I love Paris in the Spring time (Part 1)

Paris is, without a doubt, an international city. You can try and disguise yourself but if you don't get it spot on you fall woefully short of the mark. It is probably fair to say that, at any point, only half the inhabitants are Parisian.

As far as air traffic is concerned, Paris' airports are the second busiest in Europe (with London being the most busy). There are business men from all over the globe, people commuting from the surrounding area, groups of friends on casual day trips, families going to Disneyland...in short there are LOTS of people. Paris, picturesque as it is, is not somewhere for agoraphobics.

Some people - though mostly just those who can afford to be so - think Paris is a city for romantics and lovers. It's a bubble I hate to break, but I'm going to. Don't get me wrong! Paris IS beautiful, but there's more to this city than exists on celluloid: the glamorous women and kisses in front of the Eiffel Tower. For some odd reason, I feel quite at home in Paris, and for me it feels a lot like London. But the attitude of the people is quite different. Despite the rush that is built in to all cities, Parisians seem a little more relaxed. The best piece of evidence I have for this is the bins, or rather the amount of bins. Strange as that statement sounds, it's something you really notice if you spend a lot of time in London. In Paris there are bins everywhere, including at all train stations and even at Metro stations. Hopefully that's the most inane thing I'm going to say in this post - I can't promise anything, but I will do my best.

While Paris may not be the City of Lovers, it is most certainly a city of art. The number of Museums (yes, many of them deserve a capital M) in Paris is greater than you could visit in a week. There are probably more than you could visit in a month. That's even before you factor in the usual tourist traps like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc d' Triomphe. Having stayed in Paris for trips at least a week long I really do advise against weekend site-seeing trips trips. Even the most organised person won't see everything they would want to. The museums range in subject matter - with the most famous surely being the Louvre. There's also a museum housing France's largest collection of work by Dali and if you're a fan you really should go.

Now, like I said the tourist traps are all well and good, but I prefer to not stand around and have people try to sell me a little Eiffel Tower. Personally, I don't like the Eiffel Tower. Well, I don't like being up it. Having been to the very top, I can safely say it looks better from the ground. This isn't just because I suffer from chronic vertigo, but because whenever I go to Paris there seems to be a sort of mist in the air that makes the Tower look delicate and ethereal, like it's made of filigree or painstakingly made lace. Going up the Eiffel Tower shattered that illusion, and I wasn't happy about it.