July 2 - Observations

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Paris Trends - or, 'What to blog when yesterday was filled only with a bit of shopping, Le Corbusier and a good movie'.

Let's start with this caveat. I am not an expert on France or Paris or the French or Parisians. I am not even the best observer of my surroundings. But as of today, I have spent a solid month in France and so, at least among my friends and readers, I am guessing I have the most time spent in France in one visit. I also have no doubt I win in the category of most metro rides in one visit, going through about fifty tickets in two weeks which probably equals at least 130 metro rides between us. 

Those rides have taken us from Arrondissement 1 to 19, from posh to poor, from empty cars to cattle cars, from state of the art trains with no drivers to rickety rackety thump along rides. Each ride allows you to observe, look, and sometimes stare at people (better to keep your sunglasses on if you want to do this). And since so many people here speak English or are tourists, we had to develop a bit of a signal instead of saying "Hey look at that girl over there in the ..." out loud. You take your right index finger and gently scratch the tip of your nose two or three times and then quietly say the time, such as, three o'clock which gives the position of the interesting rider to gawk at. 

In addition to those 720 minutes of metro riding and 100 minutes of walking through tunnels to change lines and up escalators to sortie, we have probably walked 65 miles in Paris alone.  Some of these observations may dispel myths while others will further entrench biases.  But I have provided both disclaimer and pedigree, so here goes.

French women under 30 wear pink lipstick and paint their nails red or pink but Parisian women over 30 rarely paint their nails and anyone with a French manicure is NEVER French.

French women wear ballet flats, probably always did though it is only trendy in the US for the past five years. I now know why they wear these comfortable moldable shoes...they all have bunions.

French women AND men have totally different body temperature thermostats than Americans. When it gets hot in late spring or early summer they "don't turn the A/C on at first so they can get used to the hot weather" and prepare themselves for when it hits 40 C -and that is a quote from a Frenchman! And whether it is 55 degrees or 85 degrees, out on the street you will see some people in sundresses AND others jackets and scarves so you can never tell from looking out your window how to dress.

The French have not yet discovered that ceiling fans or any fans have been invented.

The French have yoga and spin classes like we do but they also have special salons where you can not only tan but you can Aquabike with your lover or friend. We have not yet tried this and probably won't.

At home our down day is Sunday for most people but in Paris, you might as well sleep through Mondays. The museums are closed but so are most restaurants and stores and the streets are practically empty.

The buskers in the metro are really talented, so talented that they have CDs to sell, which is really their point in being there. 

Every bum in Paris has a designated begging spot, a sign with SVP (their abbreviation for please as in RSVP) and A DOG OR TWO. And speaking of dogs:

-yes the French love dogs

-yes dogs are allowed everywhere, stores, restaurants, metros

-no there is not a lot of dog shit on the sidewalks (some but no more than at home)

-and French dogs are perfectly behaved. We have rarely seen a dog on a leash, we have never seen a dog run away from their owner or jump and we have only heard a dog bark ONCE. I smell a great business opportunity to import the French dog training method to the US.

Many, many French speak English and it is true that as long as you try to speak a bit of French, enter a shop and immediately say Bonjour Madame, the French are happy to speak to you in their "un peu" English. But when you do encounter the Parisian who speaks only French, and though you have practiced and can now say in perfect French, 'I am sorry sir, I do not speak French, do you speak English?',  they continue to speak to you only in French and very quickly like somehow it is going to click and you will understand it all!

Plan well in advance the time you need to walk out of a restaurant because not only do you have to ask for the check, but when you do, it is still a ten minute wait. But every waiter in every restaurant from the best to the worst does have a wireless hand held credit card machine to run your card tableside.

Paris restaurants have caught on and they do try to turn their tables at least once each night. making a reservation at 7:30 no longer entitles you to a table for the night.

 Whenever you make a purchase in a shop, even if it is for $3.00,you will be asked if it is a gift. Always say yes and the clerk  will wrap your $3.00 gift in $3.00 worth of gift wrap and ribbon, beautifully and perfectly. 

RATIOS

Eyeglass stores to gas stations 250:1

Shoe stores to Post Offices 100:1

Cafes and bistros to Food markets 150:1

So the observation is that the French love eating and looking good but don't cook-probably not news to anyone.

There are an astonishing number of motorcycles and scooters who can do anything they want like drive on the sidewalks and go down one way streets the wrong way for as long as they like. And those adults who don't have a cycle use razor scooters to get to work.

The only people who jaywalk in France are....us.

Outside of Paris, if you are hungry before 12, or after 2:30 but before 7:30, you will stay hungry because there is not one restaurant open, not a cafe,not a bistro.  Paris luckily has discovered 'continuous service'.

There are no vacant lots in Paris, they have all become gardens. There are no vacant buildings in Paris, they are all stores.  Parisians loves stores that sell one thing and one thing only. There are:

Tassel stores

Beach towel stores

Pistachio stores

Cane stores

Umbrella stores

Glove stores

Eclair shops

Knife shops

Ribbon stores

Electronic cigarettes

Men wear sport-coats all the time, even raggedy men and bums. 

The French still smoke like it is 1958, many roll their own, many have switched to electronic cigarettes BUT they do now have to go outside to do it.

The streets are cleaned everyday in the most old fashioned way.

Street cleaners have blocks. They turn on water that gushes from an outlet and floods the gutters. They then sweep the gutters clean. Everyday! No really, every single day by 11am. Their one nod to modernity is they have switched to plastic brooms.

There are pharmacies on every corner, recognizable by their green cross painted on their sign or lit up by LED and they are ALL independently owned, there are NO chains. But there are still more bakeries, about three per block.

Unlike the Paris of years ago, not every hole in the wall has good food and you should never eat in a cafe that has the word tabac on its sign.

There are only four or five brands of toothpaste on the shelves but there are at least 30 types of gourmet tinned sardines in every market. 

And lastly, almost everyone drinks tap water in restaurants. With your bottle of wine, you ask for a carafe de eau. They never pour your water, there is never ice AND there is NEVER Perrier!

PS- go see Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell, very well done.