I grew up in England, came here as a teenager decades ago. It’s always fascinated me how some Americans go to Europe, fall in love with the “history and culture” and assume that all the people are as sophisticated, that their opinions are somehow superior.
They’re a bunch of know-it-all snobs. They’re just as ignorant as anyone else. They’re spoon fed how great their governments are and they believe it. They don’t question it.
I couldn’t give 2 cents for their opinion. As for Paris, lol, the French are probably the worst - they think SOOOOOoooo much of themselves. Yes I will stereotype - I’ve seen it way too many times, in comparison to many other European cultures.
Aside from never having a hotel room available on time, I have found the French to be almost universally polite and charming.
The only rude interaction I had was when my teenage daughter was not paying attention to where she was going, and spilled he coffee on a very fashionably dressed student at the Sorbonne. She received quite a dressing down in rapid fire French, a lot of which I missed, but clearly this woman had a low opinion of Americans in general, and my daughter in particular.
My daughter apologized for her clumsiness, and we moved on. Walking away, I could tell that my daughter was upset, and I told her not to worry, because she had done this young lady a great favor, because now she could have a great time complaining about the doofus Americans for at least a week!