1. Those Wonderful Parisians!

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My Guide to getting along with the Parisians, Or remembering some of our own ways, that somehow got lost on the way to making all that money.

Nothing gets in the way of "The Art of Life" For the French. You must Stop moving if you are to Truly live Life!

Is it Us? Are the Parisians really rude? Could it perhaps be a little bit of both? No, I for one do not think the Parisians are rude. Even with the language barrier, and since I am in their country, the language problem is actually mine, not theirs. Yes, if the WHOLE WORLD (It is the universal Language) spoke English, plus of course their own, it would be soooo much easier for all of us Americans when we travel to their countries.

Yes, for the most part, we do expect ," the peoples "of our countries to not only speak their own language, but to speak our own. And, when they do not understand us, we look at them with one squinted eye, and me thinks they are just trying to be difficult! Why do we find this so hard to believe, when we are still,and will fight to the very end to learn the Metric System?

Myth, the Parisians are not rude! There are rude people here that "happen " to be French, just like there are rude people at home that "happen" to be Americans. I actually think the Parisians enjoy the idea, that we think they are all rude when we come to their country, just like many of us (Americans) enjoy letting them think we are all wealthy !

Yes, they do have attitudes, but what is amusing is... what we see in them as "The French Attitude", we call that very same thing in ourselves "American Pride".Hummmmm... We should just laugh at ourselves and enjoy the ride!

Once I made the decision to make Paris my home, I felt it would be in my best interest to learn and understand the way things are done in this part of France. To respect, and accept their customs, and to hope, along the way to enrich my live with the experience of understanding other culture. I can not tell you how many books on the “French “I have digested before, and since I have been living here.

Knowing that my expertise in French language skills went barely further than Moi, croissants, and Oui, I decided to give myself a three-month crash course in learning all I could about French manners, customs, and etiquette. I reallly should have studied the language more (WHO KNEW? HEY! I TOO AM A PROUD AMERICAN!)

This is not a tour guide that will tell you where to go, or what to see. Everyone has their own idea of what they want to experience on their vacation. My idea of a “dream trip” may be very boring or “way too much” walking for you. Perhaps, you want to journey outside of Paris, take a day drive and see the country. You may be traveling with one or more friends, so you would try to do a variety of things.

I will try to list a few of the sights that everyone on their first visit may have on their "must" see list” I will try and list things that are helpful, things that guidebooks may not think are important, therefore, they will tend to leave them out. Well not important until you get there.

I am sharing some of my journey, and my understanding of Paris, and the Parisians. Everyones journey is different, I hope you will enjoy yours as much as I am enjoying living mine in this wonderful city.Every day offers a wonderful new challenge, and adventure.

Could the French be just a little bit more patient with us? Yes, of course they could. But , what are we calling rude?

Yes , we are tourist, it shows, and we should be given certain liberties! But how many of us do you think the average Parisian comes across everyday, stopping them as they are hurrying

to work ( well ,I really do not think they hurry to work) to ask them where is the Eiffel Tower ? ( It is actually the Tower Eiffel. I KNOW THAT MUCH.) It would be just the same as living in beautiful San Francisco, and everyday going to work, someone stopped us, and , the only thing we could make out them saying was "Golden Gate Bridge"? We would tire of it after awhile, no matter how much we loved the Golden gate bridge!

The Parisians do not mind you trying to ask a question. But, they can not stand to be asked ... say...three questions...your best bet is stop at two. If you attempt to ask more than your alloted three, they may just walk away from you. You have to have a map in your hand or something proving you are at least trying.

We, Americans hate to read maps .Once we get to our destinations, ( well, not the actually destination, but ooohhh say a 5-8 mile radius of where we think we should end up.) HEY! Why read a map ,when there are already sooooo many people standing there doing NOTHING! We never mind asking for help from the natives... and we ask a lot!

So , to help yourself, grab a map, grab a small translator book ,grab a book on customs, and don't forget to grab your SCARF!

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