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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think it has changed in the tourist areas.  There are just so many more people.  The most popular sites are mobbed and even places that used to not be crowded are.  But maybe I'm older than some of you.  Even in the late 80's, people from the Eastern Bloc countries and China couldn't (or couldn't afford to) travel.  The world's population has grown, and, at the same time, so has the number of people who can afford to travel.  The cities just have a different feel than they used to.  I remember going to Paris in the early Spring, and you could just walk into the Louvre. I went back recently at about the same time of year, and it wasn't as crowded as it would be in the summer, but there was a long line to get in.  You could see from the rope lines they had set up that it would be nuts in the summer.

It's still worth going, but, for lack of a better way to say it, I no longer feel as though I'm getting a feel for the real local culture because the natives are so overwhelmed by the tourists.  It's almost like these cities are becoming large theme parks.  That's a bit overstated, but that's the way it feels.  I just saw that, during peak tourist season, Venice is going to start segregating the tourists from the locals with rope lines, and limit the number of nonresidents that can come into the city.  That's sad, but I get why they're doing it.  [/quote]

This is spot on. I just came back from London with my DC and while they loved it and kept asking me or waiting my response when people asked about our trip, I could not honestly answer “ great.” Although I tried to for them. I kept thinking how different it was and how massive the crowds since I went early 90s. I feel guilty almost because I don’t want to deprive others and and am certainly not better than any one else but it seems so touristy now. But I’m a tourist as well! Have no idea the answer but I’m not dying to go back.[/quote]

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