Paris, France: Your textbook romantic getaway

There's a time and setting for everything. The shore presents a good setting for warm weather and time spent with friends and family, Vegas presents a good setting for drunken debauchery with friends of the same sex, and similarly, Paris presents a good location for a romantic getaway with your significant other. This past weekend, my girlfriend and I took off to Paris, a city entrenched in the arts (culinary, musical, visual, creative, performing) for some good cultured fun.We stayed with a friend of ours who guided us around the city and got a good sense of what an abroad experience there was like. Here are my thoughts:

Transportation: AB
With a transportation grid which is second largest only to London, getting from one point to another in metropolitan Paris is hardly an issue. While there are no street trams like in many other European cities, bus service is considerably strong and frequent. For a system which serves one of Europe's most crowded metropolitan areas, we did not find ourselves jammed in the trains and buses like we did during peak travel hours in Prague. While cabs can be expensive, there is hardly ever a need to use them, as train service spans as far as Charles De'Gaulle International airport. A few notable drawbacks to Paris' mass transit system include the overwhelmingly unsanitary conditions in certain stations, the homeless people which call many of these stations home, and the lack of service between midnight and 5am.

Accomodations: B
Paris, like many other corporately driven cities, is home to incredibly expensive living quarters. Our friend, who was lucky enough to be placed in an apartment which was semi-centrally located  (7th arrondissmont), had to share a tiny apartment of no more than 1200 square feet with 4 girls. Furthermore, there was no washer/dryer unit, a mini-fridge instead of an average sized one, and no TV's radios or modern entertainment appliances.
The one part about Paris that gave it a grade of a B in this category were the natives. Contrary to my beliefs and prior experiences in France, Parisians made great hosts and were generally very helpful when we needed them to be. I suspect that this is because we had a french speaking friend with us but I certainly cannot neglect their grade for the unkindness that never was.

Nightlife: B
While Paris is home to some of Europe's most trendy night spots, my girlfriend and I never got a chance to experience that side of Paris' social scene. Generally, clubs in Paris tend to close relatively early compared to other places and instead of paying a large entry fee we decided to indulge in a rather unique experience.
Our friend took us to a restaurant, where, for a set price of 17 Euros, we received all the meat and cheese fondue we desired, as well as drank an unlimited amount of red/white wine from baby bottles. The experience was great to say the least and our crew of people all agreed that between what we would've spent anywhere else on entry-fees, dinners, drinks, etc this was a great all-in-one ordeal.

Safety: BC
Generally most homeless people tend to be non-hostile and unless they are provoked will generally leave you alone. But the overwhelming amount of homeless people in Paris leaves the city with several outliers. Among the negative experiences which suggest the city may not be as safe as some think; a woman getting spat on, cursed out, and slapped by a black male during the morning rush hour (those around us suggested that as France continues to struggle with racial discrimination, this woman may have crossed the line by uttering a certain racial slur at the man, though none of this can be confirmed) and being surrounded by gypsy's at the Eiffel tower who were trying to set me up in a scheme that we had been previously warned about.

Affordability: C
Paris' provided me with one of the more expensive weekends to date in Europe. Eating out generally never provides for an affordable experience, but in Paris you can find yourself spending 10-15 Euros and an average sized meal at MacDonalds. The one advantage to Paris is that most museums, tours, and tourist points of interests are discounted or free to students.

Aesthetic/Scenic Beauty: A
Paris' strong point, without question, is its unparalleled beauty. Rivaled by only Prague in Europe, Paris' architecture is at a world class level as some of the city's oldest buildings have been unharmed by world wars. The city, for such a large metropolis, is very well taken care of and held to a very high standard of cleanliness, even outside its central business districts. In terms of art collections, the Louvre is the largest in the world and while it is home to hundreds of thousands of priceless works, the museum itself can be considered a piece of art.

Cuisine: AB

If not for my previous experiences in Italy and my partiality to Italian cuisine, Paris would've without question received an A in this category. Home to some of the world most refined culinary practices, Paris presented me with some of the most eccentric foods I have ever tried. While the food can be a little pricey, for one willing to indulge, it can provide a heck of an experience. Among the best foods tried were the Brie cheese, escargot, french onion soup, caviar, cheese fondue, and near-raw red meat.