Apres Paris

We've been back in the States for a week and have had some time to digest our wonderful trip. Here are some tidbits on our time in Paris along with some bonus photos.

1- No one is overweight in Paris (except for waiters and tourists).

2- Everyone smokes in Paris but they can't smoke indoors. We saw several people with their unlit cig in their lips and lighter ready as they approached the exit. That's gotta be some sort of warning sign.

3- We never had a problem communicating... except when we accidentally spoke Spanish ("hola" and "ci" mostly). We spoke more and more French as the week went on but we didn't fool anyone. Several times we'd say "Bonjour" only to have the person respond with "Hello." Whenever someone didn't understand me, I didn't speak louder like the cliche says. Instead, I repeated it in English but with an odd French/Norwegian accent ("Ah, zee train is goeeeeng to Paree, yah?"). It didn't work but it was fun.

4- The apartment worked out well but I don't miss the 3 flights of narrow, spiral stairs. And I love my family, but I'm really glad we don't live in a studio apartment.

5- Most of the dogs we saw in the city were off-leash and very well behaved.

6- Paris is home to 14 million people but we never felt crowded. It's surprisingly airy for such a densely populated place. In fact, New York has as many people but easily feels twice as crowded and grimy.

7- The French no longer use the Franc as currency. Instead they use the Euro which is the shared currency amongst 16 of the 27 European countries. Because the countries couldn't agree on what should go on the bills, they contain fake monuments and landmarks. The coins, however, have unique symbols for each country, usually their monarch/leader. Except for the fake landmarks, the currency makes sense. The bills and coins are different sizes depending on their value (bigger is better). And their 1 and 2 Euro denominations are coins, which makes it easy to use them on the subway and in vending machines.

8- We never saw a penny while we were there. Most retail outlets set their prices to the nearest nickel and some countries like Belgium and Finland even mandate that retailers do that.

9- Walking around the Latin Quarter at dinnertime was a unique experience. It's full of restaurants and cafes and each one had someone standing in front holding a platter of the specials and trying to coax you inside. We heard some people haggling with them ("How about free drinks?"). The places were close enough together that a good negotiator could fare well. But not us. We were happy enough to find a place to sit down that we didn't care.

10- The first time I heard little Parisian kids speaking French I thought, "Wow, they must be really smart to know French already!"



This is a typical street in the Latin Quarter: great for strolls and full of restaurants.


Bon soir!