You will have the opportunity to find yourself within easy reach of museums like the Pompidou Center with works by artists such as Matisse, Ernst, Braque and Dubuffet. There are also many free museums as well as open-access exhibitions. Not to mention the Louvre, Orsay and the Musée du quai Branly. Of course, if the idea of wandering around museums does not fill you with joy and you prefer to take a trip to Disneyland, that's not a problem!
If you are coming to develop your skills in the language of Molière, be careful not to allow yourself to be distracted by the many temptations on offer in the capital and its surrounding areas.
Mean-spirited people will tell you that nothing compares to the tranquility of the provinces, that Paris is a noisy city, that accommodation is very expensive, that its somewhat arrogant inhabitants waste an unbelievable amount of time in gridlock and that fresh air is a rarity.
Other naysayers will remind you that the Champs-Elysées is famous not just for its luxury stores, but also for demonstrations of charming men dressed in yellow who will take pleasure in creating an atmosphere! The good news is that when listening to their slogans you will have the huge privilege of expanding your vocabulary of slang and informal language.
As for the weather, Paris enjoys one thousand seven hundred hours of sunshine a year. Nice has over one thousand hours more! It’s your choice... Did we mention that Paris has wine? It's true! But the vines in Montmartre do not produce Saint-Emilion or Pétrus! It is indeed true that great chefs such as Christian Le Squer, Michel Rostang, Alain Passard and Joël Robuchon add to Paris’s prestige. But typical Parisian fare also include simple products such as the millefeuille, croque-monsieur, Brie, Paris mushrooms and Paris-style ham. The cuisine of bistros and brasseries is also worthy of interest. Moreover, in terms of gastronomy, cities like Lyon and Bordeaux are also worth a trip.
Although Paris is home to some 110 different nationalities, you must not lose sight of the fact that speaking French all day is a necessary condition for improving. Regardless of whether Parisians are difficult to approach due to their hectic lives: it's up to you to find the energy to get to know them. It is then that you will understand that accusations of snobbery and arrogance are nothing but stereotypes. Finally, learning French in Paname (the slang name for the capital) should not prevent you from learning other accents later, such as the melodious accent of the South, the Picard accent and the accent of the suburbs. To get an idea of the cheeky “parigot” (Parisian French) accent of Belleville or Ménilmontant, you will have to go back to the songs of Edith Piaf and Renaud or the films of Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Gabin, André Pousse or Arletty. Today, Parisians have a more neutral diction since the dialects that once existed in Paris have gradually given way to standard French. In any event, Paris is a city with multiple artistic, cultural and linguistic facets and is all the better for it!
