The vagaries of the French

Trip Start Jun 29, 2008
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Trip End Nov 27, 2008


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Saturday, July 19, 2008

As I was wondering down in the sewers of Paris the other day, I was contemplating the oddities of the French people.  Now you may be thinking I am the odd one, given the location of my wonderings, but rest assured that I was accompanied by a large contingency of French people - down in the sewers the French were definitely the largest representative group.  Why?  Well apparently the French are very proud of their Parisian sewer system; Napolean considered it his greatest legacy to the people of France.  Many people each day go on guided tours (French only) through the sewers (we went down out of interest as it was covered by our museum pass).  The tour was a little maloderous, but no worse than a general medical ward.  What an 'interesting' way to spend an hour.

Another truly French experience we had the other night was at Monoprix (a chain store which is sort of like a combination of Coles and Kmart).  We were in the food section collecting items for a picnic on the Pont des Arts pedestrian only bridge.  Having gathered our baguette, brie, goat's cheese, ham and wine, we went to the end of the check-out queue.  The check-out lady then started gesticulating wildly at us.  It seemed like she wanted us to jump the queue, but we thought that couldn't be it, so maybe we were too late for us to join the queue as it was almost 9pm.  But low and behold, the queue of people in front of us started parting (Tera said it brought to mind the parting of the red sea) and we were waved through to the front of the queue.  The issue was our wine - apparently they are not allowed to sell wine from the store after 9pm, so they needed to check us straight through.  Everyone was perfectly happy for us to go ahead, as naturally we needed wine to complete the true French meal!

The French can be very serious and reserved, while at other times they are very friendly.  When walking along the Seine in the evenings, there is often a very part-like atmosphere, especially on the weekends.  We had a group of young French men come up and wish us a wonderful time in Paris.  There are always some entertainers out aiming to earn a little money, and they can be very good at times.  A rude French butcher looked at me strangely today when I tried to be polite and asked for my rabbit in French (I won't be going back to him), while another lady asked for directions and I was able to give them in French and she was grateful and continued on her way (I must say, my French is pretty rudimentary, so I was pretty excited to know both where she wanted to go and to be able to tell her in French).

We've had a very laid back week here this week, just visiting markets, shopping and reading.  On Monday morning, we plan to head on an overnight trip out to Mont St Michel and the D-day beaches.  A bientot.
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