Impressions of Daily Life in Paris

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Taking time to eat, to talk and to digest one’s meal seems so very sensible and obvious. The French appear to eat slowly, savour smaller portions of balanced meals, they eat less processed food, and rarely eat in-between meals. We’re now reconsidering our habit of standing up to eat breakfast and rushing meals.

Acknowledging staff when you enter a store, by “Bonjour, Madame” or “Bonjour, Monsieur” before any other interaction occurs seems so pleasant. Recognizing each other as human beings is the right thing to do prior to doing business.

One blog by an American living in Paris warned against wearing light coloured pants. She said that was how she recognized tourists. We saw lots of Parisiennes wearing light pants. Not white, but khaki and stone. We did see a lot of black, and black and white. Anyway, as Cindy said, “we are pretty obvious with our backpacks, cameras, maps, and running shoes!”

We spoke French as much as we could and locals responded to us in French. For those who do not speak any French, guidebooks recommend saying “I’m sorry I do not speak French. Do you speak English?” rather than assuming that everyone knows some English. Speaking some travel French is welcomed.

Metro passes (once we figured out how to buy them) and museum passes worked well. The museum pass meant we could bypass the line-up at the entrance, and we could pop in to a museum, even if just for a few minutes.

On the metro, sitting in cafés, no matter where, we noticed French women wearing scarves in interesting designs, colours and styles. Shoes - those ubiquitous ballet slipper type shoes - captured our interest equally. One guidebook stated that French women do not wear outfits, they wear "ensembles". The scarf section of a Paris department store is often as large as an entire accessory section in a North American store.

Cindy loved the colourful potted geraniums on Paris balconies.

A public service strike during the week we were in Paris prevented some museums from opening, and delayed the opening times of others. A heightened sense of security meant that when staff spotted an unclaimed bag at the Musée d’Orsay, they threatened to evacuate the museum had the owner not returned to retrieve the bag.

Re money, bring your debit card and a couple of hundred euros. Don’t bother with travelers’ cheques because most banks will cash them only if you have an account there. And some of the money exchange kiosks have very high service charges. To use credit cards you need a PIN number with no letters. Be sure to notify Visa or Mastercard that you will be in Europe so they won’t cancel your card due to unusual expenses.

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Comments

[Nancy Harwood]

Thank you!
Hi, Cindy and Ellin. I'm just now back to regular on-line access and starting to read your blogs. I enjoyed this one, learned some things, and got a good mental picture to supplement your photos. I'm looking forward to reading the full blogs for the other "teasers" you've written...thanks for doing this, and such a good job too! Nancy