London vs. Paris

[patriots_1228 51]

both are two of the greatest cities in the world, but id have to give it london. The only areas paris is better IMO are culture and entertainment, london has everything else.

[ILL Tonkso 1,239]

One thing that bugs me, people are saying the Thames is dirty, its one of the cleanest urban rivers on earth, it just has a very muddy riverbed, and thats why it looks brown.

[Micah 16]

people are saying the Thames is dirtyquote>

That's a very old belief. At one time, yes, the Thames was extremely dirty and fish were dieing in it and at one time, didn't it smell horrible? But either way, that was a long long long time ago.

[montrouge 2]

That's right for me London look cleaner tha Paris.

[jayo 44]

eeLondon for me.London has way nicer suburbs-west norwood,wimbeldon,crystal palace.ect.

Its cleaner.People are nice,and the food is good.If you want to eat good in london you can't just go to

any-old cafe'  like paris.,you have to have a guide book handy.If you're posh you can go to places like

the ritz.ect.London has a way better theater district than anywere in the world apart from NYC.London has great plans for the future and many great smaller skyscrapers-Soon to have the biggest building in europe(london bridge tower)Although it will probably soon be surpassed

I can think of many reasons why i love!!!!!! london.Many great people have lived in the suburbs of london too-for example-henry tate-he live in streatham/west norwood(where i live)

I love croydon too------------------

[montrouge 2]

Actually the tallest tower planned in western Europe is the Generalli tower 318m in Paris.

Two other 300 meters building are planned in Paris and maybe a fourth.

Don't forget that Paris has more skyscraper than London.

Paris : 113 high-rises over 90m (Eiffel tower, Invalide exclude)

London : 48 high-rises over 90m

[ExiL3 10]

[Marla_Singer 46]

Paris skyline in 2012

[Please keep all images within the 800 x 600 pixel limit] Marc

[patriots_1228 51]

it looks pretty, too bad theres all that smog blocking out your veiw

I still am sticking with london because it has tons of history, a nice skyline, not as much pollution, and the people i know from london on this site are pretty cool people

[Marla_Singer 46]

Originally posted by: patriots_1228 it looks pretty, too bad theres all that smog blocking out your veiw

I still am sticking with london because it has tons of history, a nice skyline, not as much pollution, and the people i know from london on this site are pretty cool peoplequote>

Paris is an older city than London. It has kept more buildings from its various periods in History than London : Roman era, early Middle Age, High Middle Age, Renaissance, Classical era, Industrial era, modern times... Paris has also a denser and more extensive skyline than London. And finally, the most important, I am also someone who's pretty cool. 

Well, this is all a matter of taste and it's not really important, however I'm still amazed about how much Paris is misjudged on the Simtropolis website. Paris transportation system is far more complete than London's, very few serious people oppose this. The freeway/motorway is better, the street pattern is IMHO better thought, the system metro/RER is more efficient than the tube, and the suburban rails are about the same in both cities. There's simply no place in the city center of Paris which is at more than 500 m from a metro station. As a consequence, you can live your whole life without having ever to take the bus.

Afterwards, it's true that Paris is a denser city, hence it's moving more which generates probably more stress and more pollution. London is also greener and in general, with prettier suburbs. However, Paris has undisputably a better "big city feel", because of the density, but also because of wider boulevards and taller buildings (the average building in Paris has about 6 to 8 stories whereas the average building in London has only 2 to 4 stories).

Generally, I would put Paris in the same category as New York City or Barcelona. At the opposite London is  a more open city, more sprawled and greener.

[montrouge 2]

Why everybody thinks that Paris is a boring city without life, crowd, not multicultural and without modern building and skyscrapers ?

In fact Paris is city with the most arabs, east asian, blacks people in Europe. and a fast gowing south asian population

[jayo 44]

You see montrouge,to me most of those pictures don't look particulary flattering.

How tall is the biggest building going to be built in paris?.London bridge tower is about 320 suttin metres

[jayo 44]

Oh sorry 310 metres

Anyway londons gonna host the new olympics !

+bishopgate tower was going to be 311 metres tall but was lowered too 288.

[montrouge 2]

Actually it is Generalli tower with 318m, the second tallest tower planned is the Phare tower 300m these two supertall are approved.

And at the end of 2007 the renders of the Signal tower will be show, the only that we know about this tower:  it will be taller than 300m.

Why the picture that I post don't look particulary flattering, it show the reality. a modern city with modern and old building, skyscrapers, construction. wealthy districts, poor districts, ugly building beautiful building. crowd multiculturalism.

You show show the same picture of London, not only Westminster, The City and Canary Wharf
I want to see West End, Wimbleton...

[jayo 44]

Ok,i'll post some pics tommorow.Ok,what i said was a bit harsh

[pikatchoum 2]

I think people saying that Paris is an old city, not a melting pot, a dirty city and all the stupid and unreal clich

[ILL Tonkso 1,239]

London is a city of Contrasts

[giorgos69 53]

Berlin.

[ilikehotdogsalot 311]

i know it's been said in other threads that it's impossible to compare cities, but it really is impossible to compare paris and london.

i love the beat of life in paris and the culture, including the food, landmarks, the apartments.

but i also love london's beat of life, architecture, landmarks, double decker buses and black cabbies.

if i say i like london more, i'll probably upset montrouge, but if i say i like paris more, i'll probably upset ill tonkso. it'll lead to a neverending debate aswell.

i do like that these threads bring awesome pictures of both cities, thank you all for sharing pictures of these two great world class cities.

[Molibdo 12]

I think Paris it's better than London. Both cities are brilliant, but Paris is nicer.

[SkyTearer 10]

London is the greatest city on Earth hands down for most, but I have to agree architecturally Paris is a much more beautiful city

[GreekMan 246]

london 100% no 1,000,000%

[montrouge 2]

A good question. This picture is in wich city ?

O.K it is dificult every building in this picture are modern and people don't look so french or english, Londoner or Parisian or people that know very well these city don't answer please ! 

[montrouge 2]

You didn't know but actually I love London I went often here... so it can be a picture of London.

[Marla_Singer 46]

Here are some other pictures of the city of Paris.

[swingingbellevillerendezvous 0]

A hard question indeed.

I have been to both cities, and they each have their own charm.

London has it's vibrant night-life, Historic buildings and cultural diversity.

Paris has it's stunning architecture, romantic vistas and, like London, Cultural diversity.

Each city has it's own unique history, for example, London's history consists of it being invaded by the vikings (Hence, London Bridge is falling down.), The Romans (Londinium and what remains of the London Wall) and William the Conquerer (Who built part of Westminster Abbey, if I recall.). Then the industrial revolution came along, catapulting it into a new age, with the World's first underground train system (correct me if I am wrong.) and the seat of the British Empire.

Paris' history consists of it being a Roman city (Lutetia, the city of lights). Before the age of Haussman and his radical redevelopment, Paris was filled with slums. However, the French Revolution came along, catapulting the French into a new age, with the writing of the rights of man, the redevelopment of Paris by Baron Haussman, The construction of the Sacre-Coeur after the Franco-Prussian war, then the World Exhibition of 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was created. And of course, the occupation. That is a heated subject that I will not go into, but I must say that if it were not for the surrender, then the Beautiful city we know today would not exist. (In my opinion, of course.) 

Now then, the underground train situation.

The Tube:

Pros: Fast, Efficient and easy to navigate.

Cons: Gets very, VERY hot and crowded and people are prone to throwing themselves in front of oncoming trains, causing delays. It also seems to be prone to terrorist attacks (7/7) and fire (King's Cross Fire, but that was an accident that has since been rectified and can never occur again.) Surprisingly, I've never smelt any urine on the tube.

The Metropolitain:

Pros: Fast, Efficient, Very Easy to navigate and lovely stations (Try stopping at Louvre-Rivoli to see artifacts from the museum, or at Varennes to see some of Rodin's Statues, such as the thinker, on the train platforms.)

Cons: Gets very crowded and sometimes the train has to stop in the tunnel because there's already a train in the station ahead.

It's a close call, but for me Paris comes out on top. Why? because it has retained it's colourful historic past, and it's sense of rebellion (People go on strike for just about anything to protect their rights) which I admire, but is still moving on with the future (Line 14 and METEOR on the Metropolitain, La Defense and Beaubourg, a.k.a the Centre Pompidou.)

London is moving on with the times, but at what cost? The last time I went to London, I found it disheartening to see the once beautiful city of London becoming skyscraper city. The once dominating dome of Saint. Paul's cathederal has now been overshadowed by the Gherkin, Suppository or whatever you'd like to call it. The London Eye is far too close to the Houses of Parliament to me. London is still a great city, but I just prefer Paris.

And yes, I am new to the board. Hello to you all.

[Micah 16]

Beautiful screenshots, Marla_Singer. But, do you think you can resize them so that they meet the 800 x 600 pixel limit? If not, I suppose I could resize them like I always do.

[Master Zen 0]

Each is wonderful in their own right. London has more style, better food (none of which is actually British fortunately) more history, a more cozy feel and much more beautiful suburbs.

Paris on the other hand has more architecture, more culture (best museums in the world hands down), the city is less chaotic and better planned, better shopping, but most importantly...

...it is far and away the single most beautiful city in the world. There is nothing even remotely comparable in London to the Louvre, Versailles, the Pont Alexandre, the Champs Elysees, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and all the countless other palaces found all around.

So in conclusion, perhaps London might be a better place to live depending on what you value (I mean, if you like variety and night-life, it's much better). But in terms of sheer beauty, I really wonder how anyone in their right mind can put London over Paris.

-MZ

PS I'm amazed how the anti-French mentality of certain anglos goes on to cloud even their supposedly unbiased opinions on two cities.

[ledge69 0]

Contrast makes London London thou. It has to be one of the pretiest ugliest cities because of its mix of styles. Its unfair to say that we don't retain our past, most of the historic city was lost no suprise to the Great Fire and the war destroyed a few of the remminants too. It's also this history that has given us the chaotic network of streets (not all of London is like this). Paris' transport network is far better then London. You get what you pay for but in London thats not a lot. However in the last 10 years there has been a real revival in London which shows no signs of stopping. There both evenly matched but I'm biased so no suprise I say London.

Edit: Constantina - May look cosy but it dosent bare thinking about whats lurking in them.

[fern244 1]

IthinkIthink thats an easy question, France is a tourist city london is a city city