Not really. Orlando is the most visited city in Florida, if not the entire USA. Key West and Tampa also get lots of tourists.
That's only because Orlando has DisneyWorld. If Disney World was in Alabama it would still be visited. That's a very bad argument. Key West and Tampa's tourism pales in comparison to Miami as well. Nor would I consider Key West in any way similar to northern Florida. P.S. Just for johan - I can safely confirm that Paris and northern Europe are indeed having a perfectly fine summer.
Although one could ask, why was Disney World put in FLA in the first place? The Busch Gardens in Tampa are also one of the top 25 visited places in America, right behind the Grand Canyon which is mind-boggling.
Because it was cheaper than Miami but has warm weather year round? It's not a trick question. It's not a testament to Florida, it's a testament to Disney World. Busch Gardens is a good amusement park. Lots of people also go to Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio - so what?
So, I'm just saying more people go to FLA than the attractions seem to warrant. And its more than just Miami (as you would see if you spent any time at FLL airport), which itself gets more than it seems to warrant given that its beaches, scenery, and general "bang-for-the-buck" aren't up to the standard of the rest of the Caribbean. Places like Wyoming and New Mexico also blow FLA out-of-the-water IMO if people are too lazy to get a passport, but different strokes for different folks obviously.
Wyoming and New Mexico don't have beaches. So that's why people don't go. Florida has warm weather year round and flights to Florida are vastly more convenient than to the rest of the Carribean. (Trying to take a weekend in the Carribean is a pain, even from New York - no, I don't want to return at 10:00 am on Sunday.) I personally find the Grand Canyon to be hugely boring - it's literally a hole in the ground. I have absolutely no interest in going to New Mexico and Wyoming because I'd shoot myself if I had to spend a week camping - what else would I do there? Florida is visited so often due to the weather and beaches. Not a lot of other places for that in the US year round, and people really like beaches.
Hey, I happen to like camping in the 4 corners area. https://www.google.com/search?q=ana...e=univ&ei=hryzUbDfKLHZigKjjIDYCw&ved=0CC0QsAQ Mind you I love Baja Beaches in the winter.
Skiing and hiking? Attractive year-round options... Also good flight options isn't a reason why people go to Florida. There are tonnes of good flight options as a result of lots of people going there. You have the cause and effect backwards.
No, those places have large urban centers already, so have airports. Wyoming and New Mexico don't. Or, as far as New Mexico, ones that anyone would want to visit. As for skiing - I'd rather go to Colorado, Park City or Whistler than Wyoming or New Mexico, all of which are more convenient as far as flights. I include hiking in camping, so covered that. If you like camping, more power to you! Many people do. My point was that I personally would hate it, so that's why I'd prefer southern Florida, and I'd say most people like beaches over hiking/camping. That's why it's not at all surprising to me that Florida is more popular than Wyoming or New Mexico.
Well, Jackson Hole is easier to get to than Whistler. I mean, come on now.... I just went there for a long weekend. Direct flights from New York to within 45 minutes of the ski resorts. I'd love to go to Whistler but it would require a full week vacation at least to justify the 10-12 hours of travel each way.
if disney world was in one of the middle circles of hell (some would say it is one of the middle circles of hell) it would still get visitors up the yinyang. as for the weather here, may was catastophic but the last few days have been perfect w/ a capital P and you all know i'm not big on capitals. for the weather. a day without sunshine is a day without gate receipts for the magic kingdom. that's why so many ask what they were thinking when they put one in paris where the weather only lends itself to outdoor family activities 6 months of the year.
Ironically today is cold and likely rainy, though hopefully that doesn't carry over into Burgundy.....
a couple of showers yesterday evening in lyon but not unpleasant, actually welcome for the garden, and very nice today. since burgundy is a pretty big place i'm not sure which city to lump it with.
certainly must be better than the national fréquence jazz, which was actually quite good 15 years ago but which has morphed into fréquence crapola not even jazzy.
And...don't forget. The Louvre is free first Thursday of every month. The extra people there just ads to the atmosphere.
Oh my God, that sounds hellish. It's a zoo when you have to pay for it. There are some site seeing packages that include the Louvre and allow you to bounce to the head of the line with a card. Definitely worth it.
Y'know it was fine, we had a really good day there and I'm not one for crowds. That is until lunch and we got in the scrum, called a line. That's where being a goalie really helped.
in normal circumstances, as soon as you have your ticket you just go to the gallery entrance of your choice and breeeze in. and getting tickets goes pretty fast too; the logjams come either from the people not paying enough attention to realize that not just one but two of the ticket machine for your line are available (usually too busy taking pictures of each other or texting friends back home with the news that they are almost in the louvre) or from those so pathologically clueless as to be unable to work a PIN machine in less than 8 goes. the bad line is for the security scan before you get to any of this. it goes so far back and is so amorphous that many people don't realize it's a line at all. and between the sheep texting their friends that they are not quite yet almost in the louvre and the wolves pouncing on any opening ahead of them in the line-cloud it's hard to gauge just how civilized to set your meter at. when the louvre goes zoological it's not the lines that are the worst. it's just that there are so many people that the visit itself becomes unpleasant. the mona lisa is unviewable in the best of circumstances but there's a lot of other good stuff in that room that you need to write off too. The grande galerie is grand enough in all respects that you can always get a look as much good stuff as a normal person can really appreciate in one visit, but the general atmosphere is more shopping mall than museum. be relieved that the other wing is always off the beaten track. once you find the corots and millets, you're home. of course many if not most of those descending into the pyramid know and care nothing about any of that riffraff. which brings us to my final solution for the louvre problem. the free day should be every thursday, but you need to pass a test to get in. nothing demanding, no need to write 500 words about the souvenir de mortefontaine or distinguish between the IV and XIX dynasties. just a simple one they could use the ticket machines for: match 3 names to 3 pictures for velasquez/botticelli/giotto, put the kone/michaelangelo/canova in chronological order... stuff like that. 3 right out of 5 and you're in. otherwise, do yourself a favor and go straight to the gift shop. c'mon, you don't really want to be here either, you're just doing it because you think you have to.
Or just go to the Orsay, which I liked a lot more than the Louvre (if only because the latter was just too damned big to even begin to absorb in a short stay). When we were there last year, we really liked the Carnavalet, as well as Musée Nissim de Camondo. Also, the Musée du Luxembourg hosts major exhibits; we saw a great Cezanne exhibit there last year.
you've got one on me bub. looks very nice; that and the musée galliera which i'd also never heard of before a recent télérama article are on my to-do. and i have to give another plug to the muséé branly. it gets a lot of stick for being too theatrical (whereas the old muséé de l'homme was as musty as could be) but i like it that way. if you don't know the academics behind these pieces already you're not going to get them in a museum visit. best to just enjoy their intrinsic beauty and read a book when you get home (before going would actually be better).
The French are welcoming to who they want to be welcoming to. The English have a commonwealth that the Americans wouldn't understand. It often astounds me that Americans seem to want to crawl up the arse of the English and the French, and yet they're two countries who couldn't give a rats arse about Americans. However if we knock England off in the ashes, you're quite welcome to follow us.
Why should any other country 'give a rats arse about Americans'? Americans don't give a rat's arse about any other countries, after all. Generalizing, of course. And, by the way, it's not uncommon that I read stories about very pro-American ceremonies in France, often related to the Normandy invasion, but also associated with other historical bonds, such as the Lafayette Escadrille: http://www.npr.org/2013/05/27/186752528/france-pays-tribute-to-first-u-s-fighter-pilots Here in Columbus, there is a French bakery, La Chatelaine, owned by immigrants from Normandy, that's been around for 30 years, and that each year offer WWII vets a free meal as a statement of gratitude for liberating France: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2009-06-08/html/CREC-2009-06-08-pt1-PgE1331-3.htm Let me know the next time you hear a story about Americans holding a ceremony thanking another country for doing something for us.