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People = Kim & I are ready to dispute anyone saying French people are rude. we had no problems with them at all. Everyone we encountered was nice & quite helpful. We have a theory that the ones who say that go there as Americans expecting the French people to bend & cater to them. You have to remember that it is THEIR country. How many people say here, "You're in America, speak the language!"? Well, when in France, TRY to speak their language & you'll get a much better response, no doubt.
Parisans seem to know exactly where they're going, why & how. They are all very stylish! 8 out of 10 people always where a scarf it seems, no matter what the temperature. The women look beautiful & fashionable, the men look pulled together & stylish as well. I don't think I saw 1 guy wearing just jeans & a tshirt. If they did, they had a sportcoat on too & probably a scarf.
Nobody is overweight at all. Didn't see a one. You can't be with all the walking you have to do there! I'd say that a good 50% of the population smoke too! YUK!!! It was hard to deal with cuz you smelled it almost everwhere.
It seems their lifestyle is pretty relaxed. They do rush to get places, but on any given day there's so many people out at the parks just eating, talking, hanging out & relaxing.
Eating = Boy, do they take their time. Not 1 restaurant hurried us along & tried to get us "in & out". In fact, everywhere we went, we had to sit, wait & ask for the check! "L'addition, s'il vous plait?" Their food is fresh & delicious. They always give the bread basket at dinner but I don't think they ever eat it with butter. We always had to ask for that too. Beurre (sounds like bur) which we couldn't manage to pronouce correctly no matter what.
Cafes are everywhere w/ outside tables. Loads of people sit outside eating & smoking. You have to hold your breath when you walk by. Eating is relaxing & a leisure. A pleasurable experience.
Metro = Like I said, they know where they're going, how & why. Stand out of their way! Similar to NYC, it's a rush down there in the metro stations. It's incredibly efficient though. Once you understand how to read the metro maps, it's a piece of cake. Everything is very well signed with arrows & color-coded. One metro train is HUGE-probably holds 1,000 people at once! You can get to your stop in about 2 minutes when it would have taken you 30 minutes to walk.
It's not fun though during rush hour! The cars are super packed with people, bodies pressing against each other, squishing. I was pressed up against the center pole, it was so crowded. Just when you think no more people can come in, 6 more pile in. I was smashed up against that pole-squished! Kim gave me a sympathetic look & said, "I think I'm going to have this man's baby!".Too funny!!
One sure fire way to ruin my day though is to give me brand new metro tickets that DON'T WORK!!! It happened numerous times. ARG!!! I'd try 5 tickets & they all wouldn't let me through the turnstyle. I had to go to the info booth to get different ones. Then they wouldn't work. Sometimes there wasn't an info booth w/ a human being in it so Kim or her mom had to give me a ticket so I could get through. What a hassle!
But all in all, the metro was very efficient & smooth. MUCH cleaner than NYC!
Parisans seem to know exactly where they're going, why & how. They are all very stylish! 8 out of 10 people always where a scarf it seems, no matter what the temperature. The women look beautiful & fashionable, the men look pulled together & stylish as well. I don't think I saw 1 guy wearing just jeans & a tshirt. If they did, they had a sportcoat on too & probably a scarf.
Nobody is overweight at all. Didn't see a one. You can't be with all the walking you have to do there! I'd say that a good 50% of the population smoke too! YUK!!! It was hard to deal with cuz you smelled it almost everwhere.
It seems their lifestyle is pretty relaxed. They do rush to get places, but on any given day there's so many people out at the parks just eating, talking, hanging out & relaxing.
Eating = Boy, do they take their time. Not 1 restaurant hurried us along & tried to get us "in & out". In fact, everywhere we went, we had to sit, wait & ask for the check! "L'addition, s'il vous plait?" Their food is fresh & delicious. They always give the bread basket at dinner but I don't think they ever eat it with butter. We always had to ask for that too. Beurre (sounds like bur) which we couldn't manage to pronouce correctly no matter what.
Cafes are everywhere w/ outside tables. Loads of people sit outside eating & smoking. You have to hold your breath when you walk by. Eating is relaxing & a leisure. A pleasurable experience.
Metro = Like I said, they know where they're going, how & why. Stand out of their way! Similar to NYC, it's a rush down there in the metro stations. It's incredibly efficient though. Once you understand how to read the metro maps, it's a piece of cake. Everything is very well signed with arrows & color-coded. One metro train is HUGE-probably holds 1,000 people at once! You can get to your stop in about 2 minutes when it would have taken you 30 minutes to walk.
It's not fun though during rush hour! The cars are super packed with people, bodies pressing against each other, squishing. I was pressed up against the center pole, it was so crowded. Just when you think no more people can come in, 6 more pile in. I was smashed up against that pole-squished! Kim gave me a sympathetic look & said, "I think I'm going to have this man's baby!".Too funny!!
One sure fire way to ruin my day though is to give me brand new metro tickets that DON'T WORK!!! It happened numerous times. ARG!!! I'd try 5 tickets & they all wouldn't let me through the turnstyle. I had to go to the info booth to get different ones. Then they wouldn't work. Sometimes there wasn't an info booth w/ a human being in it so Kim or her mom had to give me a ticket so I could get through. What a hassle!
But all in all, the metro was very efficient & smooth. MUCH cleaner than NYC!
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