Just returned from our very first Paris trip and ..
I feel like we may be the minority but unfortunately we didn't have the best of times. We did have times where it was fun, the people were amazing and friendly. We found some beautiful areas like the Latin Quarter and Concorde but we had a few cons.
First, we had one good meal the whole trip. That was from Le Jacobine. The food was amazing and they squeezed us in after they weren't able to find our reservation. Everywhere else, the food was ok or we kept getting the wrong order. We also had waiters begging for tips from us even in non tourist areas. One place took my card and gave themselves a tip. The worst was Bouillon Republique. We walked by and saw a huge line, saw it had amazing reviews and went in only to be disappointed. We both got sick at the louvre after eating there.
The other thing that ruined our trip was just other tourists. We got tickets for places as the first visits of the day to avoid crowds, which worked once we were in, but getting in was a nightmare most times. At Palais Garnier we were crushed in a line while the opened the gates, people were pushing us and cutting us off. I had to push back just to get in. Then people would take up the staircases and rooms for photoshoots. At Versailles we waited in the longest line to get in and again people were rude and kept cutting.
We did have a problem with scammers a few times. The worst was after we left the Eiffel Tower. We had just had an amazing time at the top and as we left we got swarmed by a group of men trying to sell us items. Then we kept getting followed by other men trying to sell us wine, champagne and photos. It definitely ruined the mood for the night.
The final was we noticed the city smelled strongly of urine the last couple days, even in the nicer clean areas. I developed a horrible cough from the air and constantly getting hit with cigarette smoke. We also found human feces on the sidewalk multiple times and would see people just urinating public on the sidewalk or walls.
I know this isn't everyone's experience, I feel like we just had a lot of bad luck. I think we are both just disappointed because it was on our bucket list and it seems we were let down at every turn for the entire week. The locals were friendly and helpful, we had some fun times but it just wasn't our favorite.