Day 1 - My First Impressions

Travel delays put me at my hotel around 3 pm when I had hoped to arrive about 11 am. This changed my plans a little. I checked into the hotel, grabbed a coffee - Starbucks wouldn't you know - and walked the neighborhood. Here are impressions on my introduction to Paris.

The Place
Foremost, Paris is a city. It pretends to be nothing else. This is not a tourist destination that says "Welcome. How may I help?" and leaves a chocolate on your pillow, but "Bon jour. There's food in the fridge. Help yourself, but I've things to do."
Paris is more like New York City than any city in the States. As with the Big Apple, it has it's own personality that you feel as you walk her streets. There's a pulse; a rhythym that gets you up to speed as soon as you enter. I feel it and enjoy the pace at once.
My hotel is in the Latin Quarter. It's tucked a half-block in from Le Boulvard Saint Michel which is lined with chain stores -that's where I got the coffee - and local shops. There is a constant stream of assorted traffic: speeding cars, chugging bicyclists and hurried pedestrians. Behind the hotel is a fantstic weave of alleys. They have no vehicle traffic but plenty of people. They're barely 10 feet across and not one is straight. But all are lined with small restaurants and little pubs. Any taste you have can be satisfied by the array of offerings: French, Italian, Greek, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai....
My room is small but extremely clean, comfortable and tidy. It's location is fantastic and will serve me well as a base of operations and sleeping quarters;

The People
The myth of the rude French is overblown. Every person has been very nice. My limited French has been best put to use with the phrase: "Vous parlez Anglais?" (Do you speak English?). Most everyone does. Many very well. And those who claim not too are markedly better than I am in French.

This writing is of early Friday evening; I have been to the Louvre, Notre Dame, some local bars and had my first French dinner. And of course checked out the Women - better than expected...