We just spent 18 days in France and enjoyed it all. We had a terrific time in Paris with Geof, Jane, and Casey and Jessie. We were sad to see them leave but reality was setting in earlier for them than for us. So off to the next part of our Euro trip. We also enjoyed this next phase and saw lots of very interesting places. But I thought I'd summarize some of my thoughts on France now that we are leaving.
Rumour has it that the bureaucracy is terrible. Now our only encounter with an official was at Immigration when we arrived. He was very pleasant and asked Deen why someone named Géraldine couldn't speak French. Also French people are supposed to be rude. Not in our experience. Certainly in cities and towns people walk about like they do at home in their own little worlds. But everyone we have encountered has been friendly and helpful.
The magic word in France is "Bonjour" . If you start every conversation with that word and try even a little bit of French then people are happy to help. This applies too when you enter a store, a restaurant, an elevator. We've had people notice we were puzzled about something and offered to help. After 6pm you say "Bon Soir" when you first see somebody and "Bonne Soirée" when you leave. Most useful in restaurants.
The Canadian government invested a lot of money to get me to a certain level of bilingualism. Admittedly I've lost some of my ease en français since I retired but after 2 plus weeks here I've become more accustomed to it. I have some difficulty when they speak quickly back to me. But because I've made the effort they are quite understanding of me.
The streets and roads are quite clean and they go to great lengths to keep them that way. There are garbage containers everywhere and people use them. Now you also hear stories of people and their dogs and rampant dog waste on the sidewalks. While there are a few dogs about , they are mostly small and controlled by their owners. Very little in the way of dog waste on the sidewalks but there are times you have to watch your step. But not as bad as we had feared.
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The only real bothersome aspect is all the smoking. They smoke like someone told them it's the cure for lung cancer. However they are not allowed to smoke inside restaurants but can smoke outside on the patios or terraces. Many times we sat inside to avoid the smoke. Other times it was just too nice to sit indoors and so we took our chances. Lots of young people smoking and you see parents smoking around their small children.
The French love their flowers and beautiful gardens are everywhere. Not just the super palaces but ordinary homes too.
In previous posts I've complained about the costs of the tolls. However the money raised goes to the upkeep of the roads and they are excellent. The speed limit is 130kms on the autoroutes and lots of people do drive at that or higher. The vehicles are weaving in and out like it's a Grand Prix. On the roads and even in towns drivers are generally courteous. There are a million and one roundabouts and they help the flow of traffic. We used our GPS a lot and that for the most part kept us pointed in the right direction. A few times I had to do the complete roundabout an extra time. The first time we used a toll road I tried to pay with my credit card and apparently your card has to be in the system. My foreign VISA wasn't accepted and we had a bit of traffic backed up behind us while a guy came out to help. Surprisingly no one honked at us. After that we just used cash. It appears to be about 1 euro for every 10 kms. Generally the signage on the roads is good but finding things in towns is a challenge. The street names are small and posted high on the side of a bulding. Very easy to miss and street names seem to change every few blocks. The roads head off every which way and a roundabout could have 5 or 6 exits.
Motorcycles are everywhere and an efficient form of transport. They will often use the sidewalks, pedestrian only streets, and will pass you on the left or right while you are stopped so they can advance a bit.
One of the really cool aspects of French life is the vibrant scenes in town squares or "places". They are filled with restaurants and people sitting out there at tables. Very lively at noon and in the evenings. In some places local musicians will set up hoping for a donation of a euro or two. And lots of pedestian only streets throughout.
Coffee can be a challenge for people used to the North American version of coffee. They tend to drink espresso a lot. If you want something approaching your own NA tastes ask for either a café americano or café allongé. It's basically espresso with hot water added to dilute the espresso. An alternative is café grand crême.
We also have this image of the French as being well dressed. In Paris you are more likely to see men in suits and women similarly dressed but not often. Outside Paris it's very rare. However scarves for men were quite visible again in Paris and rarely outside. A fashion statement as opposed to something for the weather. Lots of males were wearing skinny leg jeans , some of them in red, orange, or yellow. Manpris seem to be popular as well. For the most part however I'd say they dress casually like we do at home. As we got further south more people in T's and shorts and sandals.
One last comment and that concerns prices and consumption taxes. Generally France is a bit more expensive that Canada but you soon get used to the idea of considering a euro to be like a dollar when you are spending it. The VAT is also included in the price of things so what you see is what you pay. The bills you receive show how much VAT is in there. I really wish our governments at home would go this way.
We very much enjoyed our time here and would quite happily return.
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