More on Paris
Paris is as always a great place to hang out. The weather this weekend has been pretty marginal, lots of cloud and rain, but that made the occasional “sun break” look beautiful. I took the walk that I used to take from my apartment on Rue du Seine over the Pont des Artes, one of the iconic city views of the world, with the Louvre in front of you the Eiffel tower to your left and Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cite to your right.
I hung out with mostly French, and was amused to discover that Cafe de Flore is not just a tourist trap, the locals actually go there! It was reassuringly, perhaps even exestentially, expensive, compared with everywhere else, but also rather good, even if the waiters have the approved professional attitude.
The general consensus was that prices had gone up a lot with the Euro, but Paris does not feel like a “big Capital city” at the price level, certainly obviously cheaper than London or New York. I think when I lived here in the ealry 1990s it felt more expensive, I wonder if the liberalization of the European markets and continued social legislation in the country has meant that big business has avoided Paris as a hub. Companies with an EMEA HQ in PAris feel a little like anomolies. It is also interesting to see that the airport has not expanded much in that time- with people complaining that it is hard to get aywhere from here.