Surpass Paris: The background of France is as keenly exciting as that of any country in the world. Its violent colors have been blended by the centuries, but the thrilling roster of human beings who compose the blend has not been dimmed. Not even Italy or England or Spain can surpass France, or so it seems to me, in the pageantry of personalities. Where, in royal roll calls, will you find blacks that are so black or whites that are so white as in the story of the eighteen kings who bore the title Louis of France?
Art, music, literature and talents for the theater are natives of France. Italy may surpass her in the first, Germany in the second, England in the third, and in theater variety, New York may surpass Paris, but the French balance is admirable.
The artist's palette is a highly respected feature of the French scene and the contemporary art showings are quite as vital in French interest as are the galleries of the Old Masters.
13. Bals musettes, those thronged and very humble dance-cafes so typical of lowbrow Paris, are to be found at their peak on rue de Lappe, near the Bastille. The raucous frolicking in Bousca Bal, La Boule Rouge and Le Balajo would be hard to surpass.
14. If a bit of convivial elbow-lifting calls you, it is easily available in a genuine American bar (that term has been captured and corrupted all over Europe), meaning especially that most famous of establishments, Harry's New York Bar, at 5 rue Daunou, near the Opeia. Harry's reiterated advertisement of his address, Sank-Roo-Doe-Noo is as tedious to the eye as a TV commercial seen for the thousandth time but regardless of that, the place is greatly liked as an enclave of America-in-Paris. Two other bars, a bit more Bohemian in nature, are Morgan's and Payne's, both in Mont-martre.
Paris, virtually unscarred by either world war, remains, beyond argument, the most brilliant visitor-city in the world. No other can quite match it for popularity. London is bigger and stronger, despite its war lacerations. Rome is more replete with history, and certainly with famous churches. Stockholm, Lisbon, Naples, Istanbul far surpass it in beauty of setting. But the city on the Seine is the great lodestar of travelers and has been so since tourist travel began, some six centuries ago.
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