Reflections on Paris

People seem to hate the French, and in particular, Parisians.

The thing I hear most often is how snobby the French are, and since it has been 10 years since I was last there, I had kind of forgotten what it was like in Paris.

I cannot decide if I think snobby is the right word, but I agree there is definitely something grating about the overall demeanor and attitude of a lot of Parisians.

It's not that I felt that the people there weren't nice, it was more that it seemed like so many of them just didn't care about anyone else around them. In many ways, they don't even acknowledge the people around them. It is like each Parisian is his or her own personal island, in which no one else exists but them.

This manifests itself in what comes across as extreme rudeness: people don't move aside for you on the sidewalk, it is up to you to get out of their way; they never say excuse me when trying to get by people in a crowded space, they simply shove you aside.

Conversely, if you are in a crowded space and trying to move through or by people, no amount of "excuse me's" is going to cut it. No one will move until you physically push them aside, and even then, the people you physically push aside still will not pay any attention to you. And why should they? You don't exist, after all!

For me, it was very bizarre to realize that I just had to push people aside, and that people were going to push me as well. I grew up where you just don't do that unless it's an emergency. To me, it's kind of horrific, but nobody there gets upset, it's just kind of how it is.

Even at the pub where we were watching the world cup soccer matches on TV, people would just stand in front of the televisions and chat with their friends. They never once looked around to see if they were in anyone's way.

It's not that there aren't inconsiderate people in the US, because God knows there are! But there is just something different about it in Paris. And believe me, I am not one of those everything-American-is-right-and-everything-foreign-is-wrong kind of people. I'll criticize anyone, just wait and see!

Anyone out there know what I'm talking about as far as Paris goes? What do you think it is?

I will be very interested to see how other places in France will be similar and/or different to Paris.

In Newcastle now, in the very house where Steve grew up.