fishn guy said:
Did A med. cruise in the navy and went all over Europe.
Have to say my favorite was either Greece or Bulgaria. Greece has lots to offer for your whole family, Italy was pretty but it was dirty and the people dont like us as much as some people believe. You WILL get ripped off.
I never did get to Italy; no leave built up, or low on financial resources, were the key problems. However, Paris is much like what you say, in that outside of the main streets/boulevards - the Champs-Elysee(sp?), the Rue-de-la-Paix, you only had to go off on a sidestreet, maybe 2 blocks, and you'd be amazed at the filth, the smell of rotting garbage/waste in the side alleys.
Totally different scene! Uh, we did not linger for very long thereabouts!
We had a thread, a few weeks ago, discussing Germany. My experience in all the major cities we toured, was that the same didn't hold true for the Krauts.
Very clean, even outside of the main thoroughfares. Like they take great pride in the way their cities, towns and little burgs look.