Hi all,

I had posted a message yesterday debating whether I should go to Paris
since I am now minus my traveling partner and my interpreter.

I have decided to do the next best thing - book a travel tour for a
week. There are two that suit my dates exactly - Rome and Paris.

Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and museums.

Also, does anyone have experience with Rick Steve's Tours?

Thanks,
Schiz

In news:[email protected],
Schizoid Man <[email protected]> typed:

    > I had posted a message yesterday debating whether I should go
    > to Paris
    > since I am now minus my traveling partner and my interpreter.
    > I have decided to do the next best thing - book a travel tour
    > for a
    > week. There are two that suit my dates exactly - Rome and
    > Paris.
    > Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine
    > and
    > museums.


There's no answer to a question like this. Both have wonderful
food, wonderful wines, and wonderful museums. You have to choose
for yourself. Or spend a week in each. Or go to one this year and
the other next year.


    > Also, does anyone have experience with Rick Steve's Tours?


I never travel with tours, because they take you to see and do
(and sometimes eat) what they want. I want to make those
decisions for myself, and so make all my own arrangements. I also
very much dislike Rick Steves and his opinions on most things, so
a tour that his company runs would especially be one I wouldn't
go on.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

"Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and
museums."

Both are wonderful choices, and you won't be disappointed with the
food, wine, or art in either place.

If you're on a very low budget, it can be difficult to find good food
in Paris, but there are excellent mid-range choices. Many of Paris'
best chefs have opened bistros along with their two-star or three-star
restaurants. Those bistros serve menus designed by those chefs, with
much more casual ambiance and service, and charge a fraction of the
price of the two and three-star places. The food in Rome is excellent
in every price range, as long as you are able to identify and avoid a
tourist restaurant.

Which periods of art interest you the most? If you are more interested
in 19th or 20th century art, then you should choose Paris. If you are
more interested in the Renaissance and Baroque, while the Louvre does
have an impressive collection of art from those eras, you would
probably find more of what you were looking for in Rome and nearby
Florence.

"Also, does anyone have experience with Rick Steve's Tours?"

You really don't need a tour. It's very easy to explore either of
those cities on your own using public transportation and a good
guidebook. If you want a tour of a specific museum, you can easily
arrange that, or your hotel will find you a good one.

Rick Steves is notorious for recommending that people try to see
thirteen cities in fourteen days and see five different sights every
day. If he runs his tours like that, you're better off travelling
alone or finding a different tour.

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 10:49:05 -0700, Schizoid Man <[email protected]> wrote:

    >Hi all,
    >I had posted a message yesterday debating whether I should go to Paris
    >since I am now minus my traveling partner and my interpreter.
    >I have decided to do the next best thing - book a travel tour for a
    >week. There are two that suit my dates exactly - Rome and Paris.
    >Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and museums.

Both will cater just fine for your needs.

Avoid Rome in summer, and Paris in Winter. Apart from that, they both
rock!
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

On Thu, 23 Jun 2005 19:38:06 GMT, Deep Foiled Malls
<deepfreudmoors@eITmISaACTUALLYiREAL!l.nu> wrote:

    >Avoid Rome in summer, and Paris in Winter. Apart from that, they both
    >rock!

Good advice. We love Paris in the winter, arriving there every xmas
day. 8;)

-- Larry

Schizoid Man wrote:

    > Hi all,
    > I had posted a message yesterday debating whether I should go to Paris
    > since I am now minus my traveling partner and my interpreter.
    > I have decided to do the next best thing - book a travel tour for a
    > week. There are two that suit my dates exactly - Rome and Paris.
    > Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and museums.

Is it too late to change your mind? I don't see much difference between being
a single traveller on his own and a single traveller in a tour. I realize that
there are people who like to spend their vacations waiting for other people,
sticking to someone else's itinerary and eating and sleeping at places where
the tour companies get their discounts. Some even like being taken to the
souvenir shops where the drivers and their companies get a kick back. If
that's for you, go for it. But if you want to see the things that you are
interested in and take as much time as you want at them, to eat in nice quiet
restaurants you are better off on your own.

If you like food, wine and museums, you would probably like to spend more time
at them than the tour allows, and you can find much better restaurants on your
own. There is certainly no shortage of museums and galleries in Paris. A
serious museum and art lover could easily spend an entire day in the Louvre.
Just a few blocks from that is the Musee d'Orsay, and a little further over is
a great military museum at Les Invalides. Most of the major tourist
attractions in Paris are within walking distance, and it's a great city to walk
in. Other attractions, like Cemetere Pere LaChaisse are accessible by Metro.


    > Also, does anyone have experience with Rick Steve's Tours?
    > Thanks,
    > Schiz

Schizoid Man <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

    > Hi all,
    >
    > I had posted a message yesterday debating whether I should go to Paris
    > since I am now minus my traveling partner and my interpreter.
    >
    > I have decided to do the next best thing - book a travel tour for a
    > week. There are two that suit my dates exactly - Rome and Paris.
    >
    > Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and
    > museums.
    >

My wife and I and now my daughter all agree that one can find all ranges
of food in either place, but in our experience it is easier to find a
warm welcome and good food in France than in Italy. Yes, I know, I hear
it all the time how great the food is "everywhere" in Italy. In truth it
is easier for us in France, maybe we are just different, c'est la vie.

So go to Paris, you can see the major sights on your own and you can go
at your own pace and perchance find love. At least you can spend time
watching in any park or along the Seine, watch closely you may see more
than you planned.




--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

Dave Smith wrote:
    > Schizoid Man wrote:
    >
    >
    >>Hi all,
    >>I had posted a message yesterday debating whether I should go to Paris
    >>since I am now minus my traveling partner and my interpreter.
    >>I have decided to do the next best thing - book a travel tour for a
    >>week. There are two that suit my dates exactly - Rome and Paris.
    >>Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and museums.

If you could bludgeon a consensus of the top five (5) European cities
from the regulars in this groop, Paris and Rome would probably both be
in the top three (3). You simply can't get this one (1) wrong.

    > Is it too late to change your mind? I don't see much difference between being
    > a single traveller on his own and a single traveller in a tour.

Ah, c'mon - for the people who like that kind of thing (and I admit I'm
not one of them) there can certainly be a kind of cameraderie among a
tour party or a subgroup thereof.

My mum is a big one for group holidays and she always makes new friends,
while I am the archetypal eccentric loner, but it takes, I am reliably
informed, more sorts than one (1).

The OP was threatening to drop out for lack of a travel partner, and is
now weighing up tours. Call me Sigmund, but I'm taking that as a hint
that he likes to travel within a stable interpersonal context.

Des
hasn't been to Paris _or_ Rome but will to both.

Des Small wrote:

    > Dave Smith wrote:

    > The OP was threatening to drop out for lack of a travel partner, and is
    > now weighing up tours. Call me Sigmund, but I'm taking that as a hint
    > that he likes to travel within a stable interpersonal context.

Hi Des,

Right you are. I don't mind seeing the sights, the museums or walking
about on my own. It's swilling a glass of wine, or eating dinner alone
in the eveningsn that was bothering me.

Actually, I haven't booked the Rick Steve's after all, since after some
research I've learned that it caters to a more gentrified crowd than the
one I am seeking.

Thanks for all the recommendations. Actually, you're all probably right.
I definitely cannot go wrong with a choice like this.

    >
    > Des
    > hasn't been to Paris _or_ Rome but will to both.

    > Schizoid Man wrote:
    >> I have decided to ...book a travel tour for a week. There are two
    >> that suit my dates exactly - Rome and Paris. Which one would
    >> you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and museums.

Two years ago, I went to Paris, and this Spring to Rome. I'm biased
in favor of Rome. Paris has its must-see's as I said in another post,
but Rome is a living museum and its cultural aspects are unsurpassed
-- Vatican Museum (Sistine Chapel), St. Peter's Basillica, Coloseum,
Roman Forum, Pantheon, great public squares, like Campo d'Fiori,
Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, and Spanish Steps. And the food.

You can do either city without a tour, just a tour book and a pocket
phrase book. Metro's are cheap and taxis reasonable. But I will say
this in favor of tours: You can sometimes look at a map and still not
know which direction to go. Tours are very efficient at getting you
thru the door of the places you want to see. I'd use day tours by
local vendors, many bookable online thru www.viator.com . =R=

I like Italy more than France, but Paris more than Rome. In other
words, Rome doesn't offer me the best of Italy and there it especially
pays to join it with another Italian destination (at least daytrip).

Rome hits you more in the heart, while Paris is more cerebral. Paris
is more organized, architecturally tidy, a consistant level of good
food, and a wider range of museum stuff (like modern). But the charm
and the slight inconsistancy of good food in Italy mean you will
sometimes attain higher highs than in France... at least very, very
memorable expreiences. And the smaller towns, esp on Italian coast can
be extremely entrancing.

So if unambitious, Paris gives you the most with least effort. Ranging
occasionally out of town, Rome would give the best return. But without
the constraints of tour schedule, you may want to consider even more,
esp since you can fly everywhere within Europe for practically no money
(www.whichbudget.com). To give you a shove in this direction, I will
brave the PollyAnna lashback and mention some dark sides of Paris and
Rome. Occasional visitors may not have noticed them, but I have made
many visits and can say these eccentricities do exist:

In Paris it is now fashionable to have huge dogs. You may not notice
the dog poo as much in years past because it was formerly everywhere in
small plops, but now after you have stopped scanning for it you can
encounter it in massive wet piles. You can badly slip on these, or at
least find they totally slime your shoes and lower clothing. If you
are lucky enough to avoid an accident, you can see remnants where
others have repeatedly scraped off their shoes on the curb. Too bad
they don't install cleaning stations everywhere. When you put on your
shoes in the morning, wash hands afterward since they will always have
a fecal coating; too bad your waiter or food handler may not do this.
K-9 flea fountains can be encountered in restaurants and even a museum.

In Rome, the place I've had the most supremely transcendant food, I
also encounter touristy unexciting food. Early on I had the worst
disappointment of all. Had a cold soup of churned up vegetables.
Tasted foul, but I thought I should give new experiences a chance.
Later I almost died from an infection of the surface of the brain which
the docs said had to come from ingesting raw pests about the time of
the soup. Have since found this is typically caused by infected snails
not being removed from veggies before chopping (without cooking).

"jcoulter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected].. .
    > Schizoid Man <[email protected]> wrote in
    > news:[email protected]:
    >> Hi all,
    >> I had posted a message yesterday debating whether I should go to Paris
    >> since I am now minus my traveling partner and my interpreter.
    >> I have decided to do the next best thing - book a travel tour for a
    >> week. There are two that suit my dates exactly - Rome and Paris.
    >> Which one would you recommend? My interests are the food, wine and
    >> museums.
    > My wife and I and now my daughter all agree that one can find all ranges
    > of food in either place, but in our experience it is easier to find a
    > warm welcome and good food in France than in Italy. Yes, I know, I hear
    > it all the time how great the food is "everywhere" in Italy. In truth it
    > is easier for us in France, maybe we are just different, c'est la vie.

And my experience is the exact opposite, especially the warm welcome. As for
good food, there are more expensive good restaurants in Paris, more
inexpensive good restaurants in Rome.

As for museums, Rome is a living history museum. Paris has better art
museums.

Marianne

"Mimi" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:


r us in France, maybe we are just
    >> different, c'est la vie.
    >
    > And my experience is the exact opposite, especially the warm welcome.
    > As for good food, there are more expensive good restaurants in Paris,
    > more inexpensive good restaurants in Rome.

Oddly enough one of my favorite cheap restaurants in Paris is Pizza Roma on
Rue des Ecoles. Best eggplant parmagiana anywhere outside of my kitchen.



--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/

In article <[email protected]>,
jcoulter <[email protected]> wrote:

    > So go to Paris, you can see the major sights on your own and you can go
    > at your own pace and perchance find love. At least you can spend time
    > watching in any park or along the Seine, watch closely you may see more
    > than you planned.

More than you would expect to see on Six Feet Under?

poldy <[email protected]> wrote in news:poldy-7822E6.15053124062005
@comcast.dca.giganews.com:

    > In article <[email protected]>,
    > jcoulter <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >> So go to Paris, you can see the major sights on your own and you can
go
    >> at your own pace and perchance find love. At least you can spend time
    >> watching in any park or along the Seine, watch closely you may see
more
    >> than you planned.
    >
    > More than you would expect to see on Six Feet Under?
    >

Since most clothing parts are intact, about the same actually ;-)


--
Joseph Coulter
Cruises and Vacations
http://www.josephcoulter.com/