On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 23:00:02 -0500, Morris Dovey wrote:
Dave Hinz (in ) said:

| Well, it's not like they don't continue to do staggeringly stupid
| things over and over. And my knowledge is based on personal
| experience with several trips to France; I'm not just repeating
| what I've heard when I say that Paris is beautiful but smells
| awful, for instance. I'm also not just parroting something I've
| read or heard when I say that the French were astonishingly rude,
| both in Paris and Calais.

I've heard this from other visitors; and admit that I felt a certain
trepidation about traveling to France. I'd been told to expect a cold
rudeness and that I could expect to be looked down upon if I couldn't
speak French well (I don't.)

It's not just speaking French; you need to speak the _right_ French.
First time I was there, was Paris in 1986 or so. Went with a
French-speaking family from Belgium. Alas, they spoke the 'wrong
French'. But, it wasn't just our group that was getting the treatment;
the French were being rude to each other as well.

Calais, in 1992-93. Was there during an extended stay in England. We
went into several shops, looking for some souvenier-type items. Prices
were on the bottom, as was the country-of-origin stickers. No point in
buying a souvenier of France if it was made in China, y'know? So, the 3
or 4 of us were trying to pick out something to buy, not being loud or
disruptive, just _shopping_. Apparently looking at prices and countries
of origin is astonishingly rude in France, because the shop owner asked
us to stop touching the merchandise. This wasn't crystal glass or
anything even vaguely breakable, it was just your usual touristy-crap
stuff. We decided to shop elsewhere, and then get a bite to eat.

So, we found a restaurant with the menu posted outside, which matched
our price range (spendy but not obscenely so). As we're walking in, an
American couple was coming out, handed us a half-bottle of wine and half
of a loaf of bread, and said "Here, you'll need these". Took an hour
and a half before we were _acknowledged_ by the wait staff.

Maybe that's some cultural thing, but I kind of expect to be, you know,
acknowledged and seated when there are visibly open tables.

The taxis - well, I don't have time to describe that craziness.

I've never cared much for major metroplexes. I appreciate what they
have to offer; and recognize that those offerings are only possible
because of their size and confluence of influences - but there have
only ever been two that I've been able to really like: Copenhagen and
Philadelphia.

Never been to Philly, but yes, Kobenhavn is great, I also liked Oslo and
London rather a lot.

I guess I should add that I'm /not/ a good tourist. I burned out on
cathedrals and castles and relics of the distant past a half century
ago.

Ah, for me that's still fun. Best art for centuries was done for the
churches and kings.

But I'm much more interested in /people/ and how the way people in one
place see the world differently than people in other places - and I'm
interested in /why/ those differences exist. My visit to France was to
satisfy curiosity about its people and to discover anything at all
that might help me to broaden my horizons a bit.

What was your impression of the people?

I visited in September and October and it didn't smell awful. It
smelled better than Chicago when I was last in the Windy City. Perhaps
time of year or prevailing wind make a difference; and perhaps I was
just lucky.

(thinks) I was to Paris in July or August. I remember the odor of urine
and dog **** was overpowering. Beautiful buildings, though.