The Brits do it Better!

I spent the past 4 days in London and my travel buddies can attest that I spent the entire time comparing London to Paris on a multitude of very sophisticated dimensions and the final verdict is London wins hands down.

The Tube vs. Le Metro
Flat out this is a tie. Both are very convenient. Both smell of urine. The only concession I will make is that the Tube had escalators which were quite lovely after a full day of walking. Also, the ads in the Tube are quite fun and semi-interactive which was cool! But neither of these items hardly warrant an entire point!
London 0, Paris 0

The Poop-o-meter
Even with a lot of print advertising in Paris (which is something to the effect of a beautiful beach scene with dog poop in the middle and a line that translates as “Doesn’t look good here? Why would it look good in our city?”), I often see this juxtaposed against a street full of dog poop. London, where I encountered just as many dogs as I have in Paris, had no dog crap, so this one goes to London.
London 1, Paris 0

People – aka niceness and service
Ok, so maybe I only spent 4 days in London, after all, after a week in Paris, I kept mentioning how nice everyone was here as well. Maybe it’s the fact that while my French isn’t awful and I can communicate what I need, I’m obviously fluent in English. But nevertheless, no matter how nice they are in Paris, I really do feel like I am constantly being done a favor when someone allows me to spend my euros in Paris, where-as in London, people actually seemed to act like if I was paying, they were going to be nice.
(Also, ahh the British men, maybe it’s the accents?)
London 2, Paris 0

Romance
So, first a note about my previous entry. My mother, having read my last entry, looked at me via our Skype video chat and said (sounding quite disappointed in her daughter) “You’re becoming a wee bit prudish…” Now, trust me, I’m no prude, but making out in a subway that stinks of urine… well that’s not something I would call romantic or quaint or, well, necessary. In fact, I would say it’s fairly icky and actually tacky. In fact, I ended the last entry with a few suggestions such as the river, the bridges, the gardens, and lo and behold, it seems that the Brits got the message. In fact, I saw many couples walking along the Thames holding hands, girls resting their heads on their partner’s shoulders and kissing. I saw men putting their arms around their ladies while sitting in a church and listening to beautiful choir music. I saw them strolling hand in hand through the parks.
But then I also saw far too many couples making out on the subway while taking the last (midnight) train home and I’m going to assume that this must be a European thing: making out with a wafting urine stench.
So while I wanted to give the Brits this point, I’m afraid I can’t.
London 2, Paris 0

Fashion
You’d think this would be hands down a win for the Parisian. Aren’t they the most stylish people in the world? Is this not the fashion capital of the world? Not from what I’ve seen. The French wear a lot of black. And I mean A LOT! They know what’s in and what’s not. Unfortunately they lack any semblance of creativity. What’s in now? Leggings. Long shirts/short dresses. Wide boots. Guess what every French woman wears? Leggings with a shirt and wide boots. Every. Single. French. Woman.
The Brits are also aware that this is the “in” thing right now. And a good percentage of women also wear this style. But they also dress it up with funky leggings or a funky dress or boots. The ones that don’t, wear fun dresses (i.e. not black) and fun shoes and tights and jackets. We briefly explored the shops which were full of fun styles that I would love to have had time to actually scoop up! Thankfully though, I didn’t have time and my suitcase was far too small so I made out with very little damage to my wallet with a funky aqua dress and funky ring and earrings. And now I’m debating a trip back to London just for some shopping.
Sorry Paris, you lose big on this one!
London 3, Paris 0

Tourist Attractions
The Palaces in London were nothing spectacular but the churches definitely were! However, I wasn’t able to actually go visit Westminster Abbey or St Paul’s since the entry fee for each was 15 friggen’ pounds! Are you kidding me??? Even a visit to the Louvre is less! Fifteen pounds?! That’s just outrageous beyond words. (Also if someone happens to see my jaw on the ground, outside of Westminster Abbey from when I saw the price, please return to owner).
London 3, Paris 1

Expenses
Every time we saw a price in London, we kept saying that if it was in dollars, it would be fine (not Westminster though, $15 would be too much still!) Apparently according to the latest rankings, Paris is the 13th most expensive city to live in and London is 16th (having been 3rd last year). I’m going to say that 3rd sounds a bit closer to the truth. Apartments in London are far more expensive from the prices I saw, the tube is 4 pounds per ride (or 5.60 for a day – compared with something around 1.20 euros per ride in Paris) and restaurants and plays and the like are just ridiculous. Simply put, London is far too expensive and I spent more on the trip to London (4.5 days, excluding lodging and transportation) than I did on Romania, Bulgaria and Budapest combined (and that was 12 days or so). There’s just no excuse to not pricing things reasonably! If it costs $50 in the US, there’s no reason to make it 50 pounds. None.
London 3, Paris 2

I don’t think I’d want to live in either city, though in London I simply wouldn’t be able to afford it, it seems. However, if I had to choose, I’d take London hands down as it felt like a cleaner, nicer, more hospitable city (oh and did I mention our amazing afternoon tea at the Dorchester? With scones and cucumber sandwiches and all?)