http://www.paris-travel-guide.info/eiffel-tower-charm/
Why is Paris seen as romantic?
Of course, it has this reputation as being one of the most romantic city in the world, but where does this stereotype stem from?
It can’t just be from the Eiffel Tower! What else gives Paris it’s romantic charm?
Or is this romance a bit false and untrue?
Oh dear, manthebraces…
I’m a student studying French (in the UK, for the record) and am wanting to explore the stereotype given to Paris as a hub of romance.
Thanks for being a wanker.
It’s true that architecture and quaint districts alone cannot explain everything or the same could be said of a lot of European cities. Actually I was reading a recent article ranking Prague as the new most romantic city in the world, before Paris and Venice.
I think Paris’s reputation as a romantic city is for a large part the fact of Northern tourists of protestant culture (British, Scandinavian, North American) who are not used to public display of affection. Then they arrive in Paris and see that the French are always kissing and holding hands without even thinking about it, it’s just so natural a behavior in France.
So I guess that’s how Paris got its reputation as the city of love, because northern foreigners had never seen such public manifestations of love and affection. Also pleasure (look at their approach to food) is seen as something of utmost importance rather than something trivial or shameful as in Protestant countries. The French are hedonists.
It’s true on French beaches too, not just in Paris. On American beaches for instance men and women don’t touch whereas on French beaches couples are always kissing, fondling, men’s hands tenderly running up and down their wife’s back… Since I lived in France several years as a child and went back every year when I moved to America I never noticed until an American friend pointed it out to me years later.
Awkward parking at the Eiffel Tower