I have been to Paris before, but this is the first time I’ve had several days to explore and experience its city and its people. Paris is an extremely large city, larger than most other major European cities, so I’m sure my observations won’t apply to the entire city or every region. I spent most of my time around the central core, from the financial district in the West to Charles De Gualle in the East.
The Women
As always, let’s cover the women first. It’s probably no surprise to hear me say that French women are clearly the best-looking women in Western Europe. However, A) that’s not saying much; B) remember that I’m excluding both Scandinavia and Eastern Europe when I say “Western Europe”; C) they aren’t much better-looking than other countries, just somewhat so.
All that being said, yes, there are definitely hot women here, which is very unlike London and Berlin. None of the hot women in Paris (that I’ve seen anyway) are super-hot and most women aren’t hot or cute, just like any other city. However, this could be my American Societal programming kicking in without me realizing it. French people tend to have noses that look odd to American eyes and that extends to the cute and hot women here. Perhaps if you’re a non-American you may find them more attractive than I do.
French women also have the best bodies in Western Europe and here they excel far beyond their British and German counterparts. Women in France are much more likely to have bigger boobs and bigger, rounder asses than any other Western European nation by far. It’s a very nice change after having spent so much time in London and Berlin lately.
Don’t get me wrong; women’s curviness here is nothing like South America, not even close. It’s more on par with the USA where at least you can find curvy women as compared to Germany (where there are virtually none because they’re too skinny) or London (where they tend to be overweight and/or have a massive mix of body types).
The People
Sadly, I have found that many of the negative stereotypes of French people tend to be true. I’ll cover a few of them I’ve experienced both on this trip and prior trips I’ve taken to France.
First off is the body odor. Holy shit. Yes, the stereotype that French people don’t shower as often is true, or at least must be, since many times I’ve been smacked in the face with really horrible guy body odor. I don’t mean the kind where you say “Hm, that guy needs cologne.” Oh no, I’m talking about being bowled over with the worst BO you’ve ever smelt in your life.
I’ve noticed this shitty BO always comes from men, never from women. I guess it’s just part of the culture here. The men here also tend to be shorter on average than men in Germany (who are tall), men in England (who come in all shapes and sizes) and men in Italy (who are short and broad, but not quite this short).
Xenophobia. I have found the stereotype that French people are intolerant of foreigners (including other Europeans) at least partially true. On one of my trips here I took my Mom. She received many dirty looks from French people when it was clear she couldn’t speak the language. Uber drivers here are very quiet when they realize you’re an American, which is the opposite of Uber drivers in London and Berlin who are very talkative and friendly almost across the board.
Smoking. More people smoke cigarettes on the streets of Paris than any other city I’ve ever visited in my entire life outside of China. It really is something. You’d better get used to cigarette smoke if you spend any extended time in Paris. Normally I don’t care but this time it was troublesome since Pink Firefly, who was with me on this trip, is allergic to cigarette smoke (it actually makes her sick; it causes some interesting scenarios when we go to Vegas), so it was hard for her.
Having come from cigarette-hating America she had never experienced this kind of thing before, people smoking cigarettes out in the open on the streets en mass. So, I had to explain to her that left-wing France doesn’t have the hyper-negative stigma attached to cigarettes that the left-wing does in the USA.
Side note: I’ve never smoked and I hate cigarettes with a passion, but I’m a libertarian so I’m against cigarettes being illegal. (See? I can separate my personal opinions from what I would impose on society. It’s called rationality.) I would prefer that everything was legal (all drugs, alcohol, etc) and that the free market determine no-smoking zones for non-smokers like me. But I digress.
Surprisingly, Parisians are much more “spacey” than most other big city-dwellers. I discussed this when I talked about New Zealand. People in Paris, despite living in one of the largest and busiest cities on the planet often walk around like they’re in dream state, suddenly stopping without checking behind them, or slowly turning around while in the middle of dense crowd, or just standing there staring off into space instead of moving aside. Numerous times I almost crashed into French people acting like they were alone out in an open field rather than in a crowded, fast moving city. Very weird.
People like this always make me miss Asia. Those city dwellers are fast and focused and don’t fuck around. Much better in my view.
French people are much more socially aggressive, which I sort of like. This would be a contrast to people like the Canadians who are more socially passive. French people have no problem whatsoever walking right up to you at the airport and (politely) telling you to move your ass two seats over so they can sit closer to the USB port so they can charge their phone. A random woman on the plane pretty much handed me her huge bag and expected me to put it under the seat in front of me because she was sitting in an exit row. A guy standing behind Pink Firefly in a line told her that she needed to close her purse and that it was dangerous for her to have it open. And so on. Most people in most countries don’t have these kinds of social balls, but the French certainly do.
That purse thing leads into the issue of crime in Paris. The petty crime rate here is pretty bad. Once we were settled PF left her purse in the hotel room when we went out because of the pickpockets here, something she didn’t have to really worry too much about in other countries. Western collapse hits all countries differently, and in Paris, one of its symptoms is the massively growing crime rate.
The City
The city of Paris is endlessly exciting and always a joy to visit (though I would never live here). It combines the cool factor of New York with the rich and grand history of London. I could spend perhaps two weeks here just going through all the major historical sites, love every minute of it and still not get to everything. This is on top of other areas within easy driving distance that I could experience (but haven’t yet) like the Palace of Versailles.
The Eiffel Tower really is a wonder to behold and no pictures or movies do it justice if you’ve never seen it in real life. When you walk under it, you are overwhelmed by the sheer size of the thing, as well as the fact that they built the damn thing in the 1800s. I’ve been up into the tower twice now and it’s still no less exciting. In typical, slow, disorganized, European fashion, you’ll wait almost three hours in various lines in order to actually get inside the damn thing, but hey, it’s Europe; you’ve got to expect that shit here. And, in the case of the Eiffel Tower, it’s worth it. Amazing to think it was built purely as a temporary structure they were going to tear down after the World’s Fair!
This time I stayed in the financial district, the one area of town with modern skyscrapers, but spent most of our time down in the core where the buildings are older and much more interesting. Paris is a unique mix of high-tech modern, amazing historical, typical old-school European, and pure shit. It probably has more flavor than any other Western city in the world.
I’ve always wondered who in European cities choose their odd, uniformed color schemes. Just about every building in Paris is beige with a grey roof. Here’s what I mean:
Isn’t that funny? (It’s just like Berlin where pretty much all the buildings have red roofs.)
Who decided that all buildings and roofs in this city need to be that color? Isn’t that weird? If you answer it’s because of the coloration of the construction materials, that doesn’t make any sense because just a two- hour flight away and all the buildings are another color.
The uniformity of color in European buildings is so strange to me and always has been. Collectivism at its finest I guess.
That brings us to the driving here. The French aren’t the insane, angry, suicidal maniacs that the Italians are. However, the Parisians have, for some strange reason, built these odd circle-streets that are five or six lanes wide where multiple streets converge. Whenever someone drives into one of these insane circles, get ready for some serious screaming, yelling, bitching and engaging in near-suicidal driving tactics in order to get through multiple unmarked lanes of traffic filled with other drivers who don’t want to let you through.
It’s hilarious. PF was terrified and I was laughing. Who the fuck thought of this system? Humorously inefficient and dumb. Reminds me of LAX. (Entertaining though, constantly watching your Uber/taxi driver scream and get screamed at by other drivers as they attempt to navigate this shit.)
In conclusion, Paris is a very interesting and entertaining city and one of those places I could spend several weeks exploring. Alas, I have other cities I need to visit, and this marks the end of this particular trip back to Europe. Next time I travel internationally in a few months it will be to Paraguay to buy my farm and New Zealand to find my new house. I’ll also hit Russia and Eastern Europe in 2020 and I’ll review it all here then.
Want over 35 hours of how-to podcasts on how to improve your woman life and financial life? Want to be able to coach with me twice a month? Want access to hours of technique-based video and audio? The SMIC Program is a monthly podcast and coaching program where you get access to massive amounts of exclusive, members-only Alpha 2.0 content as soon as you sign up, and you can cancel whenever you want. Click here for the details.
You nailed it!
I am French and I agree, even the nose thing.
What’s your take on the Métro and RER?
Regarding buildings: that’s because Paris was re-built during the XIXth century to avoid riots (this is France, after all). So, during the second Empire, a préfet (a guy directly chosen by the emperor, with a lot of power) called Hausmann had all the small streets that were so easy to block destroyed, and planned all these typical buildings and wide avenues. It was actually done to fight collectivism.
I’m surprised by your take on xenophobia. France is known to be a mix of cultures, much more than most of Europe, and we have much less issues regarding races than the USA. We have no black cities or white districts in France, and a black guy dating a white woman, or the opposite, is totally normal. Now, we easily get nervous with American people, because you tend to be rude according to our own etiquette. You (Im’ making a generalization there, you’ll know if it applies to you or not) are very loud and expect people to speak in English. If you talk to some random stranger, but don’t say “hi” or “excuse me”, and don’t ask us if we speak English or not, for sure you won’t be welcome.
Probably bullshit, but a nifty story nonetheless…
According to one of my drawing professors, it has to do with art tradition. He explained to me once that, back in Renaissance times, there were arguments about how to best represent certain elements with paint. Each region had it’s own opinion on it, and that lead to stuff like Italy preferring green for shadows while the french used blue, and that in turn influenced their choices of color for buildings.
Might be true when the whole parisian region is included, but the so-called Paris intra-muros is actually pretty compact, 12×9 km, with a higher population density than other european capitals (I suppose some other major cities may differ). One source says London has fifteen times the surface area of Paris.
Yeah, London is gigantic, or actually it’s Paris that’s very small. Even Edinburgh is twice as big as Paris.
When I’m referring to Paris’s size, I’m talking about population size, not land mass.
Never used it.
And then you say…
Self awareness.
Hi Casey – Somewhat off topic – I’m considering going on Testosterone replacement therapy and I like to travel, so I’m curious how you handle traveling with your test supplies when visiting different countries?
OK, as long as you’re just buying A farm and not THE farm!
But remember the big variable in farming, over which you have no control – the weather. Here in the Heartland we had a cold, wet spring, then a long dry stretch in the summer, and harvests aren’t great.
But yeah, long term the world is only going to get more people, and they need to be fed!!
It’s Caleb, not Casey, but no worries.
I have traveled literally all over the world with my testosterone and insulin syringes, sometimes as many as 30 of them, and never had any problem with any country or airport.
Thanks for the advice.
are scandanavia and eastern europe in the same boat/circumstances for what to expect when the the EU fully collapses? what happens to the super hotties!? lol
I’m not sure what you call xenophobia then. When I went to Scandinavia several people told me (what you say there) they tended to be quite nervous with French people because we are socially agressive and like conflict much more than them. That’s no xenophobia, that’s a cultural difference, and people react to that cultural difference, there is no hate. Very few French people hate American citizens, did you feel it that way? Dis you feel unwelcome or something ?
Sorry about that Caleb!
Do you just put them in your carry on or in checked luggage. When customs asks “anything to declare”? Do you say anything?
I’m not referring to hate. Just a general to mild dislike of anyone from outside of the culture.
On my trips to France I feel like I’m tolerated instead of embraced. As I said in the article, when I go to other European countries like Germany, England, and Italy, I feel like people are happy to see me and are interested that I’m from somewhere else. In France I don’t feel any of that. I feel, at best, a very cold and quiet politeness. Read what I said in the article about the stark difference in Uber drivers, as just one example. It’s very similar to when I go to Japan, another xenophobic culture.
You French just aren’t very friendly to foreigners as compared to other Europeans (but no, you don’t hate them). It’s okay. Own it.
Always in my carry-on. I never check bags. (PF checks her bags but I never check mine.)
Nope, never. But I always make sure to never have anything with me that I would have to declare (fresh fruit or vegetables, unpackaged food, valuables, lots of cash, etc). If I need to transport anything like that (which is rare) I’ll ship it instead of take it with me on the plane.
I was in Paris in 2018 and 2012. It is my favorite city to travel to. France is my favorite Country to travel in as well. I’m Chinese-Canadian, but probably get thought of as being Mainland Chinese (stereotype now = obnoxious, but lots of money to spend) or American (because of my accent), but overall I didn’t find that affected in how we were treated. In Vancouver we have natural beauty (mountains and nature) and cookie cutter glass high rises that make for a nice skyline. In Paris, it’s man made beauty…which I find much more impressive and mesmerizing.
I can only recall two minor issues in France: one being a rude older Caucasian bus driver in Monaco (technically not France, but they speak French there) and the other was in Marseille with a millennial aged female Middle Easterner (that spoke French….lots of Muslims in Marseille) with her mom and horde of wild younger siblings running around in the subway. The bus driver basically told me to piss off and sit my ass down after I asked him to give me a day pass rather than a one way ticket. I barely stepped on a female Muslim’s flip flop in a crowded subway and she freaks out and tells me I’m supposed to say “excusez moi” then she made some comments about me being Chinese to her family.
Everyone my family and I came across in Paris was wonderful. Whenever we would enter a store, they would greet us “Bonjour/Bonsoir!” and when we would leave wave “Au revoir!” When we would speak to anyone (usually restaurants or shops), we’d say “parlez vous Anglais? (Do you speak English?)”, and they would help us in English as best they could (without playing dumb or rolling their eyes) or apologize then run over to get an English speaking colleague to help us instead.
I like Paris because it is a very chic and glamorous atmosphere (pretty much all of the places in France I visited have this feel…..Paris, Bordeaux, Cassis, Valensole, Cannes, Nice, and Monaco, but parts of Marseille were a bit scuzzy). My sister has done tons of travelling due to the nature of her job….Paris still ranks #1 on her favorite cities to visit list.
If you are a fan of beaches….go to the South of France (you could pass on Marseille though) during the summer. Bonus, topless sunbathing is the norm.
Hmm a lot of smoking in the streets you say. I would love Paris, i’m sick of scumbags tellin me to smoke here and there.
As a French friend of mine said, no one in Paris cares what color anyone else is — so long as he speaks perfect French and is in every way integrated into French culture. As he said, the whole idea of multiculturalism is utterly abhorrent to the French.
And I saw for myself on a train trip through Lyon on a Saturday evening, when it was pretty much open warfare between large groups of young males, probably the children of Algerian or North African migrants, drunk and abusive and harassing other passengers. I remember seeing a scared, pretty blond housewife with two toddlers, cowering in her seat. I moved over and sat next to her so the guys harassing her might think I was her male protector. It was fun to play the gentleman.
I have no big theory or political opinions about migration in Europe. Frankly, I dont have a horse in that race – I live in Asia. I just report what I saw.
Alexandre Dumas, the great French writer, author of the Count of Monte Cristo, was black, or at least had a black African grandmother. Noone seemed to hold that against him.
Paris is one of the most overrated city in the world in my opinion. I have been there 7 times (different reasons). Its dirty and their metro stinks. French girls are hot and their ASD Is much lower then other nationalities. French in other cities in France have much different attitude then people in Paris.
DC wrote:
When we would speak to anyone (usually restaurants or shops), we’d say “parlez vous Anglais? (Do you speak English?)”, and they would help us in English as best they could (without playing dumb or rolling their eyes) or apologize then run over to get an English speaking colleague to help us instead.
Bingo. I’m Canadian, of European descent, and visited France for the first time this summer with my girlfriend. My French is probably as bad as BD’s German.
We used exactly the same strategy, with exactly the same results. Most people were very nice, and helpful. The most notable example was the young woman who walked with us for a couple of blocks to make sure we got on the right track to the Louvre, after Google maps totally lost it’s marbles.
I also had a very similar experience when I visited Quebec 20 years ago. Just make the best effort you can, with whatever French you have, and they will try and meet you halfway.
We also visited Normandy to see the World War II D day invasion beaches and museums. Highly recommended. We rented a car and found the rural drivers much less crazy than Paris.
I didn’t get to check out that area. Would definitely love to one day. History was made on those beaches.
I rented a car in Marseille and drove to Valensole to see the lavender fields. Highly recommended too. I was expecting a chaotic drive, like in Marseille or Paris, but once we were on the highway it was very pleasant. Definitely check out the Lavender fields in early July. You can literally feel vibrations of millions of bees buzzing around the plants. Stay the speed limit though. I got caught by a speed trap for doing 77 in the 70 zone and they mailed me a ticket to Canada. I paid it, since I plan on going back and renting a car again.
My goal is to have my location independent businesses running more smoothly and spend several months of the year living in the South of France and Italian Riviera 🙂
That. That describes it perfectly. The French are xenophobic, not racist. Those are two very different things.
inb4 people call BD a hypocrite or something cuz of this lol.
I oughtta write something in my blog about this, given the background I have in history and social science. I don’t mind xenophobia, it’s just a form of social protection. Racism however is really stupid.
But everyone tends to lump both of them together and it’s pretty unsettling.
Métro stops and lines are very close to each others in Paris, much more than any other city train system have ever visited, it’s possible to go anywhere in Paris with just Métro and a very very short walk. I haven’t seen anything more convenient anywhere else. Some parts are modern and completely automated some very old.
Then inside Paris and outside, I guess RER stops and lines are comparably spaced as London or Singapore.
I really recommend to use Métro in Paris and I am very surprised you have never tried it, since you tried several subway systems and often comment on them.
There are several portions of the tracks, a minority, that pass over the city and give a view worth taking. I think parts of line 6 and 7 (don’t take my word for granted you would need to double check that).
As for RER I find it can get a bit confusing and it’s generally and unpleasant experience for me.
But using carefuly the official vianavigo app removed any confusion in my experience.
I have never been to Tokyo and I didn’t use Madrid subway, but according to the maps at same scale (and the Paris one shows only Métro without RER), inside Paris density of lines and stops seems higher (and keep in mind there is several RER lines crossing inside Paris and all connected to Métro lines in a unified system).
http://fakeisthenewreal.org/subway/
I saw you mention insulin needles but I have no idea if you are T1/T2 Diabetic. I also saw your post re:weight loss and wondered if you were aware of this UK based research?
https://www.nhs.uk/news/diabetes/radical-low-calorie-diet-may-help-reverse-type-2-diabetes/
Best wishes and good luck!
Ad xenophobia:
It’s obviously possible to be “xenophobic” towards certain nationalities/cultures/languages but welcoming towards others. I’m Czech and totally comfortable being addressed in English in the streets by anyone regardless where they come from. However, if I am addressed in Russian by someone without checking first if I understand/speak the language, I am going to feel this “mild dislike” BD is referring to with respect to the French. On the same note, my fellow countrymen tend to “hate” all Muslims, pointing out they’re not xenophobic at all as they’re quite ok with the “hard-working” Vietnamese minority…
I know Austrians to be very happy to practice their English (preferably with a native speaker, of course) but their dislike of Czech&Slovak&Polish – and probably other Slavs, they sure don’t distinguish between the first three Slavic nationalities I’ve mentioned – is so strong that even though my German is fluent, I choose to speak English to customer service in Vienna.
History and media-enforced image, I suppose…
You must be new here 🙂 https://blackdragonblog.com/tag/trt/
Hehe. Well, the Czechs sure hate the Austrians and Germans back, so we’re even.
My father’s family were Czechs from Sudentland. I know of what I speak.
Europe is indeed a very tribal place.
Haha. I am not a diabetic. I use insulin needles for my TRT and vitamin shots.
Hilarious.
Rampant Tribalism + Cultural Societal Programming + Collectivism = Europe.
(And before any Europeans respond with anything negative about my country, remember folks, I disagree with my country so much that I’m leaving it in about a year, so nice try.) 🙂
Learn couple words of french, use them first to greet and order/ask something and then switch to english – works wonders and cold politeness turns to warm one. 😉
By the way the TRT part 3 isn’t tagged TRT and thus isn’t in the list. Maybe BD or his contractors could tag it?
“The French are xenophobic, not racist.”
That’s their problem. If they were racist then France would still be a pleasant white country instead of the multi-racial hellhole that it is becoming. (At least in the big cities but make no mistake the rot will overtake the entire country unless, like in America, there is a fracture and re-emergence of ethno-nationalism.)
“Racism” equals genetic similarity and divergent evolution; ie applied biology or applied science. Its a thoroughly slanderous term used to apply to a fundamental element of human nature; ie racial tribalism.
BD, you may be “red pilled” on women but you’re a delusional race denier like any liberal or libertarian. You’ve traveled the world and the nicest societies you’ve seen are those created by high IQ ethnically homogeneous Asians. Societies that have no significant presence of low IQ populations. We all know who those populations are.
America and western Europe are becoming the “Collapsing West” because of demographics. Even all white socialist countries are better than any African or Arab nation. And that demographic collapse is directly due to liberalism and racial liberalism in particular. Things are so bad that you are desperate to escape America before the race wars start (even though you may not frame them as such).
But thank god you’re not a “racist”. Good to be so far above all that “nonsense”. lol
I did not mention my opinions regarding race anywhere in this thread, just the racial opinions of the French. Your comment makes no sense because you are responding to statements I never made.
Correct and I’ve only said that myself about 200 times. Modern-day Asians are more rational, more motivated, and economically superior to modern-day Western whites. I’ve said that before too.
I have stated many times that demographics is one of the reasons for the West collapsing, yes. I have a feeling you think that’s the only reason, which is incorrect, but I have said many times it’s definitely one of them.
Incorrect. That is not why I’m leaving. That’s not even one of the sub-reasons. I don’t predict any race wars in the USA for reasons I already explained here. (With Europe I’m not so sure.)
I suggest you take a deep breath, relax, and turn on the rational part of your brain before making another comment here about what you think my opinions are. Virtually nothing you attributed to me or implied about me in your comment was accurate.
Spain and latin america also have those ‘circle streets.’ I know the spanish word is ‘glorietta’ and you should see how they treat them nearby in Tijuana! I think they were designed for horse and carriage. The US has some advantages being a younger country.
I read a study that the brain of a Parisian taxi driver was compared to that of a NYC bus route driver. The Parisian had memorized 10,000 random street names and locations, whereas the bus driver drove the same route for 20 years. The Parisian brain was wrapped in dense winkles and neural pathways while the bus driver’s brain was certainly not.
Also, I believe European streets are random because of Roman belief that invaders should lose themselves in search of the capital and be stuck fighting in the neighborhoods!
Modern, peer-reviewed science says you’re wrong 🙂 In fact, “white people” as they’re traditionally perceived, did not even exist 10,000 years ago and come from multiple human populations that were individually unrecognizeable as ‘white’ as recently as 10kya. And multiple subpopulations that are popularly considered white nowadays used to be viewed as inferior or feeble-minded just a couple centuries ago. There is no monolithic ‘white race’ in any robust scientific sense. Time to catch up on actual human genetics. Or maybe just cling to conspirationism about the entire science community being ‘PC’ – in which case the burden of proof is on you to come up with publications that stand to any serious scrutiny 🙂
Otoh, tribalism is indeed a thing, and yep, it’s innate.
One of the things I like about this blog is that there is very little of the racism, misogyny, islamophobia, and antisemitism that infests many other parts of the so called manosphere.
Personally, I hope it stays that way. And the old advice is sill the best advice…
Don’t feed the trolls!
Interesting, most airlines limit carry-on at 7-12kg cabin-size max. I understand that number is plenty if you flight to hot weather countries, however, how do you handle long trips to cold-weather regions where you need to bring more (and heavier) clothes? Also, what about shopping?
An article on how you pack and carry for a long trip would be interesting.