Paris Mayor's National Tourist Day

Monday, July 9th was National Tourist Day as declared by the much maligned (and for cause) Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe. Delanoe is kicking off a campaign to change the image of Paris as arguably the most beautiful city in the world but sadly offset by a reputation of having the grumpiest and rudest denizens.

As Parisians don't feel they are rude, and the director of the Paris Tourist Office claims that they are simply too shy to speak English because of their funny accent, I an doubtful, yet curious to see if this 'awareness' campaign will result in any noticeable difference.

I am pretty sure they should be starting a lot earlier-namely in the early school years when one first learns how to treat others, so I remain fairly skeptical.

That said, for every grincheux Parisian encounter, there is generally a follow-up with a helpful Frenchman with a sense of humour to boot, so it probably balances out in the end...

French child rearing

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ate with a friend in the Closerie des Lilas which, much to my surprise, is a real pick-up place. Next to us was an obviously divorced man with his 10 year old son. At the table next to him was a man I at first mistook for a woman, and at the adjoining table were two young woman clearly looking for some action. This man completely ignored his son while flirting alternatively with the man and the two women. The poor child, who should never have been there in the first place was totally bored, completely ignored. I am still choking from the smoke of last night. How selfish and thoughtless can a parent be?

I wanted to chastise that man (my reaction is in fact alot more violent than that, I'd rather choke him), but instead spent a few moments talking to his son, Florent, who is sweet now, is a fan of Andy Roddick (yea!) and will find it hard to grow up and not be an angry rebel. There will be retribution when the son is old enough. I'd like to whisk Florent away to a school that practices the KPM Approach to Children, where he would feel cherished, unique and not like an extra piece of baggage to be lugged around and dumped when inconvenient.

Not being French, I can't say it, but since my friend does-it is a case of incredible egoism. It's incomprehensible-each and all out for their own personal satisfaction, not thinking of other's needs or welfare. The children suffer the most and then grow up to be just like their parents, their role models. Parents: WAKE UP.

Is this taught in schools? It's pretty hard to be this selfish left to your own devices.

The French Welcome

I am listening to a blurb on France Info about how terribly the French are viewed when abroad as well as the frosty welcome they serve to foreigners in their country.

The last 30 years, politicians have exhorted, at least those in contact with tourists, to be more helpful, certainly smile a bit more. All to no effect. France, especially Paris, has effortlessly managed to keep its surly reputation intact.

Thierry _ _ _ _ _, I didn't get his last name, reproaches Parisians for acting as if tourists are a nuisance and begs them to be a bit more helpful. He is outraged at how announcements in the metro of a change of quai are announced only in French, and compares to Nordic countries, where they also announce in English to help the maximum amount of people.

How can it change? I dined with one of my few French friends at the legendary Closerie des Lilas last night. Even she says she has practically no French friends!

I can't say it but am, only because I am quoting my friend! It is egoism - never think of anyone else, just your own personal satisfaction.

Perhaps rudeness fines should be in place, fines have certainly worked on the roads. Everyone is driving the speed limit now that the speed limit is being ruthlessly enforced with radar, hefty fines, and confiscated driving licenses.

Skinny food

I was invited to a cocktail/dinatoire on Thursday. It was intelligently planned, for the couple live in a strategic location in the heart of St. German des Pres, near rue du Bac. It was la Soirée de la Mode so they could escape the usual fines that would ensue by placing tables outside to allow guests to spill to out onto the street.

There are strict and severely enforced laws to that effect. One is allowed to use the sidewalks for walking and window shopping and I suppose, a bit of loitering. But one is not allowed to use the sidewalk in front of one's house to place a table, not even for one exceptional night.

Still it was your typical Parisan soiree. Although the hosts are friendly and obviously love to entertain, they made no effort to introduce strangers and encourage more commingling. The whole downstairs is organized for maximum traffic flow, with a huge open kitchen for cooking for large numbers. They must entertain alot, so clearly it does not seem to be part of French custom to welcome strangers openly.

Being a foreigner and knowing no one, I was pretty much ignored all night. Perhaps the guests all knew each other and so didn't notice the stranger amongst them. The attempts I made to introduce myself just petered out. All french are not unfriendly, but it is a pretty safe bet that attendance to many a native Frenchman's soirée will leave you with as many acquaintances at the end as you came with.

Maybe they are just shy. I'll never understand what appears to be the lack of curiosity and openness to include others.

Meanwhile, the mode for food has become downright unfriendly and inedible! French cuisine has always been reputed for healthy small portions, which I applaud. Nouvelle cuisine taken up a notch: hors d'oeuvres passed around in esthetically pleasing perhaps, but impossible to eat from, dishware.

Most of the food could be labeled highly 'creative', taking the "what-on-earth-am-I-eating dilemna" to new question marks. Impossibly long and narrow glasses for some version of gazpacho-the glass too narrow to drink from nor scoop with a spoon. Deep spoons held some kind of unidentifiable creamy mixture. The first bite was manageable but the only way to finish it was to stick a tongue deep into the spoon to scoop-very awkward.

Even the waiters found it hard to describe the menu when pressed. Frothy mousses, hot pink rondelles and other unsavory shapes and colors. it all looked pretty enough if you were the adventurous gourmand. It just didn't look like anything you would want to eat, especially considering there were no instructions on how to negotiate the utensils.

I hope this mode passes quickly. I have never liked to see cheese and crackers at a cocktail party as Americans do, but it might have made me happy on Thursday.

All in all, it made for an interesting sociologically ruminative evening, but one that I don't care to repeat for quite some time.

Service with a snarl

It's only taken 9 days to get my Internet connection up and running. Want to know how it can take so long?
Here's how:
1. Do it in the month of May, when every other week-end seems to be a holiday, so that a 48-hour action period stretches into a 4 or 5 day wait.

2. Be obliged to wait for the '48' hour period to expire before calling in to say that indeed, the line is still not working.

3. Wait another 48 hours for the engineer to make a housecall-I make an appointment with Jean-Paul for 15:00. He calls me at 14:00, during a business lunch, wondering where I am. I rush home, not wanting to wait another 48 hours or have to call and listen to France Telecom repeat every 10 seconds that an operator will be with me in less than 2 minutes (this goes on for 5-10 minutes until they disconnect you). He then has the nerve to tell me I am lucky that he didn't have an appointment after me (insinuating that he would not have waited).

4. Be sure you have a Mac, the mystery machine.

5. Spend 3 days once the line is up trying to reach the Mac expert at France Telcom - get either busy signal or message to send an sms to which they will never respond.

Plea to France Telecom-instead of having an operator repeat "an operator will be with you in less than 2 minutes" with irritating background musack, why not give the solutions for known issues instead? Or better yet, publish the problem and its quick fix on line? After all, isn't that what technology is for?