Paris vs London

[Bungo the Mungo]

Paris. Food is so much better

You can eat much better for much less money in London than you can in Paris.

That's certainly been my experience.

Because..

...London is a truely international city, whereas Paris and especially the population is a lot more insular and parochial.

so you get shitloads of small sushi bars in London, for example, and they have to keep their prices relatively low to stay competitive. Same with other types of 'ethnic' restaurants - at all points on the price scale. Mostly run by immigrants or second-generation, so they're authentic. Berlin is even better for this. Not the same thing in Paris at all.

[.]

You've not been to (for example) Chinatown in Paris, then?
Exactly the same rules apply.
I'm really surprised that so many places manage to stay open, given their margins nowadays

[Walk In My Shadow]

You've not been to (for example) Chinatown in Paris, then?
Exactly the same rules apply.
I'm really surprised that so many places manage to stay open, given their margins nowadays

Money laundering.

[Minnie the Minx]

Paris has been the unfriendliest place I have ever visited, on every occasion, and I have never felt more uncomfortable as a non - skinny woman eating. In restaurants, unless you are pushing your lettuce leaf away because the smell of the oil has filled you up, the glare of disdain is upon you. If I start smoking and get a bypass, I may return.

[Neige]

You've not been to (for example) Chinatown in Paris, then?
Exactly the same rules apply.
I'm really surprised that so many places manage to stay open, given their margins nowadays

Money laundering.

Not funny, but true...!


Re: the question.

I'd love to live in either city, if I were stinking rich (speaking fluent french sure helps make Paris more appealing).


As it is, I'd rather go for the Berlin option.

[dang65]

I lived and worked in Paris in the early 80s, and returned to work there for a few months a couple of years ago. What really struck me was that the place was almost completely unchanged. The Metro trains were the same, the buses were the same, the buildings were the same, the cafes were the same, the shops were the same. Of course, that's the very thing which attracts a lot of people to Paris... you really can step back into the romantic 1950s, or 1930s, or 1890s, because fuck all ever changes. To me, though, it looks as run down as an old Butlins.

London has changed almost out of recognition in the same time period. From bomb-sites and strip clubs and Routemasters and pigeons to Millennium Wheels and Gherkins and new Tube lines and restored stations and continuous vibrancy. Which, of course, is what puts a lot of people off London. But London continues to endlessly produce fresh events and a feeling of originality while never losing its historical sites and feel. What has really come out of Paris since the romantic artists and writers, pretty much a hundred years ago? A bit of fashion? Some student riots? Everything else is traditional, from the end of the Tour de France to the 14 July parades, from the artists in Montmartre to... the other artists on the Left Bank.

So, if you like the retro thing and nothing else then Paris is probably great. I found it as tired and decrepit as Blackpool. And even Blackpool has a certain decadency about it which seems to be long gone from Paris!

[Qube]

I spent a couple of days in Paris in November and loved the place, but I think overall I'd pick London although in fairness a couple of days isn't a great deal of time to form an opinion.

One comment on Paris though, is coffee worth more than gold?! All the cafes seemed to charge between 6-10 euros for a 6oz cup! Overall I found the food to be very good in Paris.

[bobzilla77]

I did about a week in both cities as a tourist and I really found Paris exciting and fascinating. We ate extremely well without having to do much research. As one friend told me when I asked for recommendations - just walk down the street till you see a menu that appeals to you, that place is probably pretty good. And he was right. And there was no way we could do everything we wanted to in a week. Just grabbing an ice cream and wandering down the Champs Elysees was an afternoon well spent.

Our stay in London was nice but I didn't get quite as into it as I expected. I think it would have helped to know some people there that could show us around, it seems a lot easier to make bad choices if you're uninformed.

[Quaco]

Paris is easy to love. I am very aesthetically orientated, so to have a place that doesn't destroy its own legacy so much is wonderful. Some may call it "retro", but I call it keeping the good stuff. L.A. is terrible for this.

London, well, never loved me back as much as I loved it, so I feel like a jilted lover almost. But you know, if she came calling ...

[Walk In My Shadow]

Our stay in London was nice but I didn't get quite as into it as I expected. I think it would have helped to know some people there that could show us around, it seems a lot easier to make bad choices if you're uninformed.

Was this before BCB was invented?

[copehead]

You're right about eating, though. Far, far cheaper too (just like public transport).
TBC

I don't think this is necessarily true anymore. There are just as many crap tourist rip off joints in Paris as in London.

Now London has Brasserie Zedel you don't even need to go to Paris to eat the best French brasserie food, something that London was lacking.

Also Paris is a bit closer to being a epicurian monoculture

London is truly a city of the world and you can find good food from just about every culture on Earth.

Mimsy is right that Paris is a city to go on holiday in whereas London is a place to live near.

I wouldn't want to live in it, but living a 30min train ride away is perfect.

[sloopjohnc]

I am very aesthetically orientated

Yet you live in LA.

Explain that one to me.

[straw mimsy]

I really really really don't get people's love of Berlin...ESPECIALLY not to live.

Anyway...at least Copehead has been able to say what I have meant all along.

London's a helluva lot more awkward than Paris, but has it's charm in it's diversity.
On the otherhand, if we were talking countries to live in, I might choose France over Britain.

That is, for me, this choice is going to come up (choosing a country to live in between Ireland, Britain, France and Germany most likely). Otherwise, I find these threads really interesting, because hypothetically, we might all have cities, or countries we think about moving to-- but never will, and if we did might find ourselves terribly unhappy in.

I do think it's a mistake to say "Best" though. As people have all said, it all depends on context.

[Matty Red Sox]

I certainly wouldn't plan to go to either London or Paris for Japanese food (though I have to say that I found the japanese food in London, at the places I went, lacking - I went with Japanese clients, who were saying that there was no real J-food in London - this was around 2000, though). I try to eat the local cuisine and judge the food by that. I wouldn't look for a burger in Bangkok either.

As others have mentioned though, London is losing it's character, much like NYC has... I call it being Bed, Bath, and Bombarded... the chains have moved in and taken over. All major cities have this, but I felt NYC and London to be very similar due to this. Paris still seemed unique. Then again I live in the hell hole that is Jakarta, where I can decent food mixed with awful stuff... pork is hard to find, but not impossible here.

[Quaco]

I am very aesthetically orientated

Yet you live in LA.

Explain that one to me.

I'm in pain a lot of the time!

[the hanging monkey]

I wouldn't want to live in it, but living a 30min train ride away is perfect.

How could living in the south be perfect?

[Insouciant Western People]

I agree, London is losing its identity. It's gotten to the point where ethnic Brits are in the minority now. I don't think that's what multiculturalism should be about.

Census results published by he Office for National Statstics (ONS) show a slight decline in the percentage of White British people living in London from 59.6% in 2001 to 57.7% in 2007.

Not a minority by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly lower than the percentage of White Brits in the UK as a whole, which is given as 86.8% in 2001 and 83.6% in 2007.

London... has very little in common with the rest of the UK. You can spend years in London without really getting to know English people.

That’s an interesting point, and one that I've used when trying to attract overseas students to come to universities in the north and midlands. For obvious reasons a lot of international students are fixated on going to a university in or around London, especially those from the Indian subcontinent.

[copehead]

I wouldn't want to live in it, but living a 30min train ride away is perfect.

How could living in the south be perfect?

Well lack of Northerners is a good starting point

[The Slider]

If only.
There are more of them down here than there are up there.
They know how shit the North is and move down here in droves.

[copehead]

If only.
There are more of them down here than there are up there.
They know how shit the North is and move down here in droves.

I have a nasty suspicion that I might be Hitchin's token Northerner