:

In article ,
jcoulter wrote:

So go to Paris, you can see the major sights on your own and you can
go
at your own pace and perchance find love. At least you can spend time
watching in any park or along the Seine, watch closely you may see
more
than you planned.

More than you would expect to see on Six Feet Under?


Since most clothing parts are intact, about the same actually ;-)


--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

jcoulter wrote:
poldy wrote in newsoldy-7822E6.15053124062005
@comcast.dca.giganews.com:


In article ,
jcoulter wrote:


So go to Paris, you can see the major sights on your own and you can

go

at your own pace and perchance find love. At least you can spend time
watching in any park or along the Seine, watch closely you may see

more

than you planned.

More than you would expect to see on Six Feet Under?



Since most clothing parts are intact, about the same actually ;-)

Talking of clothing, what do you reckon is a better place for fashion
shopping?