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A Word On Paris (2010-11-27)

Before I continued on with the travelogue of our trip, I just wanna give an overview of Paris or how I feel about Paris.  It is only my personal opinion, I don't know if many others feel the same way.  And of course if you're a seasoned Paris traveler, please ignore this post.

Before we left Japan, I was a little nervous about going to France.  I wondered how I would cope reading the menu in the restaurants there.  To combat that problem, I learned some unfamiliar food vocabularies such as poulet (chicken), poissons (fish), and grenouille (frog) etc.  With my two semesters of French 101,102 way back in college from which I still remember some basic phrases and words, there was little problem ordering in restaurants.  The fact that most waiters understand English does help.

French people do take time to enjoy their meal.  If you are in a hurry, you may not want to eat in a restaurant for a sit-down meal. (We ate at one restaurant where some people ate lunch standing at the bar who got served swiftly)  From ordering to bringing you the check, each step takes a (long) while.  That's just the way life is over there.

Some say French people are rude and don't like tourists who don't try to speak French.  In reality, that's not the case we experienced.  All the French people we encountered were very friendly and nice.  Of course I always initiated my interaction with them with a great big "Bon Jour!" or "Bon Soir!" which really did break any ice there might be.  When you leave a shop (whether you've made a purchase or not), bid "Au revoir".  Try it, it works.

Also, be thick-faced.  If you need to ask a question, don't be shy, wear a smile and an inquisitive look and say "Pardon (par-don)? Parlez-vous anglais (par-lay-vu-zon-glay)?" which means "Sorry, do you speak English?".  Of course they always reply no or "just a little" but then you've broken the awkwardness and they'll use broken English to try to talk to you.

Tell you what KL did in a supermarket.  We wanted to buy canned duck liver and there's a bright orange sign under the product that included the numbers "1" and "2" and the word "gratuit" (like the English word gratuity) on it.  Suspecting that we might miss out on some sort of deal, KL jotted down the phrase and asked any staff he could find.  It took him the third employee to get the answer: BUY ONE GET ONE FREE!  Wahahaha!  If KL hadn't been thick-faced and persistent, we'd have missed out. (Incidentally, that phrase appeared days later in a department store too)

French people really like their dogs.  You see them everywhere: on the streets, on trains, in supermarkets, even in department stores!

The most inconvenient thing visiting Paris for me would have to be the lack of public toilets.  Not that I need to pee frequently, but the thought of not knowing when I'd see the next toilet really puts pressure on me to pee while there's bathroom access even without the urge!

Our guide says locals go to cafes and buy a cup of coffee in order to use the toilets.  To me that just perpetuates an evil cycle: you have to pee, so you buy a drink to use the toilet, that drink makes you want to pee again!

She also says bathrooms in department stores sometimes impose a charge or install a combination lock on the door so that only customers from tours who are given the combination can use them.  We experienced that firsthand.

All in all, Paris is a wonderful city to visit.  Food is mostly great, baguette is excellent (if you know which boulangerie to get it from) and the people are nice.  Public transport is efficient and there's so much culture and history behind every museum, every building and every monument.

Enough said, let's begin with random photos of Paris and conclude with pictures of our arrival at Gare du Nord (station).  Journal resumes tomorrow.



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