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Okay , okay I get it, Botticelli and Nola are Gallic patriots, and they are constantly crowing on the forum about the superiority of the "Grande Nation". Their act being an act of blind faith, they can't be convinced by trivial rational arguments. But remember my friends, even the superpowers have their flaws, and one could argue that even if France was as prosperous as Germany (which it isn't anyway) , it's still sorely lacking on a wide range of subjects, and is right now governed by a morally bankrupt political caste. But never mind.
I have nothing to do with France, and, given my German birth and U.S. residence am programmed to not even like the French.
Yet even I can see obvious facts. Fact is that Paris is in a different league than Madrid and is beloved around the world for good reason. Fact is that France is much richer and economically healthier than Spain.
Okay , okay I get it, Botticelli and Nola are Gallic patriots, and they are constantly crowing on the forum about the superiority of the "Grande Nation". Their act being an act of blind faith, they can't be convinced by trivial rational arguments. But remember my friends, even the superpowers have their flaws, and one could argue that even if France was as prosperous as Germany (which it isn't anyway) , it's still sorely lacking on a wide range of subjects, and is right now governed by a morally bankrupt political caste. But never mind.
T'es trop drôle toi, tu sais ?
Each time I see one of your post, I'm sure to find some degrading comment about your own country. If you're not happy (because you really seem to not be), why don't you go elsewhere ?
So you have to drag Germany in just to make France look bad? Isn't this about France vs. Southern Europe, what does it have anything to do with Germany? German growth looks crappy compared with China's too.
Les Trent Glorieuse is post WWII high growth - a lot was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt, and there was a lot of American money. We would need another world war (and millions of death from that)to see that kind of growth, and you use that as a benchmark? Does ANY European country grow nearly as well as 1945-1975?
Everyone knows are desperately want to put down France, but at least put forward some reasonable argument. The truth is, France is not one of the stars economically, but it is no sick cats like its southern neighbours.
I never tried to put down France! I lived in Paris for three years so I know very well the reality of Paris and of France, unlike you who is an American or Canadian who thinks is an expert in European or French affairs because he /she was on a two week holiday Europe. France, like every single nation is not perfect. Some people on this thread haven't realised it yet.
Aww, the hipsters. You can recognize them, because:
1) They hate Paris with passion, even arguing the most ridiculous reasons.
2) Fanboys of Barcelona/Madrid and London.
3) They love the infrastructure above all. For them, its like the 95% of a city.
4) As a result, they worship the metros. Their holydays's photo albums usually are filled with photos of metro wagons, metro signs, they licking the whirligig of the metro stations, etc.
5) They hate so much Paris that, when they travel there, they handle the dog poop of the worst streets and then deposite it in the inmaculate (10x times prettier than their hometowns ones, for sure) gardens of the city. They repeat the same process with the dozens of perfect parisian boulevards, because they envy the perfect tree plant there.
6) Of course, in those travels, they avoid the tons of pieces of modern architecture Paris has.
Paris has its problems. The biggest issue of Paris I think is the population living there (understand Parisians), they make the city cold and depressing, and also the people aggressing you in the streets (roms, beggars, ..) Not sure about the nightlife, not a fan of nightlife myself but I'm sure you can find many good places around bastille
Stores need to stay open longer ... but this should change soon in certain areas (loi Macron)
Some plazas need to be renovated, they look tired and too auto centric. I'm thinking about Concorde, l'Etoile, Repuplique, Nation ... I heard Hidalgo talking about renovating plazas so that might change but it will take a while
also Paris needs to be cleaned more often, have more trash bins around the city, do something about the **** smell and dog poop.
They could also make pedestrian the first 4 arrondissement of Paris, maybe introduce a congestion charge inside Paris (or the first 10 arrondissements) renovate Rivoli with larger sidewalks
many things could be done, I think Hidalgo has good ideas for the city but everything is too slow
The population is very conservative, lots of NIMBYs in Paris
Even people who live there want to keep their streets just peaceful from, say, 8:PM to 7:AM.
There is not any European city trying to become never ever sleeping cities like, say, Las Vegas.
Well, Madrid is famous by its nightlife compared to other European cities, but still the distant neighborhoods to the city just remain calm every night.
Okay , okay I get it, Botticelli and Nola are Gallic patriots, and they are constantly crowing on the forum about the superiority of the "Grande Nation". Their act being an act of blind faith, they can't be convinced by trivial rational arguments. But remember my friends, even the superpowers have their flaws, and one could argue that even if France was as prosperous as Germany (which it isn't anyway) , it's still sorely lacking on a wide range of subjects, and is right now governed by a morally bankrupt political caste. But never mind.
Madrid is pretty nice, but suffers some of the defects you covered. Beggars with dogs, beggars and santimbamquis, hustlers and too many people in some occasions such as rebates. The great advantage, almost no tourists compared to Barcelona.
Of course, Madrid is pampered, as Paris, but being a smaller, newer city with no highly noticeable minorities it might fare better in general. Madrid lacks the majestuosity of Hausmann, but has very beutiful Hapsburg and Neoclassical architecture, "Madrid de los Austrias", museums, cultural centers. As to weather, a very dry continental weather, now they are probably sweltering.
Madrid, being a 15th-16th century city, lacks medieval churches and architecture, but they are built on a limitless plateau, they have space, which Barcelona has not. No sea, no beaches, but some cities nearby as glorious, Segovia my favourite, Aranjuez, Toledo, Avila, etc.
Food, almost no Michelin star, but who cares? They have very good popular food, not so easy to find in Barcelona.
Not noticeable minorities, Moroccans are not a heavy presence in Madrid.
At the 2011 census, in the city of Madrid proper there lived 36,420 people born in Africa (23,465 of them born in Morocco), and on top of these there lived in Madrid 24,020 people born in Europe whose father or mother were born in Africa.
So that's 2% of the population in Madrid who were either born in Africa, or whose parents were born in Africa.
For comparison, 2% is approximately the percentage of Tamil Sri Lankans in Paris, and you certainly notice them around.
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The city is full of Moroccans, Ecuadorians, Roms...
