Wednesday 8 June 2011

Impressions of Paris

*Beautiful architecture! SO. BEAUTIFUL.
*Everyone smokes. All the time. In your face.
*People dress so nice! Most women were wearing dresses & heels (or jumpsuits!). Men have perfectly groomed coifs. I felt like a total grub!
*Its dirty. Mars De Champs (park beside Eiffel Tower) has a lawn of cigarette butts. The Metro is littered with little single-use tickets. Garbage on the streets.
*Creperies are not just for tourists! There are way too many...Im pretty sure everyone eats at least one crepe a day. Along with croissants, and baguettes, and other delicious things. How DO they stay so thin??
*Helmets are not mandatory for bicycles. Frightening.
*Intersections hardly ever designed in a simple perpendicular shape. They are more like...I dont even know. Cars come from every which way, and there are no lines, and there are stoplights everywhere. I dont know how they can tell which light to obey!
*The French that have to deal with tourists are day are generally snappy with foreigners, while the regular everyday folks are usually more than happy to chat with you and try and communicate. I had a lot of fun using my (very) limited French vocabulary.
*Its very expensive. My wallet is screaming with pain, and I didnt even splurge on anything!
*Its HOT and HUMID! I did not expect that, but it was a nice surprise, for the most part :)

Next up...I will try and jot down some impressions of Italy, and update you on things we have been doing. Ciao!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...interesting observations. Paris doesn't sound like a place I would like to take an extended vacation to.

mumsy said...

I would LOVE to experience that, just to...experience that! Funny how little things can make such a big difference. I'm thankful we have clean streets and not everyone smokes here!
Remember what you learned in the book French Women Don't Get Fat! :)
Looking forward to more news.. thanks for sharing!

Danica said...

Regis looks like he is enjoying Paris, despite the cigarette butts.

kristieinbc said...

Glad to hear you are having such a good time! And I think the French stay thin by smoking all those cigarettes. :-)

Anonymous said...

I knew we should have bought those jumpers at Winners. You could have totally fit in with the locals in Paris. And looked incredibly attractive at the same time. Miss you!

Jill said...

Rishelle you have no idea how tempted I've been to buy a jumper! The only thing holding me back is knowing I wouldn't wear it at home!