Paris, most popular tourist destination in the world, etc

Paris for Tourists

I visited Paris in the 70s, but it was just a one day visit. Amazingly, we managed to crammed quite a lot into that one day including entrance to the famous Moulin Rouge. I can see why Paris is the most popular tourist destination in the world. It has not been dubbed "The Romance Capital of the World" and the "City of Light" for nothing. There are lots for tourists to enjoy, and more had been added since my last visit.

Paris for commerce, finance and others

However, Paris is just not for tourists. It is also a major city for commerce and various important world center like the headquarter of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are located in Paris. The Paris Club, while not a permanent body like UNESCO or OECD, is an important informal grouping of 19 of the world's richest countries formed to debate matters related to debt restructuring, debt relief, and debt cancellation of impoverished countries often working together with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The members of the Paris Club meets every six weeks at the French Ministry of the Economy, Finance, and Industry in Paris.

The Paris Region (Île-de-France or Région Parisienne) is an important commercial area and considered one of the richest regions in the world. Within it is located other business districts including the well known La Défense. Paris is also thus frequented by government officials and businessmen.

But let us talk about Paris for tourists:

Eiffel Tower and double Decker bus

Photo of Eiffel Tower and double Decker bus
by David aka "bratan"

bratan says: "welcome to Paris dear happy tourists"

Who doesn't know Eiffel Tower, the most recognizable structure in the world and the icon of Paris? You can see it in the background in the above photo behind the open deck red double Decker bus. Looks like London don't have a monopoly over red double Decker buses. A visit to Eiffel Tower is highly recommended, as I myself have taken the lift up to the top deck. You can get a spectacular view of Paris skyline from there. I don't know about the double Decker red bus because I never saw it during my visit, but it should be a fun ride, especially if you dump yourself in the open top deck.

La Géode in Parc de la Villette

Photo of La Géode
by Etienne Cazin

This is something I missed in my day visit to Paris, the La Géode, an Omnimax dome theatre located in the Parc de la Villette is the largest park in Paris. It has facilities for science and music, including the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, the biggest science museum in Europe.

An OMNIMAX now called theIMAX Dome is designed for projection of large movies on tilted dome screens and I have never experienced one before. That is one big reason for me to visit Paris again, but this time, a day visit will not do. For such a thing to happen, I am going to need accommodation which I will likely book online using my ADSL broadband 24 hours connection to the Internet via Paris Hôtels. Darn. This website is in French. While I know a bit of French like bonjour, excusez-moi and merci beaucoup, this smattering of French is not going to help me navigate this French website.

But Spain is France neighbor, and it will be easy for them to visit Paris as it is just a short hop from their country and for them, the Spanish online booking site, París Hoteles will but for them, but not for me despite know some Spanish like buenos días, excúseme and gracias mucho.

Germany too is France next door neighbor, and it is no surprise to learn that Paris is a favorite of German tourist too. I know some German language too because I have learned Dutch and German and Dutch language are closely related, but still will not be able to handle Paris Hotels which is a German language site. I will have to leave this German website for German tourists.

When I visited England in the 70's, I had to use the hovercraft. There used to be hovercrafts carrying passengers from Dover, England to Calais, France, but I think that has stopped as it is no competition to the high speed 186 mph Eurostar train via the Chunnel under the English Channel. For them and for me, we will have to resort to Paris Hotels which is English language.

Take TGV trains rather than fly when in France

There are various ways of travelling - road, rail (trains), fly, etc. In France, the is an extensive network of TGV trains connecting major cities travelling at very high speed. Actually, TGV trains connect not only French cities, but also some cities in Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, Netherlands and United Kingdom via the Channel (tunnel under the English Channel connecting Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom to Coquelles near Calais in northern France. Let us compare travelling via air flights and travelling via high speed TGV trains.

Flying

Flying involve very expensive airplanes flying at high altitudes. Much precious and depleting fossil fuel need to be used to get the planes up to the high altitudes. There is the noise pollution on take off and landing which residents near airports have to put up with. The burning of fuel, a precious, increasingly expensive and depleting fossil fuel, releases greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. The contrails (vapor trails or condensation trails and artificial cirrus clouds caused by the exhaust of aircraft engines) left at 30,000ft act to further magnify a plane's climate change impact. Further, the planes are spewing air pollutants such as nitrates, ash and sulfates at high altitudes, some of which deplete ozone in the atmosphere, a protective layer crucial for protecting life on Earth from the Sun's harmful rays. The Royal British Commission on Environmental Pollution estimated in 2002 that commercial airline emissions are a major contributor to global warming, and urged governments to draft policies to encourage train travel instead where feasible. It seems the Lonely Planet guide to Paris recommend taking the train too.

In addition to all the above, airports are usually located far away from the city centers which is the normal initial departure and destination points of air travellers. The travelling time plus the check-in time, time needed to go through custom and immigration procedure plus the security checks after 9/11 contribute to the total travelling time, and for short travel, it is not unusual for train travel to be faster and more convenient as train stations are located very close, if not within city centers.

TGV trains

TGV ("train à grande vitesse" translated from French to English "high-speed train") is France's high-speed rail service first developed by GEC-Alsthom (now Alstom) and SNCF, the French national rail operator. TGV train has expanded from connecting major cities in France to connecting cities in adjacent countries like Belgium, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. It also connects to the United Kingdom via the Chunnel (underground tunnel beneath the English Channel between France and United Kingdom). While it has been recorded to travel at 574.8 km/h (357 mph), in commercial use, it can travel at speed up to 320 km/h (200 mph). In addition to its high speed which can rival air travel, it also have the advantage of having the railway stations located near or even within city centers. Thus for short journeys, especially for travel within France, you can probably reach your final destination in shorter time compared with air travel.

Travelling with TGV trains are also safe according to Wikipedia. The TGV trains has not recorded a single fatality due to accident while running at high speed although there had been fatalities while travelling on lignes classiques (traditional lines, that is, collisions at low speed at railway crossings, etc.). Travelling in the more spacious TGV trains is probably more comfortable than in the cramped space in an airplane.

The most extensive network of TGV trains is in France, and in my opinion, it is a much better idea to use the TGV trains than fly when travelling within France. Travelling is one thing. The other thing you will need is accommodation. You can book that online at Hotels in France. Most visitors will be staying in Paris, the capital, and for that, book your accommodation at Hotels in Paris. They have a Lowest Rate Guarantee. If you can get a rate lower than the best available Internet rate on another web site for the same hotel/accommodation, on the same dates, just inform them within 24 hours of booking your room(s) with them, and they will honour that rate for the night(s) for which the lower rate was found and refund you the difference.

If you read Spanish, you can look for accommodation in Francia Hoteles