I dont know about the UK but I can tell you this...when I visited France it was one of the worst trips I ever made.
I hate to perpetuate stereotypes and please know that this was just my personal opinion and in no way reflects all French people BUT
It was dirty...like dirty dirty, the Hotel we stayed at billed itself as a 4 star Hotel but the room looked like it hadnt been turned down in a year.... and the area around the hotel and downtown smelled like rotting garbage from the trash sitting in the street...now I dont know if there was no regular collection effort or what but this is what I saw.
People were VERY VERY rude, now I know I was a tourist and all but I was there to check the sights and spend money and it was like I was FORCING people to take my money like they were too good to do buisness with a lowly american, One guy even told me that he didnt do buisness with "My Kind" and told me to leave his store......
All in all yea I saw some sights but the overall experience was a bad one for me, I for one will NEVER set foot in France again as long as I live or unless there is a gun to my head.
If it wasnt France you were debating on going too I would say take the trip or just subsitute "France" with "Italy" THAT would be a good trip I absolutely loved Italy when I visited
if there is no choice...get the 360 and TV then we can stomp everyone in Multi H3 lol
to finish I just want to re-iterate before I get flamed from pissed off french people that this was my PERSONAL experience I know many people that have gone to France and have had a good time...im just not one of them