[Your intrepid reporter Hadyn has been traveling the globe for the last month. When I say “globe” I mean Tokyo, London and Paris.]

Ah Paris! City of romance, city of beauty, city of food. But how does it stack up against the world’s other great capital cities? (Just to recap Tokyo currently leads London and Wellington.)

Public transport: Well the trains ran on time, but to be honest we didn’t travel during rush hour. The trains were also quite old and you had to open the doors yourself. The stations were nice though, not too hot. And there was cellphone coverage. This places it ahead of London but still WAY below Tokyo. Damn they had a good system!

Rubbish: The streets of Paris are world renown for the content of their streets. Parisians are able to walk around the canine deposits without even looking down. Some tourists weren’t so lucky. Not us though, we knew. Everyday attendants flush the gutters of the city and wash out all of the filth, so it’s not too bad. There are also, like London, plentiful rubbish bins. Or rather bags. Some of them were yellow which denoted recycling. Paris still loses to the British though (just).

Wifi: Everywhere in Paris has wifi and just to make it better it was a free. Libre Wifi! Even our hotel (which I heartily recommend btw) had a strong signal which meant I didn’t have to lug the laptop around the city.

Weather: Hot, but it has been hot everywhere. London’s rain forecast turned out to be bollocks. All three cities had their uncomfortable moments of heat with Japan being the only country that used air conditioning. So it’s equal marks for all three cities and a look of shame for Wellington’s regular attempt at summer.

Coffee: The harbour capital still reigns supreme. French coffee was better than both Tokyo and London but falls short of even a bad Wellington short black.

Food: London has a great range of food places, mainly sandwich places and cafes (not cafés). Paris has far more bars and brasseries and restaurants. But the award goes to Tokyo which has so many eateries that to visit ach one would take well over a decade.

So the final rankings are: Tokyo, Paris, London and Welly. London definitely stepped up after my first post, but the Tube is awful. Paris is Paris and so will always be pretty awesome. Tokyo just kicked ass is all.

I’ll be back talking about Wellington stuff soon