How Is Paris in the Summertime?
That visit was fundamentally different than the first time I arrived in Paris as a twenty-something backpacker. I showed up on a busy summer weekend without a hotel reservation, walked around for three hours with all of my possessions on my back, paid a surly French guy several dollars to try to find me a room (he made two phone calls, delivered a classic French shoulder shrug and said, "Zere is no-zing" as he pocketed my cash), and then got on the next train and left.
I've heard that Paris can be a tough ticket in the summer. That it is swarming with tourists, the lines to attractions like the Louvre and Monsieur Eiffel's tower are daunting, and all of the Parisians leave town anyway (and maybe this isn't such a bad thing). But if the summer is your only opportunity to pack up the kids and show them Paree, should you seize the day (carpe diem, as they say in Latin) and go for it?
That's my question to you in this blog. How do you find visiting Paris in the summer? Any tips for navigating the crowds? As for me, whether it is this summer, next fall, or in the dead of a dreary Parisian winter, I've got to get back to Paris. Those strawberry napoleons won't wait forever.