Okay Bea and everyone else���.here are a few more Paris observations! Take metro line #1 (la defence/Chateau de Vincennes) out to the Bastille stop and wander to the left untill you find the street Ave. Daumesnil���on your left is an old elevated railway that has been converted to a planted walkway with lots of benches. They call this the Promenade Plantee and it is a very pleasant walk. However, if you are stubborn such as myself, you will end up walking the whole length in it���s entirety and get worn out and lost afterwards. After about �� mile or so it loses it���s elevation and is still a planted walkway���this goes on for another mile or so, and I was told it ends up at Bois De Vincennes, only it actually doesn���t, it peters out right at the peripherie motorway. Apparently, (after looking at a precise map) if one had turned to the right and followed a rather ordinary street walkway about 2 blocks, you would THEN hit the Bois De Vincennes. I didn���t know this and the trail looked like it just went into ordinary streets so I wandered about these for a spell, failing to see a metro or even a bus stop and was starting to get discouraged but eventually found a major boulevard ( Avenue Courteline/St Mande) and hopped on a bus which happened to take me right up to the MontMartre cemetary, so that worked out okay in the end!
I was followed by a young man for a spell on this walk, I think he found me attractive, but I ignored his ���bonjour��� when he was sitting on a bench (and watching my approach), and it wasn���t untill about 1/8th of a mile later that I noticed him walking behind me, and once I noticed that he gained ground and asked me if I spoke english? He was looking for some street? I just barely glanced at him and shook my head. He walked up ahead of me and had the nerve to take my photograph with his cell phone! I wanted to tell him how rude that was but since I still had him clueless as to my origin since I had not spoken one word (french? American?) I opted to leave him with his curiousity till his dying days! Teehee! I was followed a few times and I opted to ignore them completely. One thing to be said about French men is that once they understand you really are not interested, they give up. I think we all know a few American men who will pester and pester even when they know you are not playing their game. But anyway, I did have dinner with one frenchman I met while watching some street performers. It was all very casual, and not flirtatious at all, (which is probably why I agreed to dine with him) and the poor fellow made a few presumptious blunders at dinner, such as: ���When I take you to the Louvre���������.and ���when I pick you up tommorow������ and I didn���t recall saying anything to him about spending any more time with him! I am a VERY independent sort and this rubbed me the wrong way, to say the least. Anyway, after dinner we walked out of the caf��, and down the street about 30 feet and I told him thank you for dinner, it was nice meeting you, etc and I���ve got some things to do so I will say goodbye now. Well!! He got quite upset and said that was very rude of me to say goodbye just as we departed the restaurant. We should have walked and talked more first, he said. I thought we did, I told him, and I apologized���but he carried on about how he had not done something bad to me, did not rape or murder me, to which I said ���good god! Whatever!������.we walked on in the same direction together, but in silence���it was extremelly odd and akward, to say the least! At the metro (he said he was taking) I bid him farewell, only to have to hear once more how rude I was, I told him again I was sorry, I am not french nor used to the customs, this is how I learn, blah blah���needless to say, after that encounter I really had no desire to meet any more French men! If any man said hello to me, I didn���t even look or register that I had heard and continued on. Basically this is what the Parisian women do, they never seem to look at the men at all. (Which leaves me wondering how any of them manage to get lucky!) Anyway, a few will follor you for a bit even though you did not register their hello, but they won���t spend more than 5 more minutes in pursuit, I have observed.
Another note for the ladies is don���t be so concerned about carrying a purse. I brought a small pouch that attached to my belt which was excellent for anti-pickpocket ���but with nothing for me to hold, or carry (and wearing all black) I sort of felt I looked as though I worked for the Dept. of Ministry or something! Look, ALL women carry bags and purses in Paris, so why not us as well! So I bought a small strapped purse that had only one zipper access across the top portion and I held it tightly against me with my upper arm. I instantly felt more Parisian after that!
Bea, was that you who asked me about WOLF? Yes, I did go see it���I was late, thankfully, and ended up getting the last seat on the aisle up in the nosebleed section���(I could see that there was very little leg room, and my original seat was 5-6 people into the row) This seat afforded me convenient escape if needed, and indeed I did depart before the show ended���not so much because of the, er, irregularity of the show but more to how uncomfortable I was in those odd fold out seats. But yes���the show was definitely different! I agree with you the symphony was very good and the sopranos had just amazingly beautiful voices���.and the dancing was expertly choreographed���but it definitely tried to be as untraditional as could be in format, and it really wasn���t my cup of tea! I noticed the audience was mostly 20-somethings, and they all laughed at things I wasn���t able to see what was funny���and the gay simulated love scene was a bit over the top, though I am not a prude or anything, but again, it just wasn���t my cup of tea!
Be sure to go out to the Bois De Boulogne during the daytime and walk the perimeter around the Lac Inferior (small lake) which is a MOST delightful walk! A small sandy/dirt path winds right at the edge of the lake and there are ducks and waterfalls and lots of evergreen trees���weeping willows and Monterey Pines. Right now the tulips and narcissus are just coming out. Just a very lushly planted and visually stunning area. I noticed the restaurant on the island, LE Charles Des Iiles���which you gain access to via a large passenger ferry that continually goes back and forth. The restaurant looked very nice and elegant and a quickie glance at the menu showed entrees at about 24 Euro���not too bad. Next trip there I am going to give it a try! To get to the park I opted to take the bus, line #63, which deposited you best, at Porte de la Muette. To catch the line #63 you have to go to Pont de la Concorde and catch the line on the left bank side of the river and ride towards the eiffel tower. Once off the bus at Porte de la Muette, which is it���s terminus, walk straight into the park on Ave. St. Cloud���walk about 1-2 blocks and you will see the lake on your right side���follow the paths down to the lake and enjoy!
I stayed in the 5th arrondisment and the 9th arrondisment. My hotel in the 9th was near the Trinite church which is a beautiful church with a park in the front with a lot of locals hanging out. There is a playground (one of the few I saw at all in the city) so there you will find lots of families with children, and young men playing ping pong. Sort of strange but I hardly saw any children in Paris at all. (does this echo back to my comment about wondering how the men manage to get lucky? HA HA!!) There is a small restaurant along the right side of the church (Rue Blanche), the Bistro les duex theatres, I think the name is, and the food there was very good: crab raviolis in butter white wine sauce, and fresh cod in asparagus cream sauce. The cr��me brulee was a little over crisped on top, and I did not think the cr��me part just came right out of the oven, but a very nice meal all the same, complete with an apertif of champagne and cognac (?) lovely!
I opted to take less clothes and to hit a laundromat, and saw only one which thankfully was right near by on Rue Jean Batisste Pigalle which branches right off from the church at Rue Blanche. Totally self serve with no attendant. You put all your clothes into the machine, take note of the machine number and then go and punch the machine number into the main console which is up on the wall at the front of the shop and it will ask you to deposit 1.90 euro. And then it starts the machine automatically for you. Same thing for the dryer, only after you put in the dryer number and money you have to go over and push the start button. A piece of cake and this made me feel like a real Parisian!
Okay, I guess that is all for now���seems I have rambled quite a bit, hope I haven���t bored anyone!! Thanks for listening!!
LassCass
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Thank you for the info about the elevated gardens. I%26#39;ve ben trying to figure out where they were. I met a man who described them to me but he could not tell me where they were. Apparently he was out jogging early one morning and happened upon them. Have you seen the movie %26quot;Before Sunset%26quot;? I believe they are featured in the film. Let me know if you agree. I love to discover unusul places in Paris. once you%26#39;ve seen the major stuff you can really enjoy the other wonderful things Paris has to offer.
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Hi Suzanne!
I agree the promenade plantee looks like the park in after sunrise, but my understanding was that that walkway was right at the seine, and I thought at the Citreon park? I could be wrong, as it certainly had the same look.
Another thing I forgot to mention...I just read part of the posting about what screams out american to the parisians...and a comment from Truaffalt (sorry, I know I%26#39;ve spelled that wrong!) saying that all parisian women make sure their hair and makeup is always perfect....I truly must disagree with that statement! I saw so many french women in sloppy hairdoos...just thrown together in a messy scrunchy is the most common look I saw. Long hair tended to just hang, looking like it hadn%26#39;t been brushed in a few hours and certainly not coiffed as in styled and hairsprayed into place. Al la naturale seems the prefered style. Sure, they wore a scarf, but is was messily tossed about the neck. Saw lots of layers, as in shirt with a long shirt over, scarf and just a jacket of no particular tailored cut, tossed on top. And onother comment he made regarded the differance between American and French outward friendliness. He truthfully stated that Americans go around smiling and saying hello, and that the French do not. Absolutely true, and let me tell you, after a week alone in Paris one really starts to feel alone if you are used to being around friendly people. The French are not rude people, they just are not friendly people...at first. Which is all one usually sees of the French anyway, is a brief passing. But they do not smile at one another, they do not smile to themselves, they do not say hello. In America, if you happen to accidently make eye contact with a fellow shopper, you usually get a pleasant smile. Or a person in line with you might strike up a brief conversation. Or the salesclerk might be extra chatty. Boy, does one miss all of that after a week in Paris! It is a very odd thing, to not get smiles and hellos. (And I don%26#39;t mean the hellos from men who find you attractive!) When I go hiking up in the mountains behind my home, everyone I pass says hello or good morning. And I especially like to say hello to older people, but you get none of this in Paris. You can spend all day just inches from other people, constantly without ever speaking one word. It%26#39;s an odd sensation, indeed!
I really have to wonder if perhaps Parisian people are happy at all! I heard little laughter and did not see much cheer. But that aside, Paris is still just a fabulous city!
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That%26#39;s funny because the lack of polite greetings/smiling to strangers kind of refreshing when I%26#39;m over there. You just go about your business and they go about theirs!
Which reminds me of one of my favorite stories from my last trip. My best friend and I were walking up a flight of stairs from a metro stop, when I (the more paranoid of the two) noticed a man walking slowly behind us, making no attempt to move past us even though the staircase was very wide. So I hang back a bit from my friend (totally oblivious to anything) and then I realize that he%26#39;s trying to look up her skirt as she climbs the stairs!! I didn%26#39;t know whether to laugh or yell at him!! ~grin~
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I think the posting about people never talking to each other is way off the mark. Maybe it%26#39;s because we stay in our apartment in a very residential part of the city, but when I walk down the street past the corner cafe, the owner always yells out %26quot;Bonjour, ca va%26quot;. When I pass people on the street, there%26#39;s frequently a %26quot;Bonjour%26quot; or at the very least a nod of greeting. This happens hundreds of times every day when we%26#39;re in Paris.
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I have to agree about the hair. I thought it was just because it was wintertime when I was there. I finally gave up too.I%26#39;d spend time doing my hair, walk out of the hotel into the wind and rain and I was a mess. I took to wearing knit hats. The women don%26#39;t appear to wear much make-up either. They are not overly freindly as a rule but Ive not had problems with rudeness in Paris. I think they tend to be more polite and perhaps a little shy compared to us.
I have noticed tat the teenagers dress about the same as here.
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Hi,
LassCass etal,
The Before Sunset scene was actually the Promenade Plantee...... They went up the steps right at our entrance (along side Surcouf and Go Sport). If the camera had been raised just a little it would have shown our building. Dont know if it was a live shot, but it was the real thing sometime or other. Their walk on it was not one long walk but seemed to be the same stretch over and over...............And yes, it is not a direct route to Bois de Vincennes(which is on the other side of the peripherie).... at least we haven%26#39;t figured out how to do it. Guess they haven%26#39;t quite finished it. Tis interesting to go through some of those areas though, isn%26#39;t it? They take very good care of gardens and the plants are really beautiful in summer....often wonder why the flowers are left........noone seems to take any of them. Have you even gone over to the Cheateau de Vincennes? They are working on restoring that and do have parts of it done. Never paid to get into the museum part, but someday. Its at the end of bus #46 (I think) and the far eastern end of the bois. Parc Floral is just next to it where they have free concerts (Jazz in summer) and a nice park within the park, which requires a modest fee to get into...a euro or so.
Funny you should mention the French not smiling. I noticed this last trip that usually when I made eye contact with someone, I got a friendly smile.....first. (and it aint cause they were trying to pick ME up). Course, for some characters, I wouldn%26#39;t even glance their way.
It was interesting to hear your comments on %26quot;Wolf%26quot;. You liked the dancing, huh? I thought many of them were just circus performers moving to music. It sure was different. By the way, it is much more comfortable to get seats in the boxes than in the balcony and they are inexpensive seats too (we pay about 10E), in the second or third rows of a box. They are movable seats and you can see fine depending on how close to the stage the box is........further back is better. I would not sit in the balcony ever again.........those seats are for the birds (skinny ones with short legs).
Really enjoy your candid posts about your trip..........Bea
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Truffaut, Bea and Canuck....thank you for your feedback! My emotions at the replies are intense, because I am a very deeply emotional sort.
I have travelled all over the states alone, and this trip to Paris was my first international trip alone. I am used to solidarity and being alone, and I%26#39;ve always known the differance from being alone and feeling lonely....but in Paris I must confess, I%26#39;ve never felt more lonely and alone in my entire life.
Truffaut, please don%26#39;t discount that personal contact that us Americans have become accustomed to....before this trip I%26#39;d have discounted it myself...but I have learned what an immense value this is, even for an anti-social gal like myself! That lack of personal contact in even one week alone in the city, had a profound effect apon me. I am used to being the silent quiet observing type at home, but to be faced with the same in Paris sent me for a loop. I know that Parisians can and are friendly and happy people, but they are certainly not free with their spirit or willing to show this to a casual observer.
Even all alone, I had a FABulous time in PAris, but I am a happy-go-lucky type of personality and I am naturally attracted to the same type of person, and I found those types scarce in Paris. My best advice for anyone travelling to Paris is to bring a friend!! Make sure you have a companion to share the daily life with, or else expect to spend your days silent and alone, alone, alone!
Before I left for my trip, I thought the people in my small town (which I had previously thought was getting too large) were selfish and rude...but apon returning, I realize the people in my town are so friendly and willing to help out their neighbor...traits I find priceless in a human! I love my town! So Paris gave me that! Merci!
LassCass
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lasscass,
My guess is that French is not a language that you speak fluently and hence your feeling of isolation while here, and not necessarily a reflection of the Parisians.
I feel pretty much the same about my little French community here in Paris as you feel about yours at home.
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Hi Lasscass - I recently returned from my first trip and absolutely loved Paris -- but I do agree with you about the unsmiling Parisians - mainly in the larger shops such as Printemps and Samaritaine.. I found in the tourist shops they were very friendly (I do speak a moderate amount of French) but my experience in the department stores was incredible! They were so rude - I felt that I was interrupting their intimate discussions with their fellow shop-staff. However, I took time to look around and saw that the shop staff were rude to everyone, not just me.
My french tutor in Melb advises me that %26quot;shop girls are the lowest of low on the social ladder and they know it, so they don%26#39;t even bother to try to elevate themselves to a level of civility%26quot;. I found this statement breathtakingly snobbish - but if it%26#39;s true, then it explains a lot. However, I%26#39;d like to think that it%26#39;s just a cultural thing - although I was exposed to some stunning rudeness in the shops.
Anyway Lasscass - you%26#39;d better go back for another look-see - I definitely plan to!!
Sandra
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LassCass, I%26#39;m a paris lover but I don%26#39;t go there for the people. I just love the city. Someone once said Paris would be great if it weren%26#39;t for the Parisans. However, to put it in persceptive I think in most big cities the residents are going about their business and it never occurs to them to be freindly or even really notice others. Living in LA for most of my life I,ve spent my time cooling my heals in bumper to bumper traffic and I%26#39;m in no mood to be freindly either. When you are on vacattion you are in a different mind set. Paris is many things, but warm and fuzzy I,ve never felt that there.
Speaking of shopping, I was in galleries Lafayette last year and the lady working in the area where they sold stokings was really helpful and she came right up to me when I walked in. I purchased a $10.00 pair of stockings. Then I went to the shoe department. the clerks were all standing around engaging in converstation with one another and did not even acknowledge me.
After many visits to Paris I%26#39;ve found that the majority of the people are polite. They are just not overly friendly. I don%26#39;t let it bother me one way or another.
I think if you are a people person you would really like Spain.
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