Paris part 6

These are all views of the Pont Alexandre III

A dance class we watched; the teacher began with a demonstration then called couples up to try.

Outside Musée Quai d'Orsay

Musee Georges Pompidou

Les Jardins de Luxembourg. Delightful public park, full of people.

It's my town and you're a visitor!

On the news today both in Spain and internationally, residents of the Catalan town of Barceloneta say they've had enough of drunken tourism. Three Italian men apparently wandered around the town for three hours yesterday, stark naked. I can't find out if they actually got arrested or not; they should have been. It's one thing to strip off on the beach; -even then other people's sensibilities should be considered- but in a town it's not acceptable. It's not fair and it certainly isn't polite. This is what The Guardian says:
The tipping point was a trio of naked Italian tourists. As photos of the group frolicking through the La Barceloneta neighbourhood last Friday morning circulated on social media, some residents said they couldn't take it any longer.

A hundred or so Barcelona residents took to the streets in several spontaneous protests this week, demanding that municipal authorities do more to help what they call a scourge of "drunken tourism".

"Here tourists do whatever they want," Vicens Forner told El País. A local photographer, he was the one snapping photos of the Italian tourists as they wandered his neighbourhood for three hours in the nude – even popping into a local shop – while horrified residents looked on.

The naked tourists were the latest incident in an ongoing conversation Barcelona has been having in recent years about the number and the type of tourists visiting the city. The number of tourists visiting has jumped drastically in recent years, from 1.7 million in 1990 to more than 7.4 million in 2012. As residents attempt to go about their lives in a city where tourists often far outnumber the 1.6 million residents, the number of complaints about noise, nudity, public drunkenness and littering has rocketed.

"Imagine that you're in a tiny house, with three children, unemployed with no money for vacations and you have to put up with the screams and fiesta of tourists next door. It's unbearable," said resident Andrés Antebi.

Municipal authorities have been slow to address the situation, said neighbours. "We're tired of low-cost, drunken tourism," said Oriol Casabella, who leads the La Barceloneta neighbourhood association. "It's killing our neighbourhood and dissuading other types of tourists. It's Magaluf all over again."

Tourism which allows those who pay to do whatever they want and behave just however they feel is a kind of prostitution. If a town wants to make money and nothing more it can prostitute itself in this way, but with the assent of the ratepaying residents. 

Tourism is a very important part of the economy in Spain, but does it have to be like that at the expense of inhabitants? There must be a balance, though. 

I've lived for many years in tourist areas, first Mallorca- not far from the infamous Magalluf, and more recently in Jaca, whose tourism in general is less scandalous.  What I notice is that some people behave as if they owned the place;  paying for a guesthouse or hotel gave them precedence over locals, and of course  that most locals, employed by the tourist industry have to defer to this bad behaviour.

It's selfishness, thoughtlessness, bad manners; not considering that others have the right to exist too. 

Local authorities need to examine their priorities and tighten up their legislation. These few inconsiderate people should not be allowed to ruin other people's sleep, especially not night after night. 

People shouldn't be obliged to confront full or even half  "Montys" while they are shopping.

Visitors should behave like visitors and respect their hosts.

Paris 5, street market

One of the things I enjoyed in Paris was the street market held every other day near our hotel. They seemed to have everything there. It was very colourful.
I liked the piles of herbs, vegetables, lovely fruit. We learned a few French words we hadn't known before. The watermelon = la pastèque, shrimp-crevette

Herbs

Lovely lettuces

Enormous artichokes

More herbs

Masses of radishes

Yet more herbs

Paris part 4

Opera

Concorde

 The Eiffel Tower is ....very big! There were hundreds of people in the Champs de Mars. Great big queues stretching between the feet of the tower.

Sunday in Paris

As with the pyramid at the Louvre, it was funny to watch people posing for photos standing at the perfect distance away so they looked as if they were touching the tip.

Paris part 3

After a long day in the Louvre museum, the following day was a bit better in the morning, and we took the Metro to Pigalle station. A walk uphill to the National Church of the Sacre Coeur. It looks rather like the Romanesque churches in Zamora, but was actually built in the 1870s. It's at the top of the highest hill in Paris.

You have to go up flights of steps if you don't want to use the funicular

300 steps to the top of the dome, and wonderful views

                                                         

  The Eiffel Tower

After the Sacre Coeur, we went to la Place du Tetre. There were so many people there that I didn't take any photos.

Le Moulin Rouge

The Opera house (I think it's the one with the Phantom)

Some river or other that we saw in Paris....

I think this is the site of the Bastille