Impressions of Paris, France

In My Humble Opinion
1

I just got back from Paris, France, and I’ve still not really recovered from the trip. Thank you to all the Dopers who gave me tips on Paris before I went. I tried to follow them as much as possible. Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to explore other parts of France, but there was plenty to see and do in Paris. Here are my impressions of Paris, if you’re interested.

Though all the guidebooks I read said to avoid Paris in August, I didn’t have any problems. I realize I probably didn’t get to see the “real” Paris–whatever that is–with the Parisians there, but Paris was just stimulating. Everywhere I went, there was something interesting to look at and photograph. I took @ 350 pictures! The architecture in Paris is just gorgeous with its intricate Romanesque carvings and sculptures, but sometimes I’d get a little overwhelmed because everything seems so uniform. I’d just marvel at detailed ornamentation on the buildings and bridges and wonder about the people who slaved away designing and carving and building these structures that only a few privileged aristocrats got to enjoy, and I’d wonder about the folks who cleaned and maintained the palaces, gardens, and other structures that now are museums and tourist spots. Those artisans and workers must have led really terrible lives. Since most of the buildings looked the same, I couldn’t tell where I was half the time. I took a Bateaux Moucheau on the Seine, and that was interesting, despite the hyperactive French kid who kept getting in the way when I tried to take pictures. I loved riding the city buses to get to places too. I discovered a lot of places to go that I would otherwise have missed. The metro is very safe and efficient just like in NY, but a lot cleaner. I felt safe the whole time I was there.

Montmartre was my least favorite section because its so run down and cheesy. It’s more a place for art scams than art as near as I could tell, but then maybe I missed something. I just got really bad vibes from Montmartre, and Sacre Coeur, as beautiful as it is, seems sad sitting up on the highest point of Paris right up above Montmartre and Pigalle. Inside Sacre Coeur there were signs printed in all kinds of languages asking for donations in any kind of currency to help fix up Montmartre, and I now see why. On the steps down from Sacre Coeur and heading towards Pigalle, I looked back at it and saw that someone had defaced some of the stone walls on the hillside with graffitti, and that’s just a crying shame. It still feels like Montmartre’s just resting on its past laurels of having famous artists hang out there. Of all the places I went in Paris, it was the most contrived and touristy IMHO. Ugh.

But the museums were awesome and intimidating. I thought the Metropolitan Museum in NY was bad. It ain’t got nothing on the Louvre! I kept getting lost in that museum, and the map didn’t seem to help at all. Somehow I found the Mona Lisa, and got a shot of it, despite the fact that folks were pushing and shoving trying to get close enough to see and take pictures of it. The pushing and shoving were so bad that I think one man got pushed too close to the picture, and the museum attendant had to ask him to leave, and he got HOT and started cussing in Italian or Spanish. I couldn’t rightly tell. But after awhile, my feet were just killing me and all the art was just running together, and I couldn’t appreciate it so it was quite a relief to get out of the Louvre. The Musee Orphee was nice, but overwhelming too. I got lost in there too. My favorite museum is the Musee Picasso. It had just enough art in there to not be overwhelming, and I got really good vibes from the building. :smiley:

The Eiffel Tower was awesome. I got a great shot of the sun setting over Paris from there. My favorite places to hang out were the Latin Quarter, the Parc de Luxembourg, the Place des Vosges, and Marias in general. I got really good vibes from those places.

Still, I just had a blast getting lost in Paris. In fact that was my very favorite thing to do there. I’d be walking down streets, wondering where the hell I was, and consulting my map to figure out where I was. I’m embarrassed to say that I wandered around looking for the Bastille, asking folks for directions to get there only to realize later that I’d actually found it, took pictures of the statue and column that commemorate it, and didn’t even realize what it was! I did notice folks were giving me some nasty looks in the Bastille area when I pulled out my camera. Whatever. I wasn’t even trying to front about being a tourist since August is high tourist season. But the thing that gets me is that French and foreigners alike would approach me and start rattling off French asking me directions to get to X location and such like. I thought that the way I looked just screamed tourist, but I guess not. It certainly didn’t take them long, though, when I opened my mouth to mutilate French to realize that I’m an American. I was surprised to see that some of the Parisians were disappointed that I was an American. They seemed friendly and warm and open, particularly the street grocers on Rue Mouffetard, where I stayed and did a lot of shopping, but I think I missed out on getting to know some of them better because of the language/cultural barrier. The friend whom I was staying with thinks that the French are jealous of Americans because in the latter half of the 20th Century Americans have been the superpower. In a sense, he thinks that Americans have become the colonizers in France and other places because we have more buying power than the French. I don’t know if French folks are jealous of America or not, but I do get the sense that they’re proud of Paris and of French history in general. Still, the Parisians were nice, considering the fact that their city was being overrun by tourists, foreign and French alike, who can’t speak Parisian French. I really liked the laidback attitude that I saw amongst the Parisians and tourists sitting at sidewalk cafes and lingering over coffee or other drinks. I loved sitting at cafes and watching the world go by.

Well, there’s plenty more I could say, but this will have to do for now as I’ve got to get to work so that I can pay for this trip I just took. [sigh]

However, Dopers who’ve been to Paris, if you’ve managed to read this far, what were your favorite things to see and do? Do you agree or disagree with my impressions of Paris?

2

It was interesting reading about your experience in Paris. I love visiting Paris. I noticed dogs in restaurants and cafes, but that didn’t bother me because I love dogs. Montmarte is one of my favorite parts. I liked the village aspect and the fact that things didn’t look alike there – to me. I spent a few nights in Montmarte once and enjoyed opening my window and lookind down at the narrow street and feeling like I was sent back in time. But I was never there in August. I like Christmas holiday time there because lights are strung up all over, and across streets. I experienced one New Year’s eve there, too.

I also got lost my first time in Paris and in the Louvre. My photo of the Mona Lisa doesn’t look good, maybe due to the glass it’s in. I always stock up on French perfume in the Place d’Italie section. The food is wonderful in Paris! I understand that Paris was Julia Child’s motivation for cooking.

There is so much to say. The Notre Dame is always a repeat visit for me. I hope you get to return to Paris. There is always something new to add to your memories there.

3

Funny - although I was only about 11 or so when I went, I HATED Paris. I thought the museums and scenic places were nice, but a little touristy, and the rest of the city was FILTHY! I am suprised to see you say that the subways were clean - IMHO, that was the absolute worst part of PAris. They reeked of rotten food and urine, and housed more homeless people than I had ever imagined (but, as I said, I was young). I found the streets to be dirty, and I remember having to look down as I walked to avoid stepping in dog poop or other nasty stuff all over the place. I really don’t have any intention of returning there, although I do plan on travelling to Europe again someday. Other cities, however, I enjoyed, although we did spend most of the time visiting smaller towns and cities across Europe in the 3 years we were there.

I am glad you enjoyed your trip, though, and it seems that perhaps some effort has been made to clean up the city since I went about 10 years ago, but still…your impressions of it contradict mine so much!

4

Maybe that’s because NY subways run 24/7.

Compared to what? Since you obviously saw it before the Louvre.

The Metropolitan Museum is one of the finest museums in the world.

I’m curious. Where exactly do you live, and do you travel often?

5

That line brought me up short, too.

But from the context, it looks like she’s saying the Met is confusing to find one’s way around (and that the Louvre is worse), not that the Met is a “bad museum.”

I find myself disagreeing with the OP on the subject of Montmartre, as I lived in a tiny apartment on rue Catherine, just off rue Lepic, for over three months when I was 19, and liked the area a lot.

Yes, the Place du Tertre IS touristy, but there’s a lot more to it than that. How did you get up to Sacre Coeur? Did you walk? Did you go through Abbesses, through the street where Picasso lived? Did you visit the Montmartre Cemetery? Berlioz is buried there, you know. What did you think of the moulins? Did you look into the foodshop windows on Lepic, and browse the charcuteries and boulangeries? The teeny little restaurants up there can be marvelous, too…I remember dining on a dish of turkey necks and lentils, which were tasty and a wonderfully cheap meal for a poor student. Did you pay a visit to the site of the old Theatre des Grands Guignols? Didn’t you think the interior of the Sacre Coeur dome was a gas?

6

I had a lousy time there, brought on at least partially (but not completely) by my own lousy planning. I arrived in Paris at 6 AM on about an hour and a half’s worth of sleep. We had a hotel way the hell out of town (I had booked it through the internet) in which I felt so unsafe that I nearly had a panic attack (we stayed there anyway, as my traveling companion was loathe to find another one). We noticed more pickpockets in Paris then anywhere else we went in Europe. In that trip I used the metro systems in Madrid, Barcelona, London and Paris and Paris was by far the filthiest (with the farthest distance to walk between points, at least in my experience). I only had a day and a half so I didn’t get to do an eighth of the stuff I wanted to do. We were at the Louvre for like, two hours (which is a joke). Even so, I didn’t like what I saw. The rooms I was in seemed to have the philosophy of, “Let’s stick as many paintings up on the wall as possible” with no regard to how the paintings meshed together as a whole. Everyone was speed-walking to get through it. I compared it to the more reverent presentation and visitor reaction at say, the Prado and found it lacking. I liked Notre Dame and walking along the Seine right there but never got the “feel” of Paris that I was looking for (my fault, I’m sure). Another problem is that, while I speak Spanish and of course, English, I don’t speak any French and neither does my friend. The whole experience was by far the least pleasant in my European trip and left me with a rather nasty taste in my mouth. I wouldn’t make it a priority to go back.

7

Violet, thanks for responding, hon. I saw plenty of dogs in the cafes and places too, and like you I didn’t mind them. Maybe I didn’t see as many dogs as other folks have because a lot of Parisians are on vacation. Notre Dame was absolutely stunning both inside and out. Oh, and the food was wonderful in Paris. :smiley:

mnemosyne, thanks. It’s so interesting getting your perspective on Paris, even though we have completely different views of it. I really enjoyed my stay, and I do hope to get back to Paris sometime when it’s not so touristy so I can see it from another perspective and catch the sights I didn’t get a chance to see on this trip. As far as how clean Paris is now as opposed to how it was 10 years ago, I can’t honestly say. I’d heard that there’s dog poop everywhere on the streets in Paris, but I didn’t find that to be the case. There wasn’t too much litter in the streets either. Now granted I didn’t get everywhere in Paris, but the places I went to weren’t really that dirty for a major city crawling with tourists.

LolaCocaCola, as far as the metro, yes I am well aware that the NY metro runs 24/7, and I appreciate that because it makes it wonderfully efficient, but it is also really dirty with graffitti and the unsavory smells and sights of the folks what populate it. The Paris metro compared to the NY metro is cleaner, but I didn’t mean to imply that I would feel comfortable eating off the steps or floors of it. Granted I’ve not been to all the Paris metro stations, but the ones that I went into, though I could occasionally smell urine and I did see homeless folks, were relatively clean compared to what I’ve seen in the NY metro and even in the DC metro. What I meant by the NY Metropolitan Museum vs. the Louvre is that before I went to the Louvre, I thought the Metropolitan was huge, confusing, and overwhelming with the amount of art it has, but the Louvre is 5 times what the Metropolitan is. I didn’t mean to imply that either museum is bad, just that they’re huge and overwhelming. As far as where I live, I’m from the South, and I travel when I can afford to, which isn’t too often. Still I get around. :slight_smile:

Ukelele Ike, thanks for clarifying the Met vs. the Louvre confusion I inadvertantly created, hon. I will say that I really have no idea where exactly I went in Montmartre or Paris for that matter. :o I tried to follow the map in my guidebook, but it was confusing, or perhaps I just have a terrible sense of direction :), but I think I didn’t walk in circles. I just go on the vibes I get from places, and I did not get good vibes from the parts of Montmartre that I saw. The streets you mention do not sound familiar to me so I probably did miss the part of Montmartre that folks seem to love. I walked from Chateau Rouge to Sacre Coeur–oh my god, I thought I was going to get dizzy and faint from climbing all those steps to get to Sacre Coeur! Then, though I hadn’t really recovered from the climb up all those steps to get to Sacre Coeur, I climbed to the dome of Sacre Coeur and had a heart attack doing so because I’m scared of heights and was feeling really claustrophobic in those narrow stairwells, but the view from the top was breathtaking and therefore worth that scary climb. :slight_smile: Then after that I climbed down some more steps and started walking down some Boulevard. I forget the name, but it had a whole bunch of sex shops and live sex show places that put me in a fit of the giggles, as sad as they were. I’m not sure if I went through Abesses or not. I remember seeing a sign for it though. In my ramblings in Montmartre, I did manage to find the Montmartre Cemetery, and it was an interesting sight. It reminded me a little of the raised tombs I’ve seen in cemeteries in New Orleans. Maybe when I get back to Paris, I’ll have to try to find these other parts of Montmartre that I missed and see if my opinion changes. Right now, I still don’t like what I saw there.

8

Myrnalene, I’m sorry you had a terrible time in Paris. It’s funny. The whole time I was there, I really was on my guard for pickpockets, but I didn’t notice any, and thank heavens I wasn’t pickpocketed, or at least I don’t think anyone took anything from me. Well, even if they tired, they wouldn’t have gotten much because I’m poor. It’s difficult to book hotels and stuff online. I never know what they’re really like. I was lucky I could stay with a friend in Paris, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to go at all. As far as the Louvre goes, yes. I noticed that the pictures were sort of crammed together on the walls, and I found it difficult to just stop and look at some of them because the crowd was pushing me on, particularly in the area where the Mona Lisa is. :frowning:

9

We lived in Paris for 10 months in 1988, so these impressions are dated (no big glass Louvre pyramid, folks!). I loved it. We lived about a block from the Place de la Bastille. The marché there on Thursdays was wonderful.

The Offspring was two
I tooled everywhere, on foot, through the Metro, wherever, with an umbrella stroller and a baby sling. I think we visited every park in the city at least once. The Bois (Vincennes and Boulogne) were special treats. I forget which one has the playground with the giant octopus multi-slide. Big fun. She loved the sandbox in the shadow of Notre Dame. There was an English language bookstore across the river that we used to go to regularly for used paperbacks. Wandering over the bridges of the Ile de la Cité is lovely. She stayed at a garderie (preschool) three mornings a week so I could paint. The garderie and the ladies who ran it were super. Also, it’s a great place to brush up your language skills. There’s nothing like hanging around a bunch of little kids to get the basic locutions down. Short sentences. Small words. Your accent may suffer.

Les Museés
The Louvre was wonderful, but the parts I wanted (15 c. Flemish) were not the most popular and were often closed. I loved the Orangerie at Tuileries. The Musee d’Orsay was my favorite. So was watching for gallery shows and going gallery hopping. It broke my heart the month before we left to see signs for exciting looking shows and realize the date was after we’d be gone.

Food!
Best advice we got before leaving was “If you see a queue and it has anything to do with food, get on line.” (Though admittedly, the French do not do “queue” well and it invariably deteriorates to a triangle with the base toward the service involved.) Found a great little restaurant up the hill from the Jussieu metro stop that way. (My husband was doing his sabbatical at Institut de Pierre et Marie Curie at Jussieu.) Small, family style, great food. Food in general was to die for. One of the best things was spending Saturday morning wandering along the boulevard collecting food and spending the afternoon eating and drinking it. And the bakeries! The Offspring learned to say “pain au chocolat” right quick.

Montmartre and other touristy stuff
Didn’t spend a lot of time there, but Sacre Coeur blew me away. Not so much the building but the light! Light in Paris in general blows me away. I love, love, love the light of Paris. Even in movies; it’s distinctive. For touristy stuff I really enjoyed a couple of walking tours I signed up for. You wander around a district with an English speaking guide who tells you interesting tidbits. Don’t know if they still have these. The historical notes are great.

Parisians
…were in general wonderful. They bore patiently with my French. I got a perfect score on the French ACT and it was worth damnall. That high school stuff - “When is the next train to Lyon? Can you recommend a good restaurant near here? Where are the rest room facilities?” is useless! What I needed to say was “I need a cough syrup with expectorant, something to unplug the bathtub drain, and do you sell disposable diapers?” I sounded like a mental deficient, I’m sure. Though by the time we left I was able to go down to the Gas and Electric and argue about my bill (in the present tense, anyway). I still suspect they only turned the services back on because mental deficients can become dangerous if crossed. The lady in the hardware store down the street from us was a gem. So were other local shopkeepers, especially the pharmacist. Major exception: Anybody in a guichet. I guess I’d get testy if I had to sit behind one of those little grilled windows myself but still… I believe the French invented Bureaucracy, so if some of them have to suffer the consequences, that’s their look-out.

I also didn’t mind the dogs, but I did wish they had a scooper law and enforced it. This is crucial if you are pushing a stroller everywhere.

And our doctor was wonderful and when I had a lump in my breast I got sent to the Centre de Seinologie. Yes! They have Center of Breastology in Paris! The French take breasts very seriously. When my hubby returns to Paris occasionally, I have him go to the pharmacy and get herbal tisanes. They’re great.

Okay, I’m rambling now, I’ll stop. Sorry this got so long, but the Paris Button got pushed. sigh

10

I was in Paris last summer. As a French Canadian, I was quite worried about the Parisians (knowing how snotty they can be when they come to Mtl… before I get flammed I know not all of them but I’ve met my share) but they were very nice and patient when my Quebec accent crept up. I loved the architecture, walking in the street (window shopping), the museums were unbelievable and so large, I didn’t get to see as much as I wanted but I have to agree with SparrowHawk le Musée D’Orsay was my favorite also. I absolutely loved Montmartre, even though it’s quite touristy it still brings you back, walking in all the streets to get to Sacré-Coeur. Père La Chaise was also very nice, forget Jim Morrison (who was moved and is now hidden and protected by security guards at all times), I just found it an extremely peaceful place. After a week of walking around Paris by day and having dinner parties with friends of my friend who wanted to meet the “friend from Quebec”. We took Paris by night (Finally!!!) and by car (could’ve done without) and they took me to Bois de Boulogne, that was my first BIG cultural shock in Paris. The “ladies of night” barely dress (some not at all) all along the street that crosses the park.

Oh and I preferred Arc de Triomphe over the Tour Eiffel hands down!!!

Even though it is a beautiful city, my overall feeling of Paris, was not good. I felt a certain “violence” all around. Car horns non stop, sirens, two fist-fights in the middle of the sidewalk, a couple of car accident, a police dog attack in the metro, well maybe I shouldn’t call it an attack, but since at one point I was between the “bad man” and the dog, it sure looked like an attack. All this in 8 days, my friend has been living there for 15 months now and nothing. Mind you she thinks it’s all my fault since she was with me for the dog thing…

But that’s just me

11

Ditto on the geting lost thing. I just walked here and there and some of the things I remember most were when I was doing that. 2 quick ones:

One when I was walking down a street I noticed a whole bunch of mostly women standing on the street. As I approacehed them the door near them opened and pouring out came a slew of gradeschool kids surrounding me. A woman sees her daughter and in English says ‘How are you, how was your day, did you have a good day?’ The little girl come out and says ‘Oui, Oui’ and it sounded so cute. I love how they walk hand in hand with their child to and from school.

Another was when I was sitting near that big pond where the kids push the boats. A little girl came running over to where I was sitting and started to look for something. All of a sudden she sees a fish and shouts out ‘Le poisson!’. Then a few minutes later she does it again. She was so excited, and I learned a new word. There’s something about kids speaking in another language that sounds so cute to me.

The louvre at night in the old section is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, the lighting on the 800 year old walls is gorgeous, I’d love to go back.

12

One of my many found memories of Paris is how vivid my dreams were after visiting the Louvre or the Orsay.

And crepes.

13

The Big Cheese I know just what you mean about the kids. The first time I was in France it shocked me that the kids spoke French so well!

Zebra I too have amazing dreams in Paris. I have no idea why, but it happens every time.

celestina I love the Sacre Coeur just because it hassuch a strong energy. It’s the only place in Paris I feel anything that strong.

I’ve been to Paris three times now, but I still prefer Lyon. Next time you get to France it’s worth the trip.

14

The Big Cheese I know just what you mean about the kids. The first time I was in France it shocked me that the kids spoke French so well!

Zebra I too have amazing dreams in Paris. I have no idea why, but it happens every time.

celestina I love the Sacre Coeur just because it hassuch a strong energy. It’s the only place in Paris I feel anything that strong.

I’ve been to Paris three times now, but I still prefer Lyon. Next time you get to France it’s worth the trip.

15

Nice. The first time I’ve ever had a reply post so fast that I couldn’t stop it in time to fix something. Sheesh.

16

I visited Paris in winter, so I was wearing turtlenecks under everything. There was just a nasty ring of grime on every t-neck from where it touched my neck. Yikes! So yes, the city is dirty, beauitful though it is.

17

It’s so fun reading everyone’s impressions of Paris, especially since not everyone agrees!

I love Paris, it’s a wonderful city. I’ve been there for work several times, although not more than five days at a time, and sadly, often taken up by work stuff (go figure). The best visit was the only one that was non-work, I was taking an art history course, and got to see much (not all, could you ever see all?) of the city’s artwork, often in “behind the scenes” situations.

I think I’m the one visitor to Paris who didn’t like the food. Sure, the expensive food is great, but I hated all the “quick” food, the food you could grab on the way to class. One of my favorite things about Paris is that it is becoming more and more of an international city, and I finally found a fantastic Greek shop that had awesome, cheap food. Oh, I shouldn’t say I hated all the food, I adore fromage blanc, and would eat it for every meal.

My favorite museum is Cluny (only it isn’t called at anymore, it’s Moyen-Age now, I think). I had a student art pass, so most museums were free, and I loved going to Cluny to simply sit and study or read for recreation.

Love the subways! As a New Yorker, it is very hard not to be a subway snob, but the Metro is super. The first time, I did get tricked by the “you have to open the door yourself” thing, and stood there like an idiot while the train left the station with me still on it. After clearing up that little misunderstanding, my experience with the metro was 100% positive.

My French is terrible, but I found that almost all French people were very understanding and tried their best to be polite and supportive. One of the greatest horrors of my life was learning that my particular brand of Great Lakes region, highly nasal accent makes for spectacular French comedy (this might explain some of the Jerry Lewis thing, even though I know it’s mostly a myth). On several occasions, French people (waiters, usually) would ask me to repeat things for their entertainment. In a nice way, not a mean way, but it was still somewhat mortifying.

I did notice how untidy the city was – when I was there for my long visit, it was right when there had been a bomb scare (I think) and all the public trash cans had been removed. Have they been put back? It was really quite a nightmare of public policy, having ten bajillion tourists and no trash cans on the streets of Paris.

When I was there, I usually went to a very nice little church in the 4th (St. Paul?), and after Mass, the priest would always thank me for coming, in a sort of oddly phrased way that made me perpetually wonder if he thought I was visiting from New York for the express purpose of attending his church each Sunday. And I always felt vaguely guilty for letting him think that, but I wasn’t really sure how to correct that impression.

One business trip was over the 4th of July. Many people, upon realizing I was American, sincerely wished me a Bon Independence Day, which I found very sweet.

18

I’m really kind of surprised at reading the comments. Normally, when you mention Paris in the USA, you get these dewy-eyed stares and mumblings of high school French phrases gushing about le Grande yadayada on the corner of Rue McClanahan and whatever.
I have been to Paris twice - once as a poor college grad staying at a Pension, and the second time on someone else’s Franc, staying at the Hilton.
Both times were ok. I don’t hate the city, but somehow le Grand Charm escapes me.
I absolutely hated (and had to be dragged there) going to the Eifel Tower - the only good thing about being up there was that you finally got a view of Paris without the damn Eifel Tower in the distance. It has to rank way up there as the most useless, boring “attraction” in a big city.
The Parisians were no ruder than your average New Yorker - but New Yorkers seem to have a sense of humor that I didn’t see as I was being cussed out on Avenue de Pimpadu, or wherever.

I don’t speak Greek, Italian, Spanish, Dutch or Swedish - but in all those countries, in all those big cities, it was a lot more fun to fend for food and shelter than it ever was in Paris.

19

Strangely enough my mother just gave us two photos we sent her of our first trip to Paris in 1969. One was of an exhausted Spavined and wife sitting on the edge of a fountain and the other of a mob of tourists with short hair and leather shoes at Versailles. The amassing thing is how youthful and fit we both looked, that and the dark hair. The point of all this is that we have been lucky enough to go back several times sort of at five year intervals. Paris is a great city. The food is wonderful. The architecture is remarkable. The museums are astounding–where else could you stand six inches away from the seminal paintings of the impressionist movement. We have found the people on the street and in the shops and cafes to be pleasant and accommodating–Mrs. Gelding speaks a passable brand of French, albeit with a Belgian accent. We were always well treated and except for an adventure with old Francs and new Francs some 30 years ago, never taken advantage of. Unlike, for instance NYC or Chicago, we never worried about being mugged or subject to aggressive panhandlers. I look foreword to going back–each time we find something new and exciting and just plain fun.

20

Big Cheese and Leifsmama, I agree about the little kids speaking French. Once when we were in a park, The Offspring was making pies or whatever in the sand and her little friend was trying to help her. My kid fussed the friend away, causing him to complain to his older sister, “Why won’t she let me help?” (in French, of course) That was no big deal, but his sister replied, “Parce qu’elle ne veut que tu le fasses.” I think I’ve got that spelled wrong, but all I could think was “WOW! this six year old kid just correctly conjugated the second person singular subjunctive of faire for a conditional clause! I couldn’t do that!”

Regarding pickpockets and such, the only problem I had was when a fellow on a metro escalator seemed a little too interested in my backpack zipper. I’d swear he tried to open it. But it was a particular section that I only kept disposable diapers in - my backpack was basically a diaper bag in those days - so the joke would’ve been on him.

I also thought it was neat that in the summertime, little merry-go-rounds sprouted on the streets. My daughter loved les maneges. Most were simple but some of them were quite elaborate; one was even double-decker.

To enjoy Paris thoroughly it obviously helps if one is in the company of small children much of the time. :wink:

There was one magic evening in February when it snowed, which is rare in Paris, and everybody on our street came out onto their little balconies to watch the flakes floating down in the streetlights and call out to one another about how cool it was that it was snowing.