Responses from Sightseer442077

Thats all really hurtfull to read , and obviously very strange when you read my other reviews

I mean I would have gone out of business after a few months if this stark picture was true I think, and deservedley so!

It always Is painful when peopLe say negative thIngs about my tour that are NOT justified and crazy distortions of the truth but even more so about ME and make it PERSONAL

And then, as Is the case try to create a false narrative to back this up ,ending up being dishonest by both comission and omission of facts and context

So I will have to defend myself vigorously even though I do not paticualalrly enjoy having to spend my afternoon writing all this in response

I can't do anything about YOU finding the tour "boring" , I think you are in a minority of ONE in that over the years ,

And "UNORGANISED"

You fail to specify HOW the tour was "unrganised" as well so If your going to make accusations then then at least explain them

And we did see "Actual sites" , just as mentioned in the description , I think YOU didn't understand the significance of what you were seeing

And you left early and missed the final 3 places we visited after !

So I make NO apolgies at all for this, because the tour was run as described and if you leave early and dont understand the significance of the sites we did visit to the point that you claim we didn't visit "Actual sites" then this was CLEARLY the wrong tour for you maybe intellectually and in content or you didn't read properly or listen to what I told you about the tour

I'll trust the huge number of other reviews over yours for my feedback which say something very very different

So let me address things in more detail

Re "ORAGNISATION" first

The meeting place was VERY clearly defined, I was on time, I wrote to you and the other participants PERSONALLY before the tour with details and to ask you some questions

Do you know how many tour providers on Viator bother to do this? VERY few but then I only run smal,l or private tours , and it MATTERS to me to connect to try to make the tour the best It can be for people

And We followed the route as planned , though you DID leave early and missed the final 3 sites

So pray tell just HOW it was "UNORGANISED" ?

Its funny because one thing MANY people have commented on both pubilcally and privately to me is just HOW organised and personable I am with them, fact I write PERSONALLY to people before a tour to confirm meeting place and give more Information abiut the tour and ask them a few questions

Viator are a 3RD part booking site . most people booking tours with tour companies through them do NOT get a persoanal message directly from their GUIDE to connect before the tour and make sure they know where to meet and what to expect!

Yet appaently the tour is "UNORGANISED" with n exampe of hat you mean?

I think you are telling porkies, trying to build that false narrative I mentioned to back up your negativity but this only leads you to looking silly with your unfounded accusations in the end which are EASILY disproved

I'm certainly NOT perfect and always trying to learn and listen to honest truthful feedback For example I have recently changed the meeting place and included several new sites to try to improve what I feel is the flow of the tour in putting together the peices and move us along quicker at times

Thus is because I actively encourage and take so many questions and like to explain in depth the answers I am aware that at times we can end up maybe going too deep on a SPECIFIC subject at the cost of extending the time we spend

So I am trying to find a better balance in keeping the depth of anlaysis but also making sure we don't overdo it !

BUT I think Its obvious to anyone reading even a handful of other reviews that if YOU found the tour UNORGANISED and BORING then the you the issue most likely lies wth YOU

Maybe it was NOT the right type of tour for you to take or you just coudn't grasp the significance of what we were talking about , Intellectually maybe it was too much , there are some complicated political and social history to grasp ?

Both could make it "Boring " subjectively to you , I mean I admit even though I love history I can remember at University or college finding sone subjects boring that I now find fascinating

BUT then one thing I have been complemented on over and over again, just read the reveiws, Is my ability to make this complicated story so full of mistruths that people have been lead to believe so INTERESTING and fascinating and that I teach It in such an engaging and passionate manner that people go away having learned so much and even describing it as the best tour they have ever done and e the best guide in ANY subject!

I admit I find this embarassing sometimes but REALLY , my tour is BORING??? I think on the OBJECTIVE evidence the problem here lies with you rather than the tour ?

So I am Sorry you FELT like this , Its your SUBJECTIVE view but In OBJECTIVE reality its utter nonesense

I think possibly you either did not bother to read the tour description and failed to understand the nature of a tour about this subject in Paris , thinking YOU know more about what this should entail ,or you were unable to grasp Intellectaully the significance of what we were talking about at the sites we visited , it was too deep and rich In context for you maybe? Then it would have been boring

I think a 2 hr tour with a summer job student whose lived in Paris Paris a year or 2 and has done a semester on European history and learnt a script where you spend a few minutes at a each site and learn a few facts and nothing much else would have been more suited?

Rather than a tour with an expert guide, one considered to be one if the BEST in Paris in their subject with vast knowledge and experience who makes it clear that his tour is about getting deeper beyond the basic handfull of facts and visiting a few buidings you will do on the majority of tours and deconstructing the false narratives and understanding WHY things happened, WHY people made the choices they did and WHY this was covered up for ober 50 years by the post war French Government?

But here Is where I actually really take offence at hiw you deliberatly phrased what you wrote because it was in my view a snide attempt to create that fals narrative about ME PERSONALY

According to you, being an EXPERT in the subject I guess, I am apparently

"JUST a WW2 enthusiast"?

Thats a strange thing to say because ANY guide or teacher HAS to be an enthusisast in their subject surely? Would you rather I was NOT an enthiusiast?

I think your trying to create a fake narrative here and have a little dig at me a LAUGHABLE one by makig ME the problem by undermiNing my exPertise ludicrously?

With the "just" bit aren't you?

Its laughabLe both factually and when you read the reveiws of other people

Do you know In the past when I freelanced I was the person other tour companies would come to to ask me to run Private WW2 tours for their clients?

Its ALSO a little spiteful and has got my back up and I will not allow people to think they can lie about me

Along with the torn apart books which I will get to later...

Well Iadmit It I AM a "WW2 enthusiast" , just one who has also who studied History at University, spent 30 years travelling Europes WW2 battefields and Cities and has spent 18 years living In Paris , walking its streets and studying Its history

So my FULL apologies fie being "JUST" a WW2 enthusiast apparently !

Let me reiterate, as "JUST" a WW2 enthusiast, who I have met hundreds of on my tours over the years and ALL who have gone away saying the same things, they LEARNED so much than they ever knew before This NOT a 2-2.5hr Louvre highlights tours or museum tour where everything is laid out nicely chronlogically

Nor is it a tour of a specific AREAS history like the Marai or or Montmartre

It is a tour about a subject that involved a SOCIAL, POLITICAL and MILITARY history that took place ALL over a LARGE city ,and as I make clear to people who take the tour

Therefore

1) You cannot go to ONE place and see everything It is such a vast subject that I could ,meet you in TWENTY different places in the city and do a 3-4 hr tour on the the SAME subjects we cover

2) The occupation is THE most complicated and hardest subject to run a tour in in Paris

There are various reasons for this one being that to attempt to do it in any meaningful way that exposes and unwinds the mutitude of myths , false historical narratives and untuths people have beem taught requires EXTENSIVE knowledge by the guide and also people to be able to come to terms with that what they THOUGHT was the case IS NOT and be prepared to LISTEN and LEARN carefully and UNDERSTAND the way

Btw You actually left early before we e even visited the last 3 sites

So NO we do NOT walk "around Paris" , to imply this means you don't grasp the subject and what it Is or the SIZE of Paris

You cannot "walk around Paris" in 3hrs let alone cover a complex historical subject that took place all OVER Paris in its ENTIRETY in 3hrs

This would take WEEKS t do

Instead we walk ariund clearly defined AREA and visit a SLECTION of sites from that area

The area we walk around Is chosen by me precisely because there are a collection of sites that are significant enough and CLOSE enough together to cover some of the MOST important subjects and explain there hsitorical significance in 3hrs or so

I also take people on tours in OTHER parts of the city and cover SPECIFIC subjects like the Reistance or Shoah in greater deatai

But as i said and i made CLEAR to you before the tour theres is no ONE place we can go and breeze through a few hours and see EVRYTHING

So Your general claims are unfounded as can clealry be seen from the muitude of other reviews

Of course You can say what you wish but SERIOUSLY , to leave a review claiming this is nonesense , YOU had a personal problem with the tour which I am sorry about is NOT born out at all in the experience of others

Lets talk about the "Books with torn pages" ...

In this your pedantic nitpicking attitide reaches Itss apex!!

Adn is the thing that MOST annoys me and has promoted such a long response

I admit It I have a book with a torn cover and pages!

Ill expalin MORE about this book after

But shock, horror, I DO show pictures from It sometimes !

I also show pictures from SEVEN folders of over 300 pages that I bring along too but HEY lets not even MENTION that, lets TRY to make it seem like I come along with JUST a "Torn book " and show pictures from It "

See the PERFECT example of spitful dishonest false narrative building going on here ?

I am really upset your so concerned about a blinking BOOK cover

This really gets to be the final straw for me

I reallly want ANYONE reading this to make sure you read this part I will explain about the so called "torn aport books" that this person is apparently so concerned about as the perfect example of what I am on about and also to helo you understand WHY i feel SO annoyed

Sorry for the drama but I am VERY passioinate about what I do and it TRULY hurts me when I read thIs whIch is just SO untrue and even PERSONAL

I am NOT a large impersonal tour company I am an Individual , an expert guide in this subject and I really care about making my tours as great as possible as I work only on my own

So yes this includes me bringing large amounts of materials and willingly spending extra time with people something people usually see as a POSITIVE thing??

Unlike any other guide i know , and I know a lot I bring SEVEN folders of pictures and documents with me plus on average 4 books!

I am so sorry that sone of my books can get "torn" and a bit weathered !

Do you actually know how much the books cost me ? 4O -50 Euros each and do you know why they can get torn?

Because i CARE enough to bring my own VERY EXPENSIVE books that should really be kept on a bookshelf out for people like this to show them unique pictures and documents you cannot find ANYWHERE else

And gettting them in and out of a pully bag in all the weather my expensive books I bring just for you can get worn and wet

The one book I am sure you are on about and that PARTICULARLY bothered your HIGH standards of book condition is the perosnal history and testimony of the veterans of the French 2nd armoured division that liberated Paris ? A very rare and expensive I bought to help peoplle like you understand better

This expensive book got absolutelly drenched a couple of months ago on a tour i was running , causing the pages to stick together and the cover is hanging off now

It doesn't effect the pictures inside but It has ruined the "Look " of yet another of my reference books that I bring for YOU

But being unselfish, during that tour and subsuquent ones I STILL continue to bring It and get it out depsite the damage because I'm not thinking of the cost to ME of ruining my book but the BENEFIT TO poeple like YOU of getting the chance to see a group of unique pictures you cannot see ANYWHERE else

The fact that all that YOU saw in this was the state of the book and this bothered you enough to write it in a review just shows what bad faith you have

How utterly pedantic, Do you think your highness that I should go out and purchase a 50 EURO NEW book every time I run a tour just in case someone doesn't approve of its cover being worn or some pages torn because I have been BOTHERED enough to bring my OWN personal expensive reference books on a tour and get them out in the rain tIme and time again just to show someone like YOU some pictures taken by the actual soldiers who fought and DIED liberating Paris ?

I mean how TOTALLY PEDANTIC and utterlly petty that you choose to ignore the enormous efforts I make to provide you with so MUCH information and fail to mention that SEVEN folders i carrry and other books too?

I do not have to do this , I do it for YOUR advantage

I had MAJOR back surgey twice 2 years ago and and I'm not even supposed to be bringing or carrying this amount of material , like large books whie condition offends you so much and that I bring a pully bag as well just to put my books In that I have to carry up numerous stairs on public transport just to get to the tour?

My apologies I should just listen to my doctor rather than put my guests interests above my own health and stop bothering to make the effort to bring you all these books to make the tour better for you unless the covers are brand new and they have no wear and tear but then be criticised by you for doing this??

I mean how absolutelly pedantic and nit picky can someone be about something that has ZERO effect on the quality of the tour?

You don't appreciate ,me dragging a pully bag full of books around just to show you some photos and maps you wouldn't be abe to see otherwise , instead YOU are criticising me because the books get worn down from their continual outdoor use in the different elements??

Seriously get a life!

Do you think I just carry over 10kg of folders and books around for fun? How totally unapreciative of my efforts and what a sad myopic thing to focus on !!

Btw did you mention any of the SEVEN folders I ALSO showed you the majority of pictures from that are not "Torn apart"?

No I didnt think so because you are trying to support and sell your fake narrative about about the tour being "unorganised" and boring and this just sounds better doesn'it?

And what are "Folders of torn books " anyway? Theres no such thing , a "Folder" of books???

I do all this for YOUR benefit to allow YOU to ask good questions and for me to spend more time IF people wish talking about certain subjects in greater detail and SHOWING you documents and pictures rather than just rushing you around from one place to the next with a brief explanation of what the place was and nothing much more

I am quite clear, It doesn't matter what your level of exisiting knowledge Is but my tours are not best suited for people who just want to see a quick list of sites to tick off wIth BASIC explanations lIke going round on an open top tour bus with an audio guide , I have explained VERY clearly to people that this Is a tour where we will visit and talk about on average 8-12 DIFFERENT SUBJECTS and at some sItes, for example the Ritz hotel there can be 2-3 different subjects people can hear about

SO we will visit between 7-10 actual sites on average but we will TALK about MORE subeccts than sites because as I said at cretain sites there may be SEVERAL subjects we talk about

SO so so many people have written just how much they learned on my tours and how fascinating they are and what a good teacher I am

They have described my tour as the BEST they have ever done and me as the best guide they

I think its obvious you failed to understand the depth of of this tour and the purpose and where expecting something akin to a 2hr Louvre or Paris highlights tour where you see a lot of "thing" for a short amount of time

This was obivously not what you were expecting , after all all I am apparently is simply a lowly "WW2 enthusiast" with "folders of books" that god forbid have a few "torn pages"!

Responses from Sightseer442077

Wow, thank you guys so much for your kind words, they are what really makes evrything worthwhile for me

I wish you'd put your name as I only have a number on the review so I could write personally via email as well?

I'm guessing I know who you are though by the length of the tour that day !

Just so anyone readng this knows the tour is not actually scheduled for 4.5 hrs of course , I say around 3 hrs BUT as I have also said I am flexible and do not clock watch, If my guests are interested and want to spend more time then I am nearly always available if they have questions or want to just sit and chat more during the tour

Its Important to me that they go away understanding this complex subject better

So I am always happy to spend extra time with people if they want as on this day I enjoy nothing more than the company of people on my tour who are eager to learn and have their interest piqued by what we discuss and see new perspectives

Thats why I started running tours in the first place to share my passion and knoweldge for history and to help people learn that the oast teaches us so much aboyt the present vand future so we should always remeber amnd leran from its lessons that are STILL relevant today

Thank you guys again, I am going to send you a message privately , I hope Its who I think it is but it was a pleasure to share your company as well and for you to find my sense of humour funny too!

Just so evreryone knows PLEASE let me know before the tour IF you do have a certain set time you need to finish by , as I said I am flexible so it Is always possible that our tour could go on longer if people wish or have a lot of questions or on the ither hand we can also finish in under 3hrs too if thats what you prefer

Responses from Sightseer442077

Hi Jacqueline

Thanks for taking the tour with me, and your compliments

Every tour can be different, It depends on the group and the people and how many questions they ask

The area as I describe has a group of very important sites CLOSE together and this is deliberately WHY we meet there

The story of the occupation in Paris cannit be told in just one site or olace, it took place all over the city and i could meet people in 20 different places and do a tour in it with them

But the area we meet in allows us to get an overview on BOTH the German and French sides if the occupation without the need to walk far

So some tours we walk more and see more "sites" some less , It depends on the guests level if interest and orevious knowledge It can be a difficult balance bcause I like to answer fully and often I get asked questions that require some time to explain properly because there are so many misconcepetions and false narratives about the history of France during the occupation than ANY other period in iTs history that people will take a tour on

It is easily THE most difficult and complex subject to explain properly in a tour of a few hours that you take a tour about in Paris

You simply cannot understand this subject by spending 10 mins at each site and visiting 20 sites

I try to get us to between 6-10 important sites Per tour but its ture if people really get into the questioning It will be a struggle to get beyond 6 sites

I could run a tour hwere you will come away visiting 15 sites with ia list of where and whens but no deep context and the myths STILL intact

This for many of my guests on the tours surprise is not a simple tale at all, a tale of just the good and bad guys , there are multiple nuances and layers in the story of both the French and German side of the occupation and the internal conflicts and moral dilemnas that we have to consider and can ONLY understand If i take the time to explain fully the factors involved

For example I am currently In Berlin and there are multiple tours on the Third Reich here of course but the subject here is also totally different and far far simpler to explain from that of France ,an occupied country considered below the Aryan race ideal but still a "higher race" of Franco-Germanic origin where the dynamics where totally different

Unlike Germany post war, France had NO equivalent of its De Nazification program and was not divided into zones under military governership

The ORIGIANAL allied plan WAS for a miiltary Governership untill it was READY for the re-establishment of the democractic process and the clean sweeping of the poltical landscape but this NEVER happened

Instead it was left in the hand of the French themselves

It like leaving your cat at home in charge of your mouse !

DeGaulle . Anglophobic and out of poltical excpediency and the need for France to be part of the "winners" post war and re-established as a world power intact with it, colonies created a myth that is STILL prevalent amongst people today that became sacralised into French society much like a religion has Its articles of faith you should not feel comfortable to challenge

Nowbecause if this even though It is FINALLY CHANGING For 50 years, the French state EFFECTIVELY tried to cover up the truth and had a cencorship program that was at times worthy of Putin or Eastern European cold war dictaorship rather then a democratic Western Government

This led to MANY ex members of the governing regime during the occupation reintergarating into politics post war and rising to positions of great power and it was in their interests to muddy the waters of what went on during the occupation

The true nature of the "French " resistance " was also written our of history in favour of a narrative that put nationalism chauvanism amd Militarism front and centre becsaue this was what was "neccessary" for France to hear and believe after the war in the view of those in power

Honestly, unravelling all this and finding the truth IS possible BUT its like a ball of string and takes time

I myself want to visit as many sites as possible but it is also my greater responsibility if I am asked certain questions to help people understand the whole truth in a factual , contextual but non judgmeantal way and this CAN take time

Sometimes after realising this some of my guests who this is creating a lot of questions actually specifically ask that we split the tour In half and get a drink and sit for some time so they can ask me whatever questions they want and I can anser fully and I'm happy to do this too

Biut I am aware of this issue and In fact Ihave actually just changed the meeting place and the suggested Itinerary slightly to what I think and hope will make it easier for us to move a little quicker and see some more sites as I DO really want to get you to see asand UNDERSTAND as much as possible

So thank you so much Jaqueline, I am grateful for your compliments and I am listening as well and ALWAYS trying to make the tour the best It can be for peopl,e whilst maintaining the balance I described!