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I just got back last Tuesday from two weeks in France. Mainly in Paris, but I also went to Caen, Strasbourg, Reims, and Epernay.
I was paranoid the first four or five days after reading so many stories about pickpockets and I used a money belt, which I found quite obnoxious to use, so after that I said fuck it and just carried my wallet and cellphone in my front pants pockets. Never had a problem, and didn't even see that many Romanians (I did see some.) If I was in a crowded area I kept my hands in my pockets. I was in and out of touristy areas constantly.
I did once encounter a Romanian cunt of about 40 years old who tried to get me to sign a petition for a fake charity and donate money, which of course was obviously fake as shit and I told her smarmy thing like "I'm not stupid enough to sign that," and she walked off without saying another word and started walking directly to another person. Interestingly enough, when she started talking to me, she spoke nearly perfect English without even much of an accent. The "petition signing" is a common scam from what I've read.
The only other annoying thing are the Africans who try to tie bracelets on your hand and then get you to donate. One of them is easy enough to tell to piss off, but the problem is some areas (like Sacre Coeur) there are DOZENS of them around and you'll get asked 5 or 6 or 7 times while you're trying to walk around. I lost my temper with one and squared up with him when he touched my hand, and he says "No man, it not like that!" I kept telling him I'd already seen the act 5 times before and I didn't want a bracelet, and the fucker just kept going on and on. From what I hear the cops bust them up from time to time, I would have enjoyed seeing them get the shit beat out of them and thrown in a bus.
I used Tripadvisor to find decent restaurants around wherever I was (the app has a location function.) I was rarely disappointed by a meal, I went with high-ranked but reasonably priced restaurants. Inbetween, I ate sandwiches from boulangeries very often, which were always good and omnipresent. Speaking of expensive food, I got fucked for a 6.5 euro SMALL cappucino once...it pays to read the prices before ordering if you're in touristy areas. I had some great, sub 15 euro meals off the beaten path.
I'll add more later, at work right now. I really enjoyed everything though, only some minor annoyances. Oh, and one day, I believe possibly walking from Gare de l'Est, I wanted to walk back to the Seine instead of taking the metro. So I just looked at Google maps and picked the closest route. At about 12:30 PM I walked straight through about 15 minutes of brown town. Nothing happened, but it was a little disconcerting, as I only saw about two other white people in the span it took me to walk through the area, which tells me the local whiteys probably avoid it. I started seeing a lot of shops with "Africa" in the name, hair braiding salons, and rundown looking restaurants...and a whole helluva lot of brothers just "hanging" in the streets, some yelling at each other at one point and a crowd forming (I started walking the fuck as fast past that as possible.) Would not have been pleasant at night.
I would also like to reiterate Adam12's like of D'Orsay over the Louvre...the Louvre is a beast that's full of wonderful things, but D'Orsay is much more relaxing and better laid out for what it has.
I was paranoid the first four or five days after reading so many stories about pickpockets and I used a money belt, which I found quite obnoxious to use, so after that I said fuck it and just carried my wallet and cellphone in my front pants pockets. Never had a problem, and didn't even see that many Romanians (I did see some.) If I was in a crowded area I kept my hands in my pockets. I was in and out of touristy areas constantly.
I did once encounter a Romanian cunt of about 40 years old who tried to get me to sign a petition for a fake charity and donate money, which of course was obviously fake as shit and I told her smarmy thing like "I'm not stupid enough to sign that," and she walked off without saying another word and started walking directly to another person. Interestingly enough, when she started talking to me, she spoke nearly perfect English without even much of an accent. The "petition signing" is a common scam from what I've read.
The only other annoying thing are the Africans who try to tie bracelets on your hand and then get you to donate. One of them is easy enough to tell to piss off, but the problem is some areas (like Sacre Coeur) there are DOZENS of them around and you'll get asked 5 or 6 or 7 times while you're trying to walk around. I lost my temper with one and squared up with him when he touched my hand, and he says "No man, it not like that!" I kept telling him I'd already seen the act 5 times before and I didn't want a bracelet, and the fucker just kept going on and on. From what I hear the cops bust them up from time to time, I would have enjoyed seeing them get the shit beat out of them and thrown in a bus.
I used Tripadvisor to find decent restaurants around wherever I was (the app has a location function.) I was rarely disappointed by a meal, I went with high-ranked but reasonably priced restaurants. Inbetween, I ate sandwiches from boulangeries very often, which were always good and omnipresent. Speaking of expensive food, I got fucked for a 6.5 euro SMALL cappucino once...it pays to read the prices before ordering if you're in touristy areas. I had some great, sub 15 euro meals off the beaten path.
I'll add more later, at work right now. I really enjoyed everything though, only some minor annoyances. Oh, and one day, I believe possibly walking from Gare de l'Est, I wanted to walk back to the Seine instead of taking the metro. So I just looked at Google maps and picked the closest route. At about 12:30 PM I walked straight through about 15 minutes of brown town. Nothing happened, but it was a little disconcerting, as I only saw about two other white people in the span it took me to walk through the area, which tells me the local whiteys probably avoid it. I started seeing a lot of shops with "Africa" in the name, hair braiding salons, and rundown looking restaurants...and a whole helluva lot of brothers just "hanging" in the streets, some yelling at each other at one point and a crowd forming (I started walking the fuck as fast past that as possible.) Would not have been pleasant at night.
I would also like to reiterate Adam12's like of D'Orsay over the Louvre...the Louvre is a beast that's full of wonderful things, but D'Orsay is much more relaxing and better laid out for what it has.
