My boyfriend and I visited Paris at the end of September. Amazing trip - although there were quite a few people disappointed that I didn't come back engaged (not a big deal for me). We stayed in a great apartment (via airbnb) on the border of Bastille and Marais (perfect location for us). There are a ton of things to see (all touristy but there's a reason for it) and experience. But the one and toughest question I got a lot was "What was your favorite thing about Paris?". Well shit - I have no fucking idea. Honestly, I liked the idea of being in Paris more than anything and experiencing something that's a bit different than what I know. But anyway, hard for me to articulate properly - I liked it all.

But I wanted to put a post together for just my general thoughts on Paris:

Everybody carries a baguette under their arm.
There's a reason the above happens - the bread is fucking good.
Everyone is really good at their craft - they all seem pretty passionate about what they do and it looks like they've been doing it forever.
Service tends to be slow but it's ok because of above. If you go to a butcher shop, it'll be slow. But it's not because they're lazy; they just take care of their shit.
You'll dine for hours at restaurants and it's ok. They literally expect you to eat and drink for hours. We went to places without reservations and they felt truly bad that they could only allot us 2 hours for dinner - ... whatttt?
You have to make reservations everywhere. It's not that it's difficult to get reservations but it seems a lot of places, reservations are taken throughout the day for that same day. Luckily, we'd just pop into the restaurant and make reservations on the spot or do the above.
Everybody is skinny.
Everybody smokes cigarettes and drinks espresso/booze. Probably why everybody is skinny.
A lot of places don't serve during the in between hours. Lunch is had during lunch hours and dinner is had during dinner hours.
GYPSIES ARE EVERYWHERE. And they wear regular clothes. For some reason I thought they would look like the gypsies in Aladdin (I know that's probably insensitive).
Gypsies are the worst. We'd frequent a bar on this one street lined with bars. Every night, across the street, a 'family' of gypsies would just sit there into the wee hours looking for money and pity. But it was always a different woman and kids every night. 'Family' would consist of woman, 1 or 2 girls (probably 6-9 years old), and a fucking baby. Sleeping outside.. in the cold... with a lot of loud drunk people and bars. The other thing they do is run at you with clipboards and ask you to donate money for some bullshit children's fund. Then they'll probably try to pick pocket you (or so said some random French dude).
I hate gypsies.
I'm not sure why Paris is viewed romantic aside from the old world look of everything (and thus just beautiful). Maybe it's romantic because you notice that it's a lot of couples. There are some really pretty tree lined streets and parks and all that. But we have that everywhere here too.
Everyone takes day naps. We some guy at the park who was napping at the bench. Thought he was a homeless man. Until he got up and started to talk business on his cell phone. Then some lady in a full business suit was laid out on some park bench with her briefcase and shoes off.
Everyone seems to drink Heineken. Makes sense - not a strong beer culture I guess. We kept running into the same set of beers.
If you get a cocktail, people assume you're American.
There are many multiple ways to get a ticket to the Louvre museum. Best way is to take the subway directly into the Louvre. Bypass the first big line you see and go directly into the Louvre. There are ticketing stands inside. All the other lines are for suckers.
Graffiti is everywhere and looks awesome if you're into that.
French people are actually pretty nice. Just don't be an asshole and you won't be treated as such.
Everybody wears dark colors and never wear shorts (at least then men). Needless, Alex and I stood out (he likes wearing shorts and i like bright colors).
There are a lot of pretty well maintained parks everywhere. It's quite pleasant.
I feel like people drive like maniacs out in Paris.
Motorcycles (including mopeds and whatnot) are HUGE in Paris which is why above is true.
Majority of people speak pretty good English (even though they'll tell you they don't). Unless they're 45+.. then it's hit or miss. We had to communicate with a butcher via numbers because of the strong language barrier.
EVERYBODY speaks French. Even the group of Chinese day workers speak French as their first language. Sure they probably speak their native tongue when they want to talk shit but what a strange experience especially when I compare it to America (especially NYC). Took me several days to get over this fact.
People don't use their cell phone as much as maybe we do in America. Aside from the guy walking down the street listening to music or using his phone for conversation, it wasn't very prevalent - super refreshing.
Fake it till you make it (or can't go further). My rudimentary French took us really far. It was only when they would ask follow up questions... deer in headlights.
People love their e-cigarettes over there. Or at least have been using it for much longer than we have. They have really fancy e-cigarettes that men just whip out. The doctors over there must be relieved.