4 ms·

> How delightful! There are clothes, jewelry, music, furniture, hardware, electronics, cosmetics stores all within a few meters of your home? Eyewear, bookstore

> How delightful! There are clothes, jewelry, music, furniture, hardware, electronics, cosmetics stores all within a few meters of your home? Eyewear, bookstores, mobile phone, candle shops and gift stores? Coffee shops, cinnabon, movie theaters and stores wholly dedicated to hats, mattresses and overpriced tea? All within a short walk? Exactly. Most small towns in the suburbs of Paris are just like that if you live within 1km of the center. EDIT: It's nothing particular to France either. If you go to any city with more than, say, 20.000 or 30.000 inhabitants in western Europe (at least the countries that I know), it will be quite similar.

jcims 6y ago
Sorry for the snark, it wasn’t necessary. I’m not particularly persuaded but i didn’t have to be a dick about it. :)
- enriquto 6y ago
  Ha! didn't notice the snark on my first read. What can I say? Just come here and take a walk ;) EDIT: no need to take a plane... if you need some proof, look at this google maps/street view link: https://goo.gl/maps/iDirDFH16d8xMvwx9 https://goo.gl/maps/iDirDFH16d8xMvwx9 All the things that you mention on your "snarky" message can be indeed found on the couple of pedestrian streets that you see here. Except for the cinema, but there is a theatre (now closed due to covid). If you want a cinema you need to walk less than 2km to the one in the next town.
  - jfengel 6y ago
    How are those local stores holding up against online delivery? I can't see Amazon displacing the boulangerie, patisserie, charcuterie, boucherie, etc. in those small towns. But I could easily see people being willing to order their socks and hammers and such online. I love those little towns and have dreamed of retiring to one. (One thing I need to figure out how to say in French is "How is the Internet there?"... though I suppose these days I could even get one of those nearly-dead little villages they sell so cheaply and bring a Starlink.)
    - enriquto 6y ago
      this is not really a "little town", it is well inside paris metro, the largest urban area in continental europe, home to 10 million people, and a major technology hub. You'll have your internet here.
  - hannasm 6y ago
    > walk less than 2km to the one in the next town I think the distance between rural towns is generally more like 5-10km each direction in the parts of the US I am familiar with. 2km through a densely populated urban area is very different from 10km through the countryside too.
    - enriquto 6y ago
      Sure. Point is that any isolated urban nucleus of 30.000 people is very compact and already has everything that you need inside a small radius. You can live there without a car.
AtlasBarfed 6y ago
Americans are not very introspective/knowledgeable of their own economic, political, and infrastructural structure.. so they'll be pretty clueless of what the rest of the world is doing

jcims 6y ago

Sorry for the snark, it wasn’t necessary. I’m not particularly persuaded but i didn’t have to be a dick about it. :)

enriquto 6y ago
Ha! didn't notice the snark on my first read. What can I say? Just come here and take a walk ;) EDIT: no need to take a plane... if you need some proof, look at this google maps/street view link: https://goo.gl/maps/iDirDFH16d8xMvwx9 https://goo.gl/maps/iDirDFH16d8xMvwx9 All the things that you mention on your "snarky" message can be indeed found on the couple of pedestrian streets that you see here. Except for the cinema, but there is a theatre (now closed due to covid). If you want a cinema you need to walk less than 2km to the one in the next town.
- jfengel 6y ago
  How are those local stores holding up against online delivery? I can't see Amazon displacing the boulangerie, patisserie, charcuterie, boucherie, etc. in those small towns. But I could easily see people being willing to order their socks and hammers and such online. I love those little towns and have dreamed of retiring to one. (One thing I need to figure out how to say in French is "How is the Internet there?"... though I suppose these days I could even get one of those nearly-dead little villages they sell so cheaply and bring a Starlink.)
  - enriquto 6y ago
    this is not really a "little town", it is well inside paris metro, the largest urban area in continental europe, home to 10 million people, and a major technology hub. You'll have your internet here.
- hannasm 6y ago
  > walk less than 2km to the one in the next town I think the distance between rural towns is generally more like 5-10km each direction in the parts of the US I am familiar with. 2km through a densely populated urban area is very different from 10km through the countryside too.
  - enriquto 6y ago
    Sure. Point is that any isolated urban nucleus of 30.000 people is very compact and already has everything that you need inside a small radius. You can live there without a car.

AtlasBarfed 6y ago

Americans are not very introspective/knowledgeable of their own economic, political, and infrastructural structure.. so they'll be pretty clueless of what the rest of the world is doing