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very true and I recognize the difference, however, the same logic will tell us it is wrong to judge a city's vibrancy based on late night life as many people tend to do.
Paris may not be as busy as Madrid at midnight or 1 am, but is a lot more vibrant between say 2-5pm when the Spaniards are, I don't know, stay at home for their siesta?
All I am saying is that, we shouldn't judge vibrancy based on what happens at night. So many people do that. The bars closes at 12 in city A instead 3 am in city B, so city B must be more FUN! maybe the people already had fun when it was not dark? I don't know why drinking or whatever events have to take place way past normal bedtime as if that's a condition for having fun.
Well, I am not sure what you think people in Paris are doing from 2-5pm. They are usually at work.
I would say the "vibrancy" during daytime hours in most major European cities is not all that different. Have you been to Madrid? It's not exactly Cleveland or some other dead downtown area.
The nightlife is different in Spanish cities. The clubs in Barcelona and Madrid are known to be better than most. But I don't go to clubs, so I don't care about that.
There are more people who just hang out outside at night in Spanish cities than in other European cities. It's not uncommon to just find quite a few people on the benches in the squares, just chilling out. Whereas in say, London, most of the people out are obnoxious drunk people roaming from one club or bar to another.
I don't agree with many in this thread. The Paris-o-philes seem to think Madrid is dull, but doesn't sound like they've been there. Whereas the Madrilines keep calling Paris a dead museum, which is not very accurate, either. Compared to how they measure up to cities in other countries, I think Madrid and Paris are more similar than they are different. However, Paris is much bigger, 2x the population and 4x in area.
Last edited by Dennis Schroeder; 07-31-2015 at 03:21 PM..
Gare du Nord is a huge station with 700,000 commuters per day (the busiest in Europe), while St Pancreas has been completely closed and rebuilt for the Eurostar.
You can't compare both railway terminals, Paris can't manage to close Gare du Nord for heavy reconstruction work unlike St Pancreas which was virtually abandoned 15 years ago.
It doesn't have to be up to the standard of post-billion dollar renovation St Pancras version 2. Just something less dilapidated and grimy than what it is right now.
It's perfectly feasible to introduce non-intrusive renovation works to bring Gare du Nord up to the standard of other major train hubs. All you need to do clean and re-paint large parts of the station and you already have a much more pleasant transit hub.
A pretty poor excuse. It's perfectly feasible to introduce non-intrusive renovation works to bring Gare du Nord up to the standard of other major train hubs.
All you need to do is scrub away the decades' worth of stratified grime and filth throughout the station, re-paint the walls and columns, and you already have a much more pleasant transit hub.
It doesn't have to be up to the standard of post-billion dollar renovation St Pancras version 2. Just something less dilapidated and grimy than what it is right now.
New York has done that to a number of stations and within six months they just look the same as they did before.
It doesn't have to be up to the standard of post-billion dollar renovation St Pancras version 2. Just something less dilapidated and grimy than what it is right now.
It's perfectly feasible to introduce non-intrusive renovation works to bring Gare du Nord up to the standard of other major train hubs. All you need to do clean and re-paint large parts of the station and you already have a much more pleasant transit hub.
This is what Paris is currently doing at Gare du Nord and a wider renovation for 2022.
Did any of those Paris lovers experienced the (self-proclaimed) city of light in winter ? gloomy grey "gothic winter" with dark dressed, gloomy figures hastening their peace to flee home the cold, damp weather . Suffice it to say that the experience of jumping in a plane and landing at Barajas (Madrid) is like coming from darkness to light : suddenly one sees a bright blue sky! even if the temperature is not tropical warm, the only fact to see the sun and blue skies is heart warming and morale enhancing!
Yes, but Madrilene women dress awfully! And then suddenly it makes you regret the gray skies of Paris.
I guess they don't have this in Madrid. And, Paris lovers, don't say it's only one subway stations : there are dozens of metro station in that state in Paris.
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