Paris - First Impressions

After a long week in London, the journey has now moved across the English Channel and arrived in Paris.

I’ve always had France high on my short list (ok, my long list) of places to go someday, even thought I have often heard clichés such as “it’s a really dirty city” or “they all hate Americans and refuse to speak in English”.

After being here for few days, I can say that I have not met a single unfriendly person yet, nor I have I seen anything I would consider “dirty” other than the dirt itself. It’s true. There are a lot of un-paved areas around most of the monuments and people are forced to walk in the dirt. What’s with that anyway?

But if you look past the actually dirt (and a few random red-light districts like Moulin Rouge), you will find a beautiful city with friendly people and excellent cuisine, art, and culture. To top it off, you also have a number of monuments with breathtaking grandeur.

A few random observations and recommendations: The street market near Sentier, paying 1 EU for a bike to ride around anywhere, don't rush to see all the tourist sites; to really appreciate Paris you have to slow down and let it consume you.

There were a few things that really caught my attention and made me think… why do they do it what way, or even better… why don’t we do it that way? Stay tuned for our subsequent blogs called: Innovations from Abroad.

For more information about the CBS Pre-MBA World Tour, visit www.cbsworldtour.com.