prem@eagle.UUCP (Swami Devanbu) (06/21/85)
*** I REFUSE TO REPLACE THIS LINE WITH MY MESSAGE ***
Can someone tell me what France is like in Early Fall.. you know,
the week after labour day, when all the Americans have gone back
to try out their new sweaters, and all the Parisians return from
the Riviera ? What's Paris like at this time ? Does it rain ?
Do the fun places (restaurants, Bars) close up ? The museums ?
Are there any festivals in early fall ? Well, how about middle/late
fall ?
Thank you for your responses. If I get many queries as well as
responses, I will post the result to the net.
Prem Devanbu
{ihnp4, allegra, ucbvax, vax135, ircam}!eagle!prembhs@siemens.UUCP (06/27/85)
peoplethinkthatthislineiseatenbutitisnot,isit?youcanseeitafterall,canyounot? Fall is actually one of the best times of the year to see Europe. If you think about it, there are really only two prime reasons for the discerning traveler to go to a foreign country: to see the natives being native, and to see the different scenery, including museums, car factories, vineyards, or what have you. If you agree with either or both of the above premises, it is easy to see that the summer is the worst time to go to France, whereas the fall (and also late spring) is the best time to go. In fall, the temperatures are beginning to become reasonable again (Paris can be surprisingly hot in August). The large tourist population decreases and is replaced by the native population. The merchants, hoteliers, and waiters, who by virtue of their occupation had to deal with the ever-increasing hordes of unruly foreigners (imagine how rude: they do not even bother to speak French!), become noticeably more friendly and helpful, prices on luxury items like coffee and beer actually drop a little in the touristy cafes and bars. Suddenly, there are much shorter lines when trying to enter the various museums and other sites (a not-so-secret tip: the collection of impressionist paintings at the Musee du Jeu des Paumes). What if you merely want to travel through France? Well, instead of following endless processions of vacationing french families, you now have much lower traffic densities around the various scenic areas. For example: the treck from Cannes (at the Riviera) to the airport at Nice can take 45 minutes, even if one knows the various little short cuts if one drives in August. However, the same stretch, driven in mid September can be accomplished in 30 minutes of easy driving. And the water is still very warm in September. The only thing you can not do in fall is watch the masses vacation, which is actually quite an amusing thing site if you are a people watcher. On vacation, Europeans, as also Americans do, will modify their behaviour to an extent. However, people watching is not exactly out either, it is only moved from the vacation sites to the places where people live, such as Paris discos and cafes where true parisians or students meet. Bernard H. Schwab Siemens RTL, Princeton, NJ