City of Nightmares

But Stockholm syndrome is something completely different.

You wrote : "Apparently the only cure for the "Paris Syndrome" is to leave France and never return."

There's another cure... visit France, visit
- Alsace and drink its excellent wines while tasting its cuisine;
- Brittany and enjoy a week at a spa, eating fish and grilled lobster or oysters;
- the Loire valley and its romantic châteaux, and... drink its outstanding wines; additional must-do in the Loire, between spring and autumn, you must visit Chaumont-sur-Loire and its festival des Jardins, 3 dozen garden projects that change every year;
- the Dordogne and try its famous truffle omelette
- the Basque country in the south-west, try its Espelette pepers, its ham, and try a first flight in glider over the Pyrenees, gliding with the vultures
I'll leave other people who wish to give other hints. But just as the US is not New York, the UK is not London, Japan not Tokyo... France mustn't be reduced to Paris, even if one can spend a year and still not have seen it all.

@Daru
Who know for how long will Alsace be part of France ?
The situation in France wasn't that bad in 2012-2015 and independantist went to the second round for regional election. Now with all the crap happening...
Although I wouldn't mind, at least Paris wouldn't interfere anymore.

@Daru For me, the special French charm lies in Provence. I blame my French teacher for that, Paris never drew me in much, but damn I would love to visit the countryside of Provence.

@Ethelwood

We all have our favourite spots and that's fine. I guess you must have read Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence. If you haven't, it's a must read, even if it's a bit of an exagerated caricature.

BTW, is your avatar an Aussie or a Kiwi ?

@Daru
His is a kiwi

@Daru Kiwi, Aussie is a young charismatic blond surfer with a nice tan, we kiwis, on the other hand are the fluff-ball sheep.

That's for the book recommendation though will, definitely check it out!

@Ethelwood ;-)

@Ethelwood I hope you will. It is most beautiful. It smells like herbs, lavender and heated earth. Spring and the end of summer are the best times to come. Full of small old villages perched on top of a rock and filled with the stridulations of cicadas.

@Daru
The Arc De Triumph is wonderful, I visited there in the 40s

@Daru
And Finland is not Helsinki and Lappi -.- I hate when people just stay inside ring 3 and won't fricking go see what is out there. Like my home town, which is kinda dying, is a historical railroad crossing town that was bombed by the soviets due to the importancy of the said connection. Or any Saimaa region town and city. Go see the norppa and get luck for a month. Yes. We have a saying that if you spot the Saimaa ringed seal, you will be lucky for a long time. ANd then there is the cultural road of green gold which is all about the forests around the highways and towns. It in Eastern Finland. Also the plains of Ostrobothnia. Yes. Boring in some ways but includes a lot of attractions as well further north you travel. This country has a lot more culture than Helsinki can EVER offer.

Paris, France has a special place in the hearts of Americans and Brits, and I surmise it has to do with WWI. When the soldiers of America and Britain were granted leave from the frontlines, they got to spend a few days in Paris. They got drunk and had a hell of a good time, since most of the young men of Paris were also on the frontlines, and the young women weren't, the stay in Paris was an extra happy one. Given that they were defending France they were probably treated well by the Parisians as well.

There is no wonder that there was a whole generation of men who shaped the culture of the 20th century with the idea that a night in Paris was something magical, because for them, it absolutely was. The Paris they knew and loved is no more of course, but the idea still lingers on.

Paris is beautiful. Parisians not so much, on average. Except the immigrants doing the crap work, they're usually nice. But the rest of France seems to hate Parisians too.

@PurpleLibraryGuy oh well we don't hate Parisians... wait. Yes we do. They're the worst.

@PurpleLibraryGuy To be fully honest, not all parisians are stupid silly guys, but living in Paris can make them really dumb. It's a too big, too noisy, too dangerous, and too expensive city. Actually most french people can't live in Paris and go there only because they have to work.

Oh and there is a good way to recognize a parisian out of Paris : he is rude and makes unpleasant reflections to locals.

Not just japanese feel that way when visiting France.
Maybe it is time for the french to use less garlic.....

@minimilk You can't use to much Garlic

@Sianist How many clothes-pegs do you put on your nose to stop the stench?

@minimilk
No such thing as too much garlic

@Zenon I guess you sell gasmasks for a living.

@minimilk
Ho ho
I'm the one who supplys the gas

@minimilk I really would like to know why this regular comment triggered my notification system when it doesn't mention me...

The issue seems to be that movies give japanese people the impression of the city being some kind of immaculate rose-coloured world, and when they arrive there, there is dust and there is trash (more than in Japan, since they enforce the tenet "filth belongs at home", to the point that there are almost no public trash bins). It's like hearing a movie being extolled as a masterpiece again and again; when you go watch it, you have a completely beautified expectation, so most likely no matter how good it is, it'll be a letdown. It's basically the same thing, just that the letdown is so sharp and fast that it hurts badly.

@Kemm I have no idea why it triggered your notifications. I'll blame the stinking garlic.

@minimilk Japanese eat at least as much garlic as us, or more. (look up the gyoza recipe.)

While big citties have their charm, I never really got the whole "Lets go visit the capital and nothing more!". Culture feels kinda dead in modern day citties. I feel like smaller rullar places are the place most people should visit if they want to really experience culture. Citties should just be a one maybe two days experience but for sure not the main focus of your vacation.

I, as a Swede, find France incredibly disgusting. They don’t take off shoes inside even if they have carpeted floors and the shoes are wet from rain, people don’t wash their hands after being to the toilet, and it’s very littered. I’ve been to at least five French cities, and it was like that in all of them. I also recommend to never go to public ladies’ restrooms in central Paris. Blood... Blood everywhere...

@Katrus thank you I will now proceed never to visit France

@Katrus Wow..where have you been exactly?
Most people I know do remove their shoes when entering their home or as guests. A technician worker won't though, that's true...
Not washing hands? that's disgusting! Of course we (most of us) wash our hands!
I agree with the public restroom though. They often are quite dirty, and rarely have toilet paper to wipe... better always have some tissue with you.

Or maybe they get sick and dizzy because they went in summer and got hit by all the urine fumes... Men in Paris, stop pissing on the streets!!

@cdub #9826860
I have not visited Japan, but I have heard that in many residential areas, you can smell the septic tanks.

@Klaus I have visited Japan several times, and for the dozen of cities I visited this isn't true. It's usually clean and nice and safe, but it's also places with a lot of people so things still happen.

@Klaus Not so in my experience visiting Japan. It's very clean, but the big cities are hectic. While it's interesting visiting them, if you ever go to Japan, I'd recommend going outside the big cities and see the countryside and smaller cities. The noise and throng of people in places like Tokyo or Osaka is insane.

(And remember to be quiet on the trains).

@Klaus
The closest likelihood I can imagine for this, is if you were in a rural area, visiting the one week when they fertilize.

...Or there was briefly a serious problem with one individual's septic tank, but that would be repaired as soon as possible.

@Hinoron #9827299
I have this from a TV-program about Japan. But that was more than 30 years ago, so maybe it has changed.

I felt similarly about Venice. I guess cinematic portrayals tend to hype certain cities as romantic and magical, and we're disappointed when they don't live up to it.

Makes me laugh everytime I hear about it, because even French people absolutely don't like to visit Paris.

@Dattoffer How a beautiful city like it has been scarified like this in 60 years after centuries of existence ?
People leading the country in the 60s and after did the worst choices for the future.