Paris and the art of travel

I think it's fair to say that I've been lucky enough to visit a lot of the worlds great cities and Paris is no exception. Europeans love to mock Parisians and especially Parisian men (it's not completely unfounded) but deep (very deep) down we are all a little jealous of their life in Paris. I've been to Paris nearly a dozen times and the older you get the more you appreciate it. It has history like few others and a cafe culture London can only dream off. Parisian men are camp and arrogant but French women make up for that with beauty and style.
I had always jokingly dismissed Paris as a big city but I kind of like it. The sights like Notre Dam, Arc de triomphe and Eiffel tower are world class. The Louvre and Les Invalides are meccas to their subject but I think it's the general feel of the city that I enjoy. Strolling around the Latin Quarter, sitting in one of the many parks, sipping coffee around the Bastille or drinking in the enormous selection of bars is the good life. Paris can never compete with London or New York in terms of importance to the world because this good life means Parisians don't work that hard (although their companies are surprisingly successful) . French companies compete with state backing but this is not a bad thing. We should look at ourselves and ask why we work 70 hours a week, when we could be enjoying life. Our mockery of Paris comes somewhat from a deep rooted jealousy.
I really enjoyed my weekend away, it was a great chance to get away from home (Paris is actually closer to me than Manchester) and also catch up with Jeremy and Jessica, two of my most favourite people. It gave me a good place to think about things.

One thing that came up was how we travel, I've been lucky to live abroad, study abroad, travel with friends, girlfriends and on my own and each experience is different. I find myself though frustrated with travelers obsession with experiencing the authentic experience and going to unpopular places to validate themselves as a worthy traveler. It gets to the stage that people go places not out of interest but out of image. The truth is in most countries the authentic experience is pretty dull. For example if you want to experience live like a Korean, do a mind dumbing job all day everyday, then go with colleagues and drink soju until you can't move and go home save in the knowledge their little kid has been in private academies all evening not learning a lot, but it's ok because you pay more than your neighbour. Perhaps this is harsh but my point is that real life and the so called 'authentic' experience is different. I encourage people to travel and learn but you should always realize that no matter how authentic you think the experience is the chances are you're only brushing the surface of an authenticity that people want to portray of themselves. Just imagine if somebody came to your little town in search of the authentic experience. Would they really get one or want one?