Hi! Have recently been back from Paris. It was my first time in Europe and Paris. I had gone there with loads of dreams as in a nice friendly place, where you would see generally happy people. Unfortunately that was not the case! The city it seems is scared of itself. If u sit in a metro, u would see people not meeting each other's eyes. I spoke to other local Punjabis who I met on the Metro(by chance and yes there are quite a few Punjabis!!) and they clearly mentioned that after dark, it is not advisable to be on Metros. Apprently there are local gangs who could kill you for a few bucks.

There were lot of suburbs that sort of confined the population that lived in it. These subarbs were very demographically distributed. I stayed in La Villette area and it was pretty much uncomfortable. The hotel I chose was Ibis opp. the canal. it had a fabulous location with canal opp. it where on weekends people would come to jog and fish. however, lane behind me was apparently a drug peddles's area. u could see evening onwards, loads of people of a certain race engaging in drug peddling.

For me i was lucky to have a Indian restaurant in the same area run by two 'thett' punjabis from Jalandhar. They were for sure pretty helpful. Otherwise too, in the city itself, after dark, you are pretty much on your own. on one occasion, a scary guy almost tried to hit me and snatch my belongings. This happened quite near a metro station around champs Eleyyse area. i somehow escaped and ran into the metro station. Also please be aware that metro stations don’t have staff after 7pm!! So you are completely in your own.. also, on another occasion two thugs acted smart by trying to snatch my bag.

I would say, Paris specially, please be careful!!