09-02-2014, 01:09 PM
Lot of dislike for eastern Europe in that piece... diametrically opposite from my experiences in that part of the world.
Having heard tales of rude Frenchmen (and -women) all my life, I was quite ready to hate Paris in the single brief day I spent there (I'm not counting getting stuck at De Gaulle Airport a couple of other times; getting stuck in any airport by definition sucks), but to my mild consternation, every single Parisian I so much as bumped into on the sidewalk went out of their way to be nice to me.
The only 'major' European destinations I've visited that didn't care for were Vienna (I was 22, and found it dull; I'd probably have a different reaction today) and Mykonos, aka the Panama City Beach of the Greek Islands...
Having heard tales of rude Frenchmen (and -women) all my life, I was quite ready to hate Paris in the single brief day I spent there (I'm not counting getting stuck at De Gaulle Airport a couple of other times; getting stuck in any airport by definition sucks), but to my mild consternation, every single Parisian I so much as bumped into on the sidewalk went out of their way to be nice to me.
The only 'major' European destinations I've visited that didn't care for were Vienna (I was 22, and found it dull; I'd probably have a different reaction today) and Mykonos, aka the Panama City Beach of the Greek Islands...