Memorials: The French gave us Lady Liberty. We gave them back a cheap torch knock-off for the Place De L’Alma. Uninspired, visitors gaze instead at the tunnel below where Princess Diana’s holiday came to a screeching end. Don’t ever call hot dogs and pretzels tasteless again. Arts: France has Monet, the Mona Lisa, Montmartre. We’ve got MoMa, the Met, the Mets, and metropolis after metropolis. Eats: Chez Pierre, you may order foie gras–but the snobby waiter will makes you feel like a snail. Diner eats may not beat French grub, but “How ya doin’ honey” service with a smile does it for us. And McDonald’s rules, even in Paris! Sub-culture: The Paris catacombs are a sight–skulls, bones, dusty remnants of the past, just like the old city itself. The New York subway puts it all to shame. Rats, huge rats, everywhere! All sorts of human-being types too, some of them sleeping there! And they’re alive, mostly. So you can skip the trip to the zoo. Nature: The Loire Valley, the Riviera… and how to top the Alps? Easy, the Rockies. The California surf dwarfs the Riveria’s ripples. And what could be grander than the Grand Canyon? In nature, size matters. Movies: Hollywood makes the movies. Cannes shows them. Enough said. Fun: Disneyland Paris attracted 7.2 million foreign visitors last year. The remaining 6 billion probably went to Disney USA. On both coasts.
