You are not in America...

Really. I know, I know…I mean, of course you know that you are not in America so don’t expect it to be America. You are in France so embrace it! There has been a lot said about the American and French relationship. Politically, socially we are very different cultures. Both Americans and French have a pre conceived notion about one another, I blame the media but I digress. I wasn’t sure what to expect really, I had heard horror stories about the way Americans were treated by the French while on holiday. I was a bit nervous, I don’t know any French, I tried to learn the basics but it is hard to learn a foreign language when your 18 month old is running around the house trying very hard to strip and take his diaper off so he can pee (he particularly likes this!) So I took with me the basics, Hello (bonjour), Thank you (Merci), Please (Si’l vous plait), Good bye (Au revoir), bottle of wine (un bouteille de vin)

As with anything in this world, in any country, in any language the power of please, thank you and a smile can get you quite far. Unless you are in a very touristy part of Paris (Eiffel tower for instance) the menu won’t be in English, your waiter or driver may speak as much English as you speak French. My advice to you is TRY. Try to speak the language; don’t take yourself or the situation so seriously! You will find that it opens many doors. I think while we were in Paris there were maybe 6 people that we ran into that had the “anti-American” or “anti-tourist” attitude towards us. And then you don’t know if it is in fact that attitude or if they are having a bad day, flat tire on the way to work, fight with their spouse, or if that is just their demeanor. God knows that Americans in big cities (and small towns as well) can be rude at times. All but one of these people were smiling and laughing along with us by the end of our transaction. We would stumble through and just butcher their beautiful language, but we would try to speak it. If they spoke English we would ask for the proper translation of the French word and say it. One girl in particular worked at Starbucks and literally sneered at me when I opened my mouth. My first inclination was to run and hide, why was she so rude to me? I stumbled through a little French and gestures (not that kind!) tipped her a Euro, smiled and said Merci. She had this look of utter surprise on her face. Not all Americans are jerks. That was my mantra while we were in Paris and I wanted to prove it at every turn. By the end of the buying the coffee, she smiled, nodded said Merci and actually brought my coffee out from around the counter directly to me and said Merci again. As we continued through our trip we were just ourselves, we are proud to be American, but we also were very excited to be in France, I didn’t want “American” in France. I wanted to soak up their culture, their rituals, wander the back streets away from the tourist traps, and have lunch at an honest to God French Sidewalk Bistro. I wanted fresh made pastries (OMG...more to come on that in the Food Post) that you could smell while strolling the streets. I wanted to experience the way the Parisians live. That is exactly what we did and it was an amazing experience. The one man that never warmed up to us, actually glared at us almost the entire time we were there was on our last morning. We had stopped at Starbucks, it was early and not a lot else was open yet and grabbed coffee. We stopped at this little bakery that had fresh made croissants that were the best thing I have ever tasted and when the girl behind the counter asked if we wanted to eat in or take away (in FRENCH) I opted to eat in, not knowing that meant we’d be passed off to another part of the restaurant where they “eat in.” The man who ran this portion saw our coffee we brought in from Starbucks and it must have offended him to no end. To say he was rude to us is to put it mildly. We simply finished eating, paid the bill (which he slammed on the counter) and left. I’d go back in a minute for another croissant and possibly even sit it, just not bring my own coffee again! Oops! Didn’t mean to offend...

So…yeah there can be a bit of that tension there, but you are in their country. On our last night in Paris we ran across a group of “Americans” they were eating at McDonalds, they were fat (didn’t see one fat French person the entire time we were there) they were loud, they were wearing sweats and gross T-shirts, they had sandals with socks on and they were complaining at the top of their lungs about the rude French people everywhere, they were saying horrible things about the people of Paris, the city in general, etc. etc. etc I was embarrassed and in that moment I understood why some people have that notion of Americans. It is not fair to lump us all together there are rude people all over the world but can you imagine sitting in your local restaurant and hearing a group of French people speak poorly of your country, your food, your citizens?
So go to Paris! Embrace it! Live it! Love it! Smile! And realize that this isn’t a Disneyland attraction!