Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack
Paris has millions of people and while the entire metro does not have the classic Paris look, almost all of Paris intra-muros does, as do many of the closer-in suburbs. That is still a huge area with millions of people living in it.
You don't really have that anywhere in Canada or the U.S. Where most of the city has the same historic architectural style.
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It's kind of unrelated, but this makes me thinking, there's also something peculiar about luxury single-family homes in the outer suburbs of Paris.
They are almost always hidden behind fences and trees. Some have large yards that you could call gardens or even little parks anyway, but it seems that millionaires in the outer burbs would usually abide by this French paradigm:
Pour vivre heureux, vivons cachés.
To be happy, let us hide.
There is a couple of benefits to this.
First, it makes it slightly harder to burglars or ill-disposed people to trespass on one's property. Especially when there are big dogs like Beaucerons in the garden, which happens to be the case quite sometimes.
Second, by hiding and protecting your own private place, you may avoid a lot of social jealousy or ill envy, that usually drives people malicious at you.
In the US, they don't hide behind fences. Their yards are most often open to anybody. In fact, they appear to do the opposite, showing off their social success and wealth.