We wee very fortunate toured Paris for 5 days with French friends. 2 bedroom apt and good local neighborhood, bakery, store, Metro etc. We saw more than I would every planned and good local flavor thanx to them. I would suggest go to Paris use local guide for yourself or companions. I would go back anytime. been twice.
Venice doesn’t care if you come or not. Won
t see many ads. They have enough tourists. We went in early December and no crowds also avoided the high tide for two days. Bucket list recommendation. Go once for the experience. Unique.
“We wee very fortunate toured Paris for 5 days with French friends.”
I agree. I loved Paris and didn’t find the people unfriendly at all when I visited several years ago. I made a point of being able to speak a few words of French, and Parisians could and WOULD speak English after friendly greetings in French, and I found Parisians to be quite friendly.
My favorite story was being rebuffed at one of the big Paris train stations when trying to buy tickets to Versailles. I did the parlez-vous anglais? thing with the agent and he said Non! quite vociferously. However, I was always prepared for such a reponse, and manged the French words for “two, round-trip, Versailles” while offering money, which I figured was good enough to get the point across. And the ticket agent then went, “Oh, you want two round-trip tickets to Versailles.” in perfect English with an American accent! I totally burst out laughing and thoroughly enjoyed the joke of him trying to screw with me, but being unable to fluster me. One of the memorable experiences of the visit. I’d go back in a heartbeat!