Tourism in Paris (not a roast just an observation)

When people first began asking me what I was doing over the summer and I told them I would be staying in Paris for a month, those who had been before were not so hesitant to tell me their opinion of the city. There’s trash everywhere, you always step in dog poop, the people are rude, it’s overrated, etc. I never gave much consideration to these comments, because everyone travels differently and people have different priorities. As I mentioned in my first blog post, most of the negative things people said about Paris did not turn out to be true (from what I have experienced for the past 2 weeks). That being said, after some recent trips to more touristy locations: The Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and The Louvre, I can sometimes understand where people are coming from. Especially if you visit Paris and intentionally only visit these aforementioned sites, without exploring what I consider the real parts of the city, your impression of Paris might not be all sunshine and rainbows.

I have been enjoying everyday here to the fullest and truly loving learning about the city. My not-so-favorite-times have only been in these highly populated tourist areas.

1. The Eiffel Tower– The architecture is stunning and the history behind its creation is absolutely fascinating. It would be lovely if you could sit on the grass by the Eiffel Tower and enjoy looking at its magnificence without people constantly coming up to you to sell things. Sitting there for only 30 minutes we were interrupted at least every 5 minutes to buy a mini Eiffel Tower or drinks. Even if they were not coming up to us we could always here them yelling the prices for souvenirs no matter where we sat. Expectation: peaceful reflection. Reality: stressful sitting surrounded by bottle caps.|| Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower was really exciting and definitely worth the trip, but I was disappointed to see the restaurants and stores incorporated inside the Eiffel Tower. It definitely shocked me that the most iconic building in France, even the world, seemed to sell out.
2. Versailles- The gardens of Versailles were by far my favorite and because it was so immense, you had the space to enjoy it. The palace, however, is a different story. It was packed to the absolute maximum capacity to the point of only being able to truly see the ceilings. One week later I have no memory of what it was like inside (no sense of the space either), because of the sheer volume of people. We thought a reason for this could be to get maximum cash flow into the institution so they can keep up with the expenses of running everything- but at what point is the amount of people dangerous to each other? And at what point is the amount of people dangerous to the artifacts?
3. The Louvre- I was not expecting the Louvre to be my favorite trip because I’m not a big art buff, I only care about impressionism, but again, the sheer mass of people made any potential for enjoyment dwindle. The additions to the Louvre made this problem even worse. McDonalds, Starbucks, and a shopping mall made the space feel too commercialized.

The only trash I saw was near the Eiffel Tower, and the only rude people I encountered were other tourists at The Big 3 listed above. I understand that tourism is a large part of the French economy (tens of billions of dollars, and employs 10% of the population), but these tourist additions to cultural sites did the opposite of enhancing my experience. Since coming here I have learned how much the French pride themselves on their literature, artists, poets, musicians, and architecture. Which leaves me wondering why such cultural icons like the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and the Louvre have become a hybrid shopping mall and amusement park. And when I ask myself this question I also know the answer is money. That makes sense to me too.