It’s just the familiarity from regularly driving in heavy traffic in challenging conditions. I was a London driver, and found bucolic drivers of Oxfordshire painful to be stuck behind after we moved: you have a Golf GTi, but drive it like a golf cart. I still expect people to know how big their car is, how quickly it can accelerate (and to use that when pulling out in front of me - they seldom do, and expect me to brake hard instead) and how to stop quickly, go round corners etc.
I’ve driven in Paris a few times, and it can be stressful, but that’s unfamiliarity with French cities and the general unpleasantness of traffic jams as much as anything.
Back in 2020, I took a car full of stuff from the UK to my apartment in Paris. I didn’t feel particularly stressed and then looked at my watch which showed my heart rate to be 110, rather than it’s more usual 65-70.
It doesn’t help that sometimes they know exactly where they’re going and we don’t… they shout the French equivalent of “follow me” and then set off at the speed of sound.
We stand a vague chance on the straight, but we haven’t got a hope at roundabouts and junctions.
I think Paris is fine as long as I don’t have to drive there. The last time I went for a long weekend, I took the TGV from Narbonne and then used the metro or the bus to get around. Like London, it’s more interesting if you take the bus because you see different areas of the city.
I went there in 2010 for the first time to see BonJovi at Bercy arena. It took us 6 hours by train as the TGV speeds only kicked in between Rennes and Laval and then my daughter and I had to navigate the metro from Montparnasse to the other side of Paris. I was actually shocked at how small the city really is in comparison to other world cities but maybe that’s not a bad thing. We did not have time to do much sightseeing, just a bateau mouche to Notre Dame from the Eiffel Tower pier and back and then we walked all the way to Montparnasse Station from the Eiffel Tower, took three hours as we tried to walk in a straight line for the tower you see in the distance. Made it in the end and home again. Would not want to live there, far too crowded
I’m viewing Paris on Google Earth and love seeing where my Gran’s family lived in Montmartre (18th arrondissement) and where Gran was actually born, in the 8th arrondissement.
Makes me want to visit Paris… outside tourist timings
