The French Are Not Rude! 3 Beautiful Days In Paris

    So Paris, The City Of Love, renown for being glitzy, glamorous, and expensive, but extremely surprisingly .. Paris is also a budget travelers dream! On a 3 week trip to Europe I stopped in Paris for 3 days, I was doing so well on budget I did splurge on some shirts that were around $35 USD each, which I would never pay in America, I should also note that I had exhausted the shirts I packed and felt if I wore the same button down one more time I'd forever remember the trip as the purple shirt trip. But anyway, back to Paris, I heard many good and bad things about Paris, but as always in life, if you really want to learn something, and experience somewhere, nothing beats going there by yourself! Here's my tips for Paris for the budget traveler...

• Number 1: FRENCH PEOPLE ARE NOT RUDE!!! Just like some Europeans stereotype Americans as being fat and replica's of George Bush, too many people on my way to Paris told me how rude people in Paris are. I never experienced this, not once. Oh, and unlike other countries I've been to, I have no background in French language! They were still polite, courteous, and respectful to me. Don't go run up to a French person and start ranting in English, politely ask if they speak English and then get your point across.
• The Eiffel Tower... yes the most stereotypical tourist image, I was just planning on checking it out and taking a pic, but here's a tip I didn't know, if you want to wait on a 2 hour line and be lazy to ride the elevator up and pay more money you can certainly do that, but the loyal fans of my other blog, will enjoy this route much more, NO LINE, ONLY 5 EUROS, and you can walk/run up the stairs, the clerk reported it takes about 35 minutes, not at top speed me and another fire fighter buddy did it in about 12... the stairs were a little wet so I didn't double step. It was a great experience I wasn't expecting and great view of the city! I've been to many towers in many cities and this was one of the few times I recall the stairs being an option. A real pleasant surprise. 
• The Louvre, for 15 Euros, how can you possibly go wrong? You will see trillions of dollars of art, and the famous Mona Lisa in person. You can easily spend a day here, but if you are a budget traveler, and only here for a bit, you can also spend an hour or two and not feel ripped off.

• Notre Dame, here's a great one for the budget traveler... FREE! One of the world's oldest and most renown churches as no cost!
• The Latin Quarter, this was where we spent the majority of nights and dining, if you are a wine drinker you will easily get away with saving money, beer not so much, and liquor you may want to open a seperate account for. The dining here was incredible too, and a huge bargain, there are so many little restaurants and unique non-chain dining you will have no problem finding a quality French or international meal.

When you reach what seems like a never ending maze of beautiful alleys with non stop little shops and restaurants, welcome to the Latin quarter.

• Avoid the red light district like the plague. I understand some people may want to go tour it "just to see it". But of all the area's I went to in the city, it is extremely shady and did have an element of... "Hmmm... I should maybe get the f--k out of here."
• Want to save even more money during your holiday? At night on the embankment it was easy to find many people with a bottle of wine from the store just enjoying the cold winter night at wine store prices rather than bar prices and having a glass on the street or by the river. Is this legal? Uhhh.... not totally sure, just don't get caught!
• Fashion... First a warning to boyfriends, husbands, and fiances... If your girl likes shoes, AVOID PARIS! Or at least warn her to keep the trip in budget, there is a women's shoe store every 10 meters, shoe stores are to Paris what palm tree's are to Miami. Ok, other than that, a midst the high end retailers selling $200 shirts, there are plenty of great boutiques and clothing stores where you can find modern styles that you won't find anywhere else, and they are not hard to find, they will be on the same blocks as the high rollers, just enjoy browsing and you will find one!

    Like many cities I've been to, I only passed through Paris because it was a cheap flight/connection, I took an overnight train from Germany and had a cheap flight back to the States from CDG, I was expecting a city that was overrated, over priced, and overly rude... But instead, I found Paris. And while I'm sure those negative things could be an aspect of Paris, they could be an aspect of any big city. In travel, like in life, you find what you are looking for if you want it bad enough, or sometimes in a city as beautiful as Paris, it finds you.

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