Agreed... besides; I'm proud to be an American. I've also traveled abroad. I understand why some people feel the way they do about Americans but, I'm not about to let that prejudice my behavior.

I will do my very best to learn some of the language and the culture. I will enjoy France and the French.

....................I was only kidding about being Canadian. I have been to France twice. Spoke the language pretty well through Fre-Eng dictionary. Saying Bonjour to a woman and have her spit at me and say f$#%ing American is rude no matter how you look at it anywhere in the world. It is not all French people, I went to college in Liverpool England and one of my best friends there was a French exchange student. Point is, France has a lot of beautiful, cultural, historic things that are worth seeing. Be careful and respectful and you should have a wonderful time. Don't pretend to be anything. There are rude people everywhere, I just found more of them in France than any other country that I have visited. Having said that my wife has never been, and I will probably end up there again some day and hope that I have a better experience next time.

I have been to a LOT of different countries. I also got to see Americans in action in most of them.....Not all but some would totally embarrass you. They expect everything to be like home and when it's not they get upset and make a scene....the ugly American! We are considered loud and somewhat obnoxious in many countries (especially in restaurants)

The joy of travel is to savor and enjoy another way of doing things. Be open minded and respectful and most of all enjoy the slower pace. Why are we always in a hurry? We don't always have the best way. In fact some things are much better in other countries. Not trying to preach it's just things I have observed while traveling. My biggest realization is Europe in general takes the time to smell the wine and enjoy the simpler things in life

I think Paris is unique in that it is almost like a country in a country. I think that in Paris the thinking is a little different than the rest of France but I would be interested in the thoughts of our French members.

I'm going to southern France (Dordogne Valley) in April so I am also trying to pick up information in this thread

Ok, now that we know your married...is the wife going with you? Does she read the Board?

"I" would look up "joeaksa" on the bird board....tell him you know me and tell him the answer to the above questions.

He'll hook you up whether you are single married or acting single for the weekend...... Just don't try to surrender or anything...

Hi Eric!
I have a Doctor friend who has a french wife and he is semi retired and lives half the year in Paris and the other half in So Cal.
I emailed him about you and your lovely wifes trip and he sent me a ton of info for you!

Check your PM from me


Lisa

I'm envious. I was in France for 3 weeks last March for our 35th anniversary and I can hardly wait to go back. We had 4 days in Paris. I discovered Paris on a trip in 2000 and have now been back twice. I've fallen in love with it and go every chance I can get.

The suggestions to get Rick Steves' stuff are spot on. He points out that the French are not rude in "refusing" to speak English, but they are very particular about language and unwilling to speak a language if they cannot speak it well. We have found this to be quite true and have found that the few phrases listed earlier are about all you need to get by. The big thing is to initiate a conversation with "Pardon, parlez vous anglais?". Pardon is important because you have asked permission to engage in conversation. Using what French you have is important because you've just built a cross-cultural bridge and shown that you recognize that you are a guest in their country and have invited them to make you feel welcome. Although we have found Parisians to be "ruder" than people in the countryside, it's really because it's the big city thing. Using this little bit of French has always opened every door we've needed.

On my last trip I picked up a handy phrase for ordering meat - awe pwan (that's a phonetic spelling - the last word has the "a" pronounced like pawn). It means you want your meat cooked "medium".

Being American has never been a problem and in fact we've been thanked for visiting France. Some French people may have a problem with our current government, but they are quite welcoming of Americans.

We've taken the Seine River cruise. There's one that leaves from Pont Neuf and returns to the same dock. It's fun to take at sunset when the lights are beginning to come on. There is also one called a Bato Boat that is like a water taxi that will drop you off up and down the Seine and your ticket gives you unlimited on/off privileges. We've never seen a need to take that since the Seine can be a good walk away from where we want to go from the stop if it's someplace away from central Paris.

Although going up the Eiffel Tower is a must, we prefer to do the Arc de Triomphe at Sunset because you can see the city well and see the Eiffel Tower as it lights up. We've found that going up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower is high enough to get a great view of the city without the extra expense of going to the top.

When we go to Paris we stay cheap at the Etap Hotel at Porte de Vincennes (49E per night). Our "commute" is to stop for breakfast at the patisserie (bakery) near the St. Mande metro station, then take the #1 line to Place St. Michel. We grab a coffee from the Columbus Cafe or Starbucks and wander off to whatever sights are on the list for that day. Everything in central Paris is pretty much within walking distance from that point. We get a "carne" (pronounced car-nay) of 10 metro tickets so that it's easy to take the metro to get to more distant places like the Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe. You can get the carne at a self-service station in the wall that will take your credit card or the ticket booth with "un carne, s'il vous plait".

My own list for a 2 day first visit would be:
Eiffel Tower
Crepes on Rue Clere for lunch with dessert from the patisserie
Notre Dame
Arc de Triomphe
Saint Chappelle
d'Orsay Museum
Louvre (just the highlights)
Baguette sandwich from the Paul cart near the Louvre
Seine river cruise
Eat dinner at a street cafe near Notre Dame
Walk between every site that you can and just soak in the city

Cautionary notes:
When around the Louvre watch for gypsies who will attempt to start a conversation with "Do you speak English?". Be rude and do not answer at all, just keep walking as if you did not understand them.

Same thing goes for the guys near Sacre Coeur who want you to stop and let them do some kind of string braid thing on your finger.

Wear a money belt that is inside your clothing. There are pick pockets on the Metro, but if you sit with your backpack on your lap and don't have your wallet in your back pocket, you'll probably do fine.

P.S. -
Buy the museum pass. It saves you from waiting in line to get in to places.

Enter the Louvre through the entrance on Rue de Rivoli. It's a kind of "back door" through an underground shopping area and is always quicker than going in through the pyramid.

Check out Samanta Brown's "Passport to Europe" shows on the Travel Channel. Her shows on Paris are pretty good and are repeated often.

Our library has Rick Steves' videos available for check-out. If your library has them, they are well worth viewing. His DVD on Germany includes his 3-part "travel skills" series which is highly recommended.

Eric, 2 days is not much time for Paris. it is one of my favorite places.
Too much to see, too many places to eat.
It will still be chilly, not quite spring weather-but the parisians say the weather's always perfect in Paris.
It is an easy city to get around in, we like to walk or use the metro.
I would stay as centally located as possible--Hotel Vendome. The Rive Gauche Canference center would also be good but that's because I like the latin quarter. Good places for evening jazz and it's near my favorite restaurant.
http://restaurant-perraudin.com/
Quaint, small bistro chairs and checkered table cloths. Rather like I always imagined a french restaurant would be-about the turnof the century. Hardy french country fare for the most part--good fixed price selections.
Thinair has some good suggestions but you still need to pare it down some for a pleasant experience--don't want to be too rushed. I have a feeling you'll want to make a return trip with your lady anyway, it is a romantic place.
The Sacre Coeur is cool, the highest point in Paris-beautiful vantage point for viewing the city- "Paris at your feet." Second only to the view from the Tour Eiffel. But tourist traps abound. There is the Artists square behind the church but it has changed drastically since I 1st visited in the 80's. Very commercialized, more "scam-artists" than real artists.
Enjoy your trip.

A perfect day in Paris is catching the flight out....

Wait til the Frenchies find yer ass is Americano. Then they will give you the room they keep the dog in.... You know, the one with the Fleas.

They also will wait til you have your hair soaped up and turn off the shower.

Happened to my family when I was a kid, and I have never forgot the courtesies extended to me and my family. F'in French

It's so bad the government has even installed a toll free number to call to place complaints.....

As for a German friend, she went there, ordered a bottle of expensive wine with dinner, got shafted with a cheap bottle of swill for the big money price, and when she complained, they called the cops and had her arrested. She spent the night in jail, had to make restitution for failing to pay for dinner (because she got arrested) and then had to pay a fine for her crime. She also paid for a lawyer and that's when she found out about the toll free numbers.

Go to France if you want, once was way more than enough for me.

I go to Spain, people are really friendly and treat you way better than the French.

Ken

I almost forgot... take a shower curtain....dont leave any clothes on the bathroom floor..

I agree ...plus if yer frum California.....you can speak the freaking language....'cept they speak with a lisp like my gay cousin Guido....

Wondering... is Savoir Faire really everywhere?

If you ever have the opportunity to visit south France, I highly recommend it... I visited Toulouse for work in 1997 and visited the sites I could drive to in a few hours and saw some really cool stuff. Carcassonne (rebuilt castle and surrounding stuff), while quite touristy, was worth the trip! The people I met were very cool, too.

Well, luck of the draw.....I met a 35 year old French girl while skiing. We spent the last two days skiing and chatting about France. I came right out and asked her what sets the French off that can make them rude and what we should do to prevent it. She said the biggest thing is someone making absolutely no attempt at French, for instance walking up and saying "I want a coke".

She said the few phrases mentioned earlier will get you far with the French and open doors along the way. She said the French are rather reserved people in general and typically don't initiate conversation like Americans do. She couldn't believe how friendly everyone was on the chair lift and how everyone asked where she was from and were so sociable. She said in France that you might say hello to the other chairlift passengers but thats about it.

She told me "excusez moi, Je ne parle pas Francais......Parlez vous Angalai?" meaning excuse me I don't speak French....Do you speak english? will get you anywhere in France. She said most will jump to help you if you start like that. They know French is a difficult language.

Eric, I hope this helps you and others thinking about going.

OK... so no one got the 60's cat/mouse cartoon joke (or... it really wasn't funny "Lame-O")

Paul, big help. Where were you skiing because we have the "Greatest Snow on Earth"?

I'm on it. I have been pulling three phrases per day off a great French Tutorial 1 website... it even has an MP3 to listen to and compare.

I figure I will have over 60 basic phrases down before I hit the platform at Nord.

http://www.ielanguages.com/french1.html

Au revoir!

Well, we have Sierra cement....it's legendary. Being semi-retired I can ski weekdays and only the best days. With a weekday pass it costs me about $6.00 a day to ski...no complaints. I get about 30-40 days a year in. I can make it to the slopes in about 70 minutes. Close to Lake Tahoe. May not be the greatest but it sure is fun!

One thing we have is great tree skiing. Some of the best anywhere. If you like deep powder and skiing through the forest and trees you would like it here too! PM me your e-mail and I'll send you a small ski video from last year.

Well... it turned out perfect.

Thanks for all your help. Enjoy the vicarious view:

Frankfurt (Romerburg)
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Paris (various)
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Very nice, but, the last two pics, standing in the middle of the road? Brave, crazy or drunk? Regardless, got more pics?

Paul

This should be very helpful for understanding the local culture:


----
Vincent Vega: [Y]ou know what the funniest thing about Europe is?
Jules Winnfield: What?
Vincent Vega: It's the little differences. I mean they got the same shit over there that they got here, but it's just, just there it's a little different.
Jules Winnfield: Example.
Vincent Vega: Alright, well you can walk into a movie theater and buy a beer. And, I don't mean just like a paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer. And, in Paris, you can buy a beer in McDonald's. You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules Winnfield: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Vincent Vega: No, man, they got the metric system, they don't know what the fu** a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules Winnfield: What do they call it?
Vincent Vega: They call it a Royal with Cheese.
Jules Winnfield: Royal with Cheese.
Vincent Vega: That's right.
Jules Winnfield: What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent Vega: Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it Le Big Mac.
Jules Winnfield: Le Big Mac. What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent Vega: I don't know. I didn't go into Burger King.
-----

Definately not brave.

See the lines? There's a little median there. You can stay and take pictures until your hearts content.



Only 240 or so...

Eric,
Get your butt home... Vanessa just found out you aren't in Des Moines!

Yea, I did, you did, but do the Parisian drivers? "Hey Francois, zee crazy wis wine Amurican iz standing in ze center of la route, zee how close you can come wis ze Citroen. eh?"

Paul

Very nice pictures ! ... We want more ! ...

I'm glad to hear that you had a great visit. Your pictures make me really envious - you were in Paris and I wasn't, and you seem to take much better pictures than me! Oh well, post some more. I'll go for a vicarious visit!

It's easy to take great pictures there... beautiful city.

Here's a few more:

Merci, but doesn't the last pic belong in the "Sandbox"?

I have only been there once 14 years ago. I flew out there to propose to my wife who was on a study abroad program. We spent 2 days in paris. We visited the louve, walked around the shopping area's, checked out the tower... Then we drove from there to Neice.

I liked paris but the small towns we stayed at between Paris and Neice were 10 x better than either.

I proposed under the Arch De Triumph after only dating for 6 months DOAH! I guess I did not make a mistake though since it we had our 14 year anniversary last december.

Awesome pics Eric!

I'd love to see more........if you wanna post em?

Any pics with you in them


Lisa

I'm almost as u-g-l-y as Z.

Ummmmmmmm................neither one of you are ugly dear


Lisa

Stop! This is making me...