The other side of Paris

I have written a number of posts about Paris - a city of dreams of many, which I visited last September. I had high hopes about the city and it more or less lived up to its repetition. But that was as far its old architecture and well preserved buildings and monuments were concerned.

I am writing this post, prompted by a report in the France 24 online today and something that pained me to see too when visiting the many landmarks of Paris. Yes I am talking of overflowing trash cans and dirt lying around these and in open patches where tourists sat and rested.

The report says that Paris is classed down 24th in the world cleanliness ranking. And the ground facts speak exactly the same. 

Unlike Germany, from where I embarked upon a tour passing through Holland and Belgium, the trash cans in Paris are small with narrow necks and very little capacity to hold litter. With thousands and thousands of visitors visiting Eiffel Tower, the litter bins are not only extremely inadequate but in the absence of any 'smart cleaning' drive by the Paris municipal authorities, these over flow and tarnish the beauty of the city.

See the video below and see for yourself what a daily of Paris itself realizes and points out:

Paris: From the city of lights and glamour.... to the city of trash?
Posted by FRANCE 24 English on Monday, July 27, 2015

A lot needs to be done to keep Paris clean for the countless visitors and tourists from around the world whose one of the favourites destinations is Paris and off course the Eiffel Tower.

And a word about security - beware of muggers and car window breakers who find the thousands of cars parked around Paris land marks an easy prey and break the windows to snatch away anything valuable. The authorizes have only placed cautionary boards to caution tourists not to leave anything in the car - but there is no patrolling by police to ensure no one breaks in too.

I narrowly escaped such an attempt when the side window of my BMW was broken - had I left anything valuable, I would have been a loser. Read more about this in one of my earlier posts: I was robbed in France

So don't be surprised to see over flowing litter bins or trash thrown by road sides and on green patches around the Eiffel Tower - and elsewhere too. Enjoy Paris as it is!!

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