Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

A group of guy friends goes every year and they always try to convince me to go.  No, thanks.  Every year I tell them I'd be there in heartbeat if they were doing New Orleans instead of Las Vegas.

This all god damn day! I fricken love Nawlins. Easily one of my favorite cities in the US. I’d kill for some beignets from Cafe Du Monde or a bbq pork slider from Cochon Butcher right about now.

Funny how we each have different POVs, which really is a good thing.  The wife and I went to New Orleans a couple years back with an artist friend.  The wife had been before and recalled that she liked it, I had never been, and hopefully will never return, ever.  The wife was also disappointed.

For me, it was awful.  The ladies wanted to go to some jazz bar one night and I just stayed in the hotel.  I was happy to be gone, realizing that had I gone to a different spot with different folks it could well have been nice.  We went to Mobile, AL from there for two nights and I liked it better.

The artist was there to check on a gallery featuring her paintings and wanted to take us to "her places", which the wife and I found to be touristy and mediocre.  The artist friend is French and speaks little English, so we went in part to help her understand what the gallery owner was telling her.

We're headed to SF in August to see my step son, who is a very very nice guy.  We both miss him.  Maybe I'll look up sfbadger.

I tell folks my least favorite city in France is Paris, which is the truth, and you'd laugh to see what a Phillistine folks think that makes me.

I share this opinion whole-heartedly.  I think Paris is something you should experience once, but beyond that there are so many lovely places in France with much nicer people and honestly, better food for a lot less money. 
I've also found that aside from actual Parisians, everyone else in France has this exact same view.

I tell folks my least favorite city in France is Paris, which is the truth, and you'd laugh to see what a Phillistine folks think that makes me.

I’ve only been to 3 cities in France. Paris is my favorite. I can see why some might not like it. Parisians can be major league assholes. They have a rep for being dicks, but honestly that’s not any different than any major gigantic city with 10+ million people. There’s gonna be a lot of a holes. New York City has Paris beat there imo.

I love Paris. I hate London. They drive on the wrong side of the road, the cabs are a rip off, the weather sucks and so does the food. To get a good meal in London you’ve got to go to a fancy Michelin restaurant and spend a fortune to eat food that isn’t English bc English food sucks and the museums and sights are inferior to Italy, Spain, or France. Just my two cents.

Have you ever been to Annecy in France? Absolutely stunningly beautiful.

The funny thing is how folks think it means I hate Paris (which I don't, though I don't especially like it either).

Folks tend to not understand relativity, or nuance.  I'd say "these days" but I'm pretty sure that's always been the case.

I actually like Paris. But after going there a couple of times (in my 20s and on the corporate dollar no less, which was a great way to go), it's not that I have no desire to go back, it's just that there are so many other places in France (and Italy, and Spain) where I'd prefer to spend my time and hard-earned dollar.

It's similar to Hawaii, for me.  The inland island topography of Hawaii is beautiful, but honestly I go on beach vacations for the beauty of the beach and water itself, and for the diving.  And the beach/water/diving in Cozumel/Playa del Carmen is way better than Hawaii.  Add to that that it's FAR less expensive and much quicker to get to, and I'll go to the Mayan Riviera over Hawaii or pretty much any other beach destination every single time.  My i s c & a aggie wife has never been to Hawaii, so this annoys her to no end, I can assure you.  But she loves the same things about going on beach/ocean vacations, even moreso than I do, and I am fairly certain she'd be disappointed in a trip to Hawaii compared to all of the places we've been in the Caribbean.

...it's just that there are so many other places [...] where I'd prefer to spend my time and hard-earned dollar.

This is the vacation dilemma in our house. There are so many places worth seeing in California -- there are so many places worth seeing all around the world. Particularly as our kids steadily get older (funny how that happens), we're looking at the limited time we have to travel with them. On the other hand, once we're empty-nesters, we won't be limited to travel during the peak times, which will be nice. I have this fantasy that when we retire we travel all over, but paying for that will be a neat trick.

We love Maui, and return there relatively often. It's not a tough trip from San Francisco, and there are ways to reduce the cost (though not to make it inexpensive). But we also love seeing other things. We tend to bounce back and forth between more adventurous vacations and more relaxed ones (which mostly returns us to Maui). This year is Maui, and we're very much looking forward to getting away and putting our feet up. 

CD, I'll likely be here. I'm actually headed through Atlanta towards the end of July (I think), on my way to Murphy, North Carolina, for work.

Bellagio

Caesar's

Venetian


I hate those places and the entire strip

Vegas isn't bad if you stay away from the strip, and much cheaper

Yeah, but off-strip Vegas isn't necessarily "good" either, unless you're trying to find cheap gambling off-strip, or you're in town to play golf or do other things. I can drink at home. I can eat at home. Nothing about Vegas is truly a "draw" unless you're actually going there to do something that you can't get at home, which is mostly the shows on the strip. 

I don't really gamble (although I would enjoy sitting in a sportsbook drinking/gambling on either a college football or college basketball day). So going to Vegas, staying off-strip, just so I can get to do something I don't want to do but cheaper, isn't exactly my thing. 

I view the strip as kinda like Disneyland. If you have kids, you occasionally "have" to do something like Disneyland. It's expensive. It sucks. But it's almost like you sorta just have to bite the bullet. Vegas is one of those things that as an adult, occasionally it will come up that something that you [or close friends / family] want to do just happens to be in Vegas, so you have to bite the bullet and go. It's expensive. It sucks. But you're an arsehole if you don't join the rest of the group, so you have to do. 

I have not been to Annecy.  The best food in London is Indian food.  Real English food can be quite good, but you won't find it in touristy spots.

My favorite larger city in France would be Lyon, the wife agrees.  Strasbourg has some appeal also.  Bordeaux has those fermented grape things.  Avignon is nice, touristy, but nice, as is Nice.  Duh.  We stayed three nights in Evian which is not far from Annecy.  Chamonix was pretty neat.

I liked Luxembourg City, but the wife was lukewarm on it. 

My Parisian cousins agree that Lyon has the best food. 

Idk I just was not a big fan of London. I see no reason to go back any time soon. I didn’t hate it. That’s just me being hyperbolic and exaggerating. I don’t love it and I don’t hate it. Compared to other cities in Europe that I’ve been too and want to go too, London way down my list. I really see no reason to go back there any time soon to be honest. It’s just ok. Speaking of Indian food, I had some amazing Indian food in Paris one night actually. Probably the best Indian food I’ve ever had.

As for France, I’ve been to Paris, Annecy, and Bordeaux. I have so many places left in France I desperately want to see. Especially the French Mediterranean. As for Paris, I just love it. There’s something about that city man. The history and the beauty. The food. The sights. I love it.

You have got to go to Annecy the next time that you are in France. It’s just so unbelievably beautiful. You have to try to go in the late spring or summer and rent a boat and spend a day on the lake. Amazing place to spend a weekend and relax.

We took the train from Paris to Annecy, might’ve been 40 euros and took 3-4 hrs. Flew out from the Geneva Switzerland airport, which is just 20-25 miles away. Car service from the condo to the airport might’ve been 60-80 euro and took 40 mins maybe.