Saturday, November 18, 2006

Aliens Invade Paris

Come and live in Paris in the month of August, you'll soon find out that this is the exodus period of the Parisiens. Yes, most Parisiens traditionaly choose the whole month of August for their annual getaway (besides Noel). So, if you are moving in to Paris around August, the property market is almost dead. Very few propietaires would bother selling or renting their properties during this period. Hence, you are left out with very few options, unless you want to wait until the school holiday ends in the first week of September where the Parisien activities are sluggishly back to normal.

Basically, you must not expect to receive a service as fast as its normal speed (Please note here that I am NOT indicating that the service in France is particularly fast). The number of manpowers is reduced dramatically during this period. Many boulangeries (bakery), fromageries (cheese shops) and other shops dans le quartier are literally closed. The neighbourhood looks like Sundays in the other months of the year. Not particularly quiet, but definitely less people.

But if you visit Paris for leisure in August, ho-ho... it's contradictory! It's obviously a tourist month! Be prepared to stay in a long queue to get to the top of Tour Eiffel or to enter Le Musee du Louvre. Les quartiers touristiques like Latin Quartier, St Germain des Pres or Le Marais are packed with tourists.

Literally, in August, Paris is invaded by aliens a.k.a tourists.

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