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Paris has a hell of a lot of world class museums apart from Le Louvre, like the Musee du Quai Branly ( Ethnology and Anthropology), Le Museum d'histoire Naturelle, Musee Guimet ( Asian Arts),Musee de l'Homme, Musee d'Orsay, Musee de l'Institut du Monde Arabe, Musee d'Archaeologie Nationale, Musee des Arts Decoratifs,Musee Cluny, Musee des Arts et Metiers, Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie etc...
London has fabulous Museums ( which I visit regularly) but Paris is hardly deprived in that department. The thing I love about British Museums is that they are free ! So you can just pop in without feeling you have to see everything to get good value for your bucks.
Paris has a hell of a lot of world class museums apart from Le Louvre, like the Musee du Quai Branly ( Ethnology and Anthropology), Le Museum d'histoire Naturelle, Musee Guimet ( Asian Arts),Musee de l'Homme, Musee d'Orsay, Musee de l'Institut du Monde Arabe, Musee d'Archaeologie Nationale, Musee des Arts Decoratifs,Musee Cluny, Musee des Arts et Metiers, Cite des Sciences et de l'Industrie etc...
London has fabulous Museums ( which I visit regularly) but Paris is hardly deprived in that department. The thing I love about British Museums is that they are free ! So you can just pop in without feeling you have to see everything to get good value for your bucks.
Nobody is saying that Paris is not a great culrural centre with great mueums and great art gallerys. However London is also a great cultural centre and a haven for the arts, entertainment and sport.
For some one to start saying that London is merely a financial centre is laughable.
Nobody is saying that Paris is not a great culrural centre with great mueums and great art gallerys. However London is also a great cultural centre and a haven for the arts, entertainment and sport.
For some one to start saying that London is merely a financial centre is laughable.
I absolutely agree. London has a lot of charms and is a very vibrant and exciting place. I just don't find it esthetically as pleasing, and it always feels just too big , to sprawled for me. Walking around London to go from one site to another is no way near as easy or pleasant IMO as Paris. I find Paris a very walkable city, a city to "waste" time in , wander and just enjoy, in London I always feel rushed and as though there has to be purpose. Aimless wandering is not quite the same in London.
But of course London is much much more than a financial centre. Culturally and Artistically it is rich and fascinating.
I absolutely agree. London has a lot of charms and is a very vibrant and exciting place. I just don't find it aesthetically as pleasing, and it always feels just too big , to sprawled for me. Walking around London to go from one site to another is no way near as easy or pleasant IMO as Paris. I find Paris a very walkable city, a city to "waste" time in , wander and just enjoy, in London I always feel rushed and as though there has to be purpose. Aimless wandering is not quite the same in London.
But of course London is much much more than a financial centre. Culturally and Artistically it is rich and fascinating.
Whilst I agree that London is rich in art and culture I personally disagree with some of your comments relating to London not being as aestetically pleasing or walkable. In terms of architecture London has some of the most beautiful Regency Terraces in the world, beautiful Mews terraces and no where on earth has the beautiful garden squares that London has. There is mile after mile of the most beautiful regency and victorian terraces stretching across the west end and along in to Kensington and Notting Hill. There are pavement cafes, quaint old pubs, lovely restaurants, quaint and quirky old shops selling everything from book and anitiques to small local bakeries, butchers and greengrocers, and there is almost a village quality to parts of Primrose Hill, Hampstead, Muswell Hill, Greenwich, Wimbledon and Richmond.
London is very walkable, a lot of the main tourist areas, shops and cultural venues are in Central London (as opposed to Greater London) just as in Paris, and this particuarly applies to the West End area, and you can easily walk between them or through the many beautiful Royal Parks that surround these areas. If you want somewhere you can enjoy a more quiet stroll then there are over 3,000 parks and open spaces in London, including the vast Royal Parks and numerous heaths and commons. The Thames is also a beautiful river to walk along, as are London's Canals in places such as 'Little Venice' (Maida Vale).
London is connected by a vast subway (tube), vast train network, light railway (DLR) and trams, as well as the red London buses and black cabs - so getting around is fairly easy.
One of the main difference between London and Paris, is the fact London embraces it's suburbs, and they are often green and pleasant as well as being very walkable. Paris on the other hand is very much a centralised city, one which seems less connected to it's suburbs and a lot more divided.
The Centre of London is busy, but then again the centres of New York and Paris are busy. However one of the advantages of London is the fact you can go out in to the suburbs and get way from the crowds and can explore the vastness of the city, with new areas to constantly discover and new places to enjoy exploring.
Whilst I agree that London is rich in art and culture I personally disagree with some of your comments relating to London not being as aestetically pleasing or walkable. In terms of architecture London has some of the most beautiful Regency Terraces in the world, beautiful Mews terraces and no where on earth has the beautiful garden squares that London has. There is mile after mile of the most beautiful regency and victorian terraces stretching across the west end and along in to Kensington and Notting Hill. There are pavement cafes, quaint old pubs, lovely restaurants, quaint and quirky old shops selling everything from book and anitiques to small local bakeries, butchers and greengrocers, and there is almost a village quality to parts of Primrose Hill, Hampstead, Muswell Hill, Greenwich, Wimbledon and Richmond.
London is very walkable, a lot of the main tourist areas, shops and cultural venues are in Central London (as opposed to Greater London) just as in Paris, and this particuarly applies to the West End area, and you can easily walk between them or through the many beautiful Royal Parks that surround these areas. If you want somewhere you can enjoy a more quiet stroll then there are over 3,000 parks and open spaces in London, including the vast Royal Parks and numerous heaths and commons. The Thames is also a beautiful river to walk along, as are London's Canals in places such as 'Little Venice' (Maida Vale).
London is connected by a vast subway (tube), vast train network, light railway (DLR) and trams, as well as the red London buses and black cabs - so getting around is fairly easy.
One of the main difference between London and Paris, is the fact London embraces it's suburbs, and they are often green and pleasant as well as being very walkable. Paris on the other hand is very much a centralised city, one which seems less connected to it's suburbs and a lot more divided.
The Centre of London is busy, but then again the centres of New York and Paris are busy. However one of the advantages of London is the fact you can go out in to the suburbs and get way from the crowds and can explore the vastness of the city, with new areas to constantly discover and new places to enjoy exploring.
I suppose it is all a question of personal taste. To me ( and my Husband British born and bred) London is just too "bitty" . Personally I think the skyline is marred by monstrous carbuncles as Charles would put it and sandwiched between so many lovely buildings are just the most hideous things. I also don't particularly like the high rise buildings among more historic places. To me it just jars. I like harmony in architecture and there is far too much discord in terms of style , height etc...
And from personal experience central London is way bigger than Paris thus making it a lot less human in scale and a lot less walkable. I have never heard anyone dispute this before but I suppose it is all down to personal experience.
But I most definitely agree about London's fabulous green spaces and the suburbs. Paris suburbs on the whole are a disgrace.
To be honest I would take Florence or Edinburgh over Paris probably. And I love Paris. London though, meh. Great for a short burst of exhibitions and plays, operas and concerts but leaving is always a pleasure for me.
Another praise Paris bash London thread? Can we just stop with these idiotic comparisons? They have been done to death a million times and they always have the same result.
You've said this several times now. It's not "bashing" London. But I've already PM'ed you something about this, and that's what it is.
As a matter of fact, you should be flattered. Lots of London threads.
I enjoy London and Paris about equally. Actually, Paris is more beautiful and romantic than London.
However, I would prefer to live in London mainly because Engish is the main language and Londoners are more understanding of Americans as well as Indians.
I suppose it is all a question of personal taste. To me ( and my Husband British born and bred) London is just too "bitty" . Personally I think the skyline is marred by monstrous carbuncles as Charles would put it and sandwiched between so many lovely buildings are just the most hideous things. I also don't particularly like the high rise buildings among more historic places. To me it just jars. I like harmony in architecture and there is far too much discord in terms of style , height etc...
And from personal experience central London is way bigger than Paris thus making it a lot less human in scale and a lot less walkable. I have never heard anyone dispute this before but I suppose it is all down to personal experience.
But I most definitely agree about London's fabulous green spaces and the suburbs. Paris suburbs on the whole are a disgrace.
To be honest I would take Florence or Edinburgh over Paris probably. And I love Paris. London though, meh. Great for a short burst of exhibitions and plays, operas and concerts but leaving is always a pleasure for me.
I suppose it is a question of personal taste. Although I don't think Central London has that many skyscrapers, the skyscrapers tend to be in the financial district 'known as the city or square mile' (which is too the east) rather than in the to west end where most of the tourism is centered. Fair enough you get the odd one such as centre point or the post office tower but there aren't a lot of towers in the west end but then again Tour Montparnasse is no beauty. There are also skyscrapers up at Canary Wharf but like La Defense they are some distance from central london.
It's actually interesting that you are discussing skyscrapers because Paris recently announced plans to build a bigger skyscraper than London's Shard and has had grand plans in the skyscraper department for some years now.
In terms of Central London, it's mainly the main tourist areas and shopping streets that I am talking about, and I don't think the shopping and theatre district of London is any bigger than Paris's central districts. Although Paris doesn't tend to count it's suburbs as part of the city and you often get a ridiculous population of 2.5 million given for Paris when in reality it's population is not that much disimilar to London's.
In terms of achitecture a lot of areas are not bitty at all, and as I have already pointed out there are some stunning areas with mile after mile of fabulous georgian, regency and victorian town houses. The most bitty areas are probably the East End and City, both of which suffered badly due to bombing and both of which suffered equally badly in terms of post war planning. On a positive note a lot of London's post war concrete estates such as the massive Kidbrooke Estate, Heygate Estate and much of areas such as the Elephant and Castle are being demolished and replaced by quite pleasant housing
All over London old post war concrete housing estates in London's poorer areas such as Kidbrooke/Ferrier are being demolished.
And replaced with new housing like this - which is part of the Kidbrooke housing that is being built to replace the grim concrete estate.
Last edited by Mulhall; 03-22-2012 at 11:25 AM..
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