Here's a little secret for travelers: it's great to visit Paris in the summer.

During the months of July and August, daytime temperatures are usually pleasantly comfortable. You feel at ease, without having to wear beach clothes. For a few weeks every year, temperatures warm up, but for the most part Paris is much cooler than Seville or Rome or Athens (or New York or Tokyo). And because Paris is at a northern latitude (compared to the US), summer days are noticeably long.

The big plus of the summer months is having substantially more breathing room. Parisians leave town en masse, so crowds thin out (especially from Bastille Day on July 14 and Assumption on August 15). You can find a seat on the bus or at a restaurant. There are still plenty of people in the city: the buses keep running, restaurants stay open. Although some establishments do close (usually for three or four weeks), others are open.

Between the weather, the long daylight hours, and the relative lack of crowds, morning and evening strolls are especially rewarding. Strollers might notice what I see as the biggest drawback to Summer in Paris: the presence of clochards (the French sounds better than "bums" or "vagrants" or the homeless; these people, mostly men, spend most of their time (day and sometimes night) outdoors and as a rule have alcohol or drug problems). I can't figure out whether the clochard population remains constant but becomes more visible because the overall population has thinned out; or whether additional clochards flock to Paris in the summer months.

Visitors this year may be puzzled by some signs at cafes and restaurants that proclaim VAT at 5.5%. After years of pleading, France got the green light from the European Commission to lower VAT charged on restaurant meas from 19.6% to 5.5%.

In France, VAT is included in the customer price. So a menu offered at €119.60 last year included the €100 rice of a meal, plus €19.60 in VAT. Today, the VAT collected by the restaurant on a €100 meal has fallen to €5.50.

The French government had bet that restaurants would drop price (for example, from €119.60 to €105.50), which would encourage people to dine out more, which in turn would encourage restaurants to hire more workers.

This being France, things haven't worked out that way. Many haven't changed their prices. When challenged, their claim that their costs have risen. But some restaurants have nt only dropped their prices to pass on to the consumer the benefit of the lower VAT rate, but they also use this point as a selling point to bring in diners.