I hate this

As someone who has made a grand or two writing about France, I probably shouldn't be trashing this article in the NY Times about Paris. But oh my god it's so full of the same bullshit you read in every single article written about Paris. Check out this gem of an opener:

"THE chief danger about Paris,” T. S. Eliot wrote to a friend, “is that it is such a strong stimulant.” That wasn’t merely the overcaffeinated ramblings of a Left Bank cafe habitué. Few cities thrill visitors with such a beguiling multiplicity of personalities. There is the devout Paris of Notre Dame’s Gothic solemnity, and the naughty Paris of Pigalle’s red-light bars. Sophisticated Paris radiates from the vaulted galleries of the Louvre and the gilded Opéra Garnier, while bohemian Paris emerges in the art galleries of the Marais and gritty rock ’n’ roll nightclubs. For every Gallic gastronomic temple, there’s an Asian, African or Middle Eastern restaurant brimming with exotic flavors. And for every Jean Paul Gaultier, there’s a fledgling fashion student opening his first boutique. In the words of Henry Miller, another American drawn to Paris’s manifold pleasures, lofty and low: “To know Paris is to know a great deal.”

When I'm in Paris I too quote American expat artists. Then there's this:

Not all baguettes are created equal. [so original, that line!] At the bakery of Gérard Mulot (76, rue de Seine; 33-1-43-26-85-77), the bread and croissants (1 euro) are sublime, and the jewel-like pastries — like the ruby red raspberry tarts and jade green pistachio macaroons — are as finely wrought as Fabergé eggs. Eat them as you stroll to the belle époque Café de Flore nearby (172, boulevard St.-Germain; 33-1-45-48-55-26), the former hangout of André Breton and the Surrealists, Jean-Paul Sartre and the Existentialists, and a who’s who of screen stars like Brigitte Bardot. Trotsky and Hemingway may be gone, but the French intelligentsia still stops in to slurp café crème and exceptional hot chocolate

It's just ridiculous. I pity the fool that goes to Paris after reading this garbage.