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#1
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Paris Notes (2)
More observations and thoughts triggered by our recent short visit:
Strolling: Paris has given us a word: boulevardier. It conveys something particular about the city. Paris is a place which offers much to the visitor who simply rambles about. We rambled, and found lively neighbourhoods, interesting buildings and monuments, parks, and pleasant cafés in which to sit for a while to rest the feet. Wherever you ramble, you are likely to come on some guide-book attraction. But most of all, the appeal of wandering about is to see vignettes of the life of the city and its people. Paris chic: The idea of the parisienne chic is something of a cliché, but when I first visited Paris it appeared to me that it had some basis in fact: the city seemed to have more than its fair share of well-groomed, well-dressed women. It no longer appears so. Yes, there are still beautifully turned-out women, but their numbers seem to have diminished. Crumpled casual is the new black. One exception that struck me was Galeries Lafayette, one of the "grands magasins". Most of the staff, who are presumably moderately paid rather than wealthy, are very well dressed, and put their customers to shame. If you want to identify a sales assistant there, look for the best-dressed people. Frenchmen in suits: In Ireland, a suit is usually business uniform, and wearing one is almost a means of self-effacement, a way of blending with others of one's ilk. But there is something distinctive about the way men in Paris wear suits. The suits themselves are fine, usually very good and apparently expensive. But, more than elsewhere, it seems that a persona is donned with the garb. The suit says "Je suis un homme d'affaires, quelqu'un d'importance ; il faut me respecter". Non, monsieur, I don't buy it: you have no right to occupy two seats in the métro, and I will not deviate from my path so that can proceed without accommodating me -- I'll make a little room for you, and you make some for me. Bloody tourists: I am sure that many Parisians resent the numbers of tourists who throng their city. They should not, as tourism pays the wages of many of their fellow-citizens. But there are problems, not in the numbers of tourists, but in the way that some comport themselves. First, there are those who are mindlessly obstructive -- at least I hope that it is merely mindlessness, but it can feel as if the obstruction is malevolent. These people move slowly in large groups (it is amazing how two people can constitute themselves into a large group) and make it difficult for other pedestrians to make reasonable progress. When they stop, they form a defensive circle, fully closing off as many routes as possible. Then there are those to whom la politesse means nothing in a country where it means a lot. A few "bonjours" and "si'l vous plaits" and "mercis" cost nothing, and it is easy to learn to ask "parlez-vous anglais?", but not many seem to bother. Even a smile and "do you speak English" will do much to avert French ire. A good tourist should be culturally sensitive: you visit Paris to experience a little of French life, and not your own way of doing things at home, wherever that home may be. There are tourists who generate antipathy, and I suspect that they are the sort who go home and complain about how rude the French people are. An outing to Giverny: Herself had been given a book depicting Monet's house and garden at Giverny, and expressed a wish to go there. Initial research brought up several coach tour options, costing €60 - €70 each.This led to more determined research, and we found that we could do the visit using train and bus connections for about half the cost. And we like trains. So that's the way we did it. The garden is indeed lovely, and the famed lily pond is well worth seeing. But the visitor is confined to fenced pathways, and there are not many opportunities to sit and enjoy the views (to be fair, I should say that there were so many visitors there that it is difficult to see how this could be arranged without cutting large chunks out of the garden). The house, too, is interesting, probably little changed since Monet's day. It is surprisingly small, being only one room deep, and again the number of visitors was a problem: we were swept through it in minutes by the throng. A visit which we had supposed might take three hours was completed in less than half the time. Had we spent €70 each, we might have felt hard done by, but it was fair value at less then €30 each. The bad bit: the airport Airports are a necessary evil for those who travel. Soulless, characterless places. I would sooner wait in a railway station than an airport (especially, in Paris, the Gare de Lyon). We were due to take an evening flight, and decided to go to CDG early, check in and get the bags out of the way, and then have some food before boarding the plane. Check-in completed, we looked for a restaurant. The only sign we found pointed towards the boarding area, but that was all right; we went through. After some searching about, we found a small restaurant on an upper floor -- but it was not serving food. All the catering we could find airside was sandwiches, and I wanted real food. We asked a AdP staff member where we might get food, and he told us that the restaurants were on the lower floor landside. Could he let us through? He indicated the exit for passengers who had just landed -- where there was a long queue being processed carefully by a single immigration officer. I made my displeasure known (politely, as I presumed the problem was not of his making), and he smiled, shrugged, and said "This is Paris". How much that says about the French attitude to bad bureaucratic arrangements: an official, rather than trying to find a solution to a problem, limits himself to explaining what the problem is. Not everything in France is perfect. It would round off my account nicely if I could report that we were rewarded for our pains with a superb meal but, sadly, airport food is airport food -- expensive and not particularly good. And then home to contemplate our next trip (Madrid). -- PB The return address has been MUNGED |
#2
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Paris Notes (2)
Paris chic:
The idea of the parisienne chic is something of a cliché, but when I first visited Paris it appeared to me that it had some basis in fact: the city seemed to have more than its fair share of well-groomed, well-dressed women. It no longer appears so. You should visit Milan, maybe Milan is the new Paris. And then home to contemplate our next trip (Madrid). It'll be interesting to see what you make of Madrid, on four business trips there I saw no reason to go back as a tourist. (But there was a very good Mexican restaurant just off the main square). |
#3
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Paris Notes (2)
Paris chic:
The idea of the parisienne chic is something of a cliché, but when I first visited Paris it appeared to me that it had some basis in fact: the city seemed to have more than its fair share of well-groomed, well-dressed women. It no longer appears so. You should visit Milan, maybe Milan is the new Paris. And then home to contemplate our next trip (Madrid). It'll be interesting to see what you make of Madrid, on four business trips there I saw no reason to go back as a tourist. (But there was a very good Mexican restaurant just off the main square). |
#4
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Paris Notes (2)
"Miss L. Toe" wrote in message
... It'll be interesting to see what you make of Madrid, on four business trips there I saw no reason to go back as a tourist. (But there was a very good Mexican restaurant just off the main square). Do you remember the restaurant's name? One thing that struck me about Madrid was that their attempts at Mexican food were downright pathetic. It seemed as if though no Mexican with any sort of culinary ability had ever set foot in the Spanish capital. Richard |
#5
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Paris Notes (2)
"Miss L. Toe" wrote in message
... It'll be interesting to see what you make of Madrid, on four business trips there I saw no reason to go back as a tourist. (But there was a very good Mexican restaurant just off the main square). Do you remember the restaurant's name? One thing that struck me about Madrid was that their attempts at Mexican food were downright pathetic. It seemed as if though no Mexican with any sort of culinary ability had ever set foot in the Spanish capital. Richard |
#6
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Paris Notes (2)
"Miss L. Toe" wrote in message
... It'll be interesting to see what you make of Madrid, on four business trips there I saw no reason to go back as a tourist. (But there was a very good Mexican restaurant just off the main square). Do you remember the restaurant's name? One thing that struck me about Madrid was that their attempts at Mexican food were downright pathetic. It seemed as if though no Mexican with any sort of culinary ability had ever set foot in the Spanish capital. Richard |
#7
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Paris Notes (2)
"Miss L. Toe" wrote in message
... It'll be interesting to see what you make of Madrid, on four business trips there I saw no reason to go back as a tourist. (But there was a very good Mexican restaurant just off the main square). Do you remember the restaurant's name? One thing that struck me about Madrid was that their attempts at Mexican food were downright pathetic. It seemed as if though no Mexican with any sort of culinary ability had ever set foot in the Spanish capital. Richard |
#8
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Paris Notes (2)
"Miss L. Toe" wrote:
Paris chic: The idea of the parisienne chic is something of a cliché, but when I first visited Paris it appeared to me that it had some basis in fact: the city seemed to have more than its fair share of well-groomed, well-dressed women. It no longer appears so. You should visit Milan, maybe Milan is the new Paris. Perhaps if I wanted to seek out such women. But I prefer informality. And then home to contemplate our next trip (Madrid). It'll be interesting to see what you make of Madrid, on four business trips there I saw no reason to go back as a tourist. We don't go until late October; I hope that you can bear the wait. (But there was a very good Mexican restaurant just off the main square). You mean food with loads of chillis, burn-your-mouth-off stuff? Nah. I'll settle for Spanish. -- PB The return address has been MUNGED |
#9
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Paris Notes (2)
"Miss L. Toe" wrote:
Paris chic: The idea of the parisienne chic is something of a cliché, but when I first visited Paris it appeared to me that it had some basis in fact: the city seemed to have more than its fair share of well-groomed, well-dressed women. It no longer appears so. You should visit Milan, maybe Milan is the new Paris. Perhaps if I wanted to seek out such women. But I prefer informality. And then home to contemplate our next trip (Madrid). It'll be interesting to see what you make of Madrid, on four business trips there I saw no reason to go back as a tourist. We don't go until late October; I hope that you can bear the wait. (But there was a very good Mexican restaurant just off the main square). You mean food with loads of chillis, burn-your-mouth-off stuff? Nah. I'll settle for Spanish. -- PB The return address has been MUNGED |
#10
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Paris Notes (2)
Magda extrapolated from data available...
School trips are my pet peeve. They seem to always invade the metro at rush hours, push everyone around, and every single one of them simply *has* to talk to a friend who happens to be on the opposite side of the carriage - same behaviour when they enter a shop or a supermarket; Pavarotti singing at the top of his lungs would NOT be heard. These are everything but "mindlessly obstructive", believe me. Well, they should certainly all be killed, alleviating both immediate and future problems from continued breeding of the species. The dearth of politness by the young, especially by the young in groups in public these days, is not simply a "student" problem, but greatly ascribable to their chicken-hearted, lily-livered parents who have been conditioned that empowerment and entitlement are due to each and all of their scabrous offspring. Children require substantial mistreatment, and profit from occasional or even routine denial of of the most basic privileges and pleasures. As a great philosopher once noted..."Nobody promised you a rose garden." Seriously, society in its toleration of others has developed the mistaken impression that our culture demands the tolerance of rude, impolite and discomforting performances by the young. So sensitive are retailers that they might "offend" a breed of customers that they allow the breed to routinely offend others. Can you imagine the positive pleasurable reaction that would be yours if, while dining in a restaurant where a particularly loud, awkward offensive child was demonstrating the weakness of character and selfishness of his parents, the proprietor walked up to the table, announced that he was picking up the check, and demanded that they take their rude brat and depart without letting the front door hit their butts on the way out. How about a step further...A museum satffer who waked up to a techer with a ob of unruly and obstructive students and ushered them out the door. Over a few years, I watched the "conversion" of a modest local shopping mall into a gathering place for adolescents (often ejectees from the lobby area of a nearby multi-screen theater. Unfortunately, the flood of teenagers caused the regular customers of a number of the stores within to go elsewhere. The stores closed, leaving only a handful whose trade came from the teens. With vacant space and partial rents, the mall closed and was bulldozed, replaced by annother "Big Box", this time a Target, which certainly doesn't provide a gathering spot for the young. I suppose travelers (and others) have been bemoaning the conduct of the young since the dawn of history, but it's obviously too late to act. A parent whose daughers have reached adulthood not painlessly for him but at least without major trauma. TMO |
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