Has Paris lost its charm?
08/28/2024
Paris has changed in recent years. And it's not primarily because of the Olympics that this is becoming apparent and was also evident during our recent short visit. It is the result of Mayor Anne Hidalgo's strategy to develop Paris into a clean cycling city. Anyone who remembers the congested streets, the many diesel cabs and the noisy buses will hardly recognize Paris. A speed limit of 30 km/h is common in the city center, buses are electric or hybrid vehicles and many streets are purely for strollers and cyclists. From the point of view of many tourists and city dwellers, this is certainly a welcome development.
However, Paris has also lost some of its character. In the past, a Renault 4, a Citroën 2 CV or a Peugeot 504 were simply part of the street scene. Today, none of these vehicles are still around.
The oldest cars we saw were Renault Twingos, Minis, older Toyotas and a lonely BMW E39, which was probably still a youngtimer, if that. It's a shame that old cars, which we now call mobile cultural assets, are increasingly being forgotten by city dwellers.
Paris has banned old cars from the city center. At most, they can still be found on posters, like this Mercedes-Benz W123 on an advertising display for an exhibition ...
