People go on about how expensive prices in Western Europe are.

I’m sitting here in Paris sipping a decent red wine I bought for $3 a bottle. I can travel all the way across Paris—20 km— for $1.50. I can ride a bike from one part of the city to the other for free (Velib). My wife and daughter took the TGV here from Bordeaux, a distance of 361 miles, for $30 each.

A hefty sandwich costs the same in Paris as in Boston (despite that the tax here is 20%, not 5%), but here it’s made with Ardennes ham and French Gruyere on a fresh baguette; and I’ve got a view of the

Seine, not the Charles, for my picnic. More elaborate meals cost about the same here as in Boston – despite the 15% more in tax paid here.

Entry to the Louvre – arguably the world’s greatest museum – costs $12. I saw the simply stupendous “Picasso and the Masters” exhibit at the Grand Palais for $16 – incredibly good. To go to the top of the Eiffel Tower costs $16, but you can get almost as good a view (and actually better for photos) on the lower levels for as little as $5. The sparkling strobe light show on the Eiffel Tower happens every hour of darkness on the hour, and costs nothing.

A rental apartment can get lodging costs for a couple down to less than $100 per night… in Paris! In fact, the apartment we are renting – two bedrooms, two baths, jacuzzi, wifi, full kitchen, in the trendy

Marais district only a 10-minute walk from Notre Dame – is costing us $166 per night.

So what on earth are people talking about?

Tom Brosnahan

Paris Travel Planner