The turning of the weather also means it is time for La Rentrée, or the big return of students to schools and adults to work after a month long vacation to the south of France (or elsewhere) for August. In light of this, I decided to give a little lesson on things I have noticed about Paris, and France in general:
- The French do not really use credit cards. They accept them of course, but it is not the practice to "borrow" money to buy smaller items like clothes, etc. This made for some awkward explaining during one host family dinner..."so you don't have the money, but you buy it anyway? And pay for it later?" N.B. The French use their carte bancaire (or debit card).
- Even in the tiniest apartments (except maybe chambres de bonnes), high ceilings are a must.
- Curtains aren't really.
-French bureaucracy and administration might be the worst I've ever experienced. Worse than Quebec...
- Some metro doors have a button to push, or a lever to pull, if you want to get out. VERY IMPORTANT TO NOT LOOK STUPID.
-The French practice universalism, which is equality between and a certain blindness about cultural differences. So no matter your ethnicity, gender, orientation, you are first and foremost French. They don't do censuses of how many Chinese-French there are, for example, and the very term "Chinese-French" doesn't exist. No little boxes to tick for if you are Caucasion, Hispanic, Asian, etc. This sounds great, but this creates a huge problem when these minorities try to express themselves and advocate for their rights as they have no way to do so and are not recognized as minorities.
-French juice boxes are a quarter the size of their American counterparts.
-The French are better than everyone else on the planet. Especially the English.
Cafés in Paris are a place to get coffee/a croissant in the morning, a place to read, get lunch, and relax during the day, and a bar/club at night. Where else but Paris?
Gelatooo
Lots of gyro and greek food stands near the Quatier Latin. I have a feeling it might have something to do with spendthrift students and their penchant for cheap food...
Beautiful, wondrous, heavenly bookstore.
Water fountains like this one are spread out all across Paris. Their openings are just small enough so a horse's head can't get in so the water remains for humans. There is rumoured to be one with sparkling water somewhere in Paris!
So many gardens in Paris, literally no gardeners! I finally spotted this one doing some stealthy garden work.
Notre Dame, of course.
Awesome. The real meaning of the word.
One of the more unique paintings in Notre Dame.
Falafel! AKA student food.
More gelatooo. This place is called Grom and my Milanese friend says it's the best she's ever had.
Rue du Cherche-Midi in the rain.
Tea Palace.
I think this was fake, but I still salivated.
How adorable can this get? Not much more than this.
Typical café menu.
hehe.
Les fleurs. Trés cher, trés, trés, trés!
Poilâne! The bakery has a not so secret back room in which are hung a series of still-lifes of their bread done by famous artists like Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso, and the like. They even have a chandelier made out of bread by Salvador Dali! Very surrealist.
I got a chausson aux pommes. Heaven.
Even more gelato! This one store gives it to you in the shape of a flower.
