Observations on France

Have now been here about five days, enough to appreciate what I find appealing and what less so. Paris definitely conveys a very charming ambience.  People pretty much all live in apartments, nearly all less than ten floors.  Balconies seem common.  Penthouses seem common.  A business as the downstairs tenant seems the norm.  There are a lot of cars, but there are also advantages to bicycling and not all that powerful motorcycles or motor scooters.  The government will subsidize an expensive bicycle.  Apparently the streets are cluttered by commuters who travel less than 5km to work.  I presume they have parking arrangements.  Considering the very limited utility of a personal car, I saw very few auto rental agencies on the streets our tour bus traveled.  Doubt if any tourist would want to do that.

There is a vast subway, easy to navigate with their signs, long walks between transfer stations.  There are also a lot of buses, though speed very limited by other vehicular traffic.

Streets lined with small retail.  Probably more eating places per capita than any other place I've visited.  Restaurants with sidewalk seating, stands selling fruit on the outside and small groceries on the inside.  A lot of pharmacies, no American mega-chains.  A lot of small shops selling clothing, styling hair.  I did not encounter nearly as many places of medical care as this very large population would require.  Likely consolidated into a few very large regional centers, much the way America has become.  Yet to pass a hospital.  And heritage is everywhere, in the world-class museums, historical sites, monuments to the victims of their many wars and to their ruling megalomaniacs.

Charley Hebdo seems to have changed policies.  Gendarmes in public attractions position themselves outside with Uzi's or some variant.  French tradition gets serious transgressors Blonaparte.  Any museum or public building has metal screening and x-ray detection of packages.  No Open Carry here.

Population very diverse.  Large African presence.  Slavery here was a pittance of what it was in America.  Yet French West Africa and Caribbean colonies created some attachment to the Mother Country.  The Black population is largely French by birth.  The Islamic presence, often in its militant form, is also rather large.  Many originated from the colonies of Algeria and Morocco with descendants native French, but there is also a large immigration component. I would have expected a larger Indo-Chinese presence than what I encountered, as France also once colonized that part of the world, whose inhabitants later had some very compelling reasons to relocate.  Despite the EU's open borders with member states, I do not see a lot of settlement here from other parts of Europe.

Lifestyle different.  Was referred to a department store near where we were touring.  Couldn't find it.  Have yet to see a supermarket on a par with where we shop in America.  There are interesting tacit agreements that people maintain.  Garage doors of shops generously spray-painted with graffiti.  The buildings themselves are not.  Apparently no laws require this.  Helmet laws for bikes and motorcycles don't seem to exist. Litter far less than American cities, at least in the Northeast.  People walked their dogs. I did not see any carrying gloves or scoops, yet I encountered no dog waste.  People seem to be willing to be decent citizens even if not mandated by public law.

Admittedly, France is a big place with agriculture that we could see from the plane, tourism that extends far beyond the confines of its capital city, probably some industry, two great universities that have a much lower profile than regional universities in America seem to have.  Much of this seems foreign.  

Would I want to be a Parisian or any other kind of Frenchman?  It's a pleasant place to be, for sure.  And the absence of American style antagonism adds to its attraction.  While I don't like seeing Uzi's on peace officers, the ability to act vigorously and unequivocally to public threats is why we have government.  But we also don't have people who feel a need to protect themselves with personal weapons.  And I've not encountered a violent criminal element either as witness or on the news.  And from every professional survey I've encountered, the French now have the most effective health care system in the world with universal accessibility and high quality outcomes.

But I also like having my own house, a car that transports me over great distances at will, a Walmart, Shop-Rite, and IKEA all with ample parking.  Having the dominant language of the world as my native tongue gives me tremendous advantage.  So while the antagonisms and indignities of living in America are ever present and largely unwelcome, giving these things up to live as French does not seem the optimal trade-off.

Foreign

 

Settled at our hotel in Paris.  Difficult transfer from airport.  Basically sleep deprived from flight, which in America we would call a red eye.  Not fully adapted to the six hour time difference.  And coffee deprived with an absence of more than 48 hours.  Cannot get SIM card to work in cell phone.  T-Mobile contact told me they fixed it but didn't.  At least I learned how to change a SIM card in my current phone.  One more T-Mobile demerit.  Consider a different carrier after the Holy Days which start shortly after I return home.

Paris, and I presume the rest of France, definitely differs from what I have become not only used to but dependent upon.  Not being able to have portable access to FB in my pocket is definitely a hardship.  Had a mishap with my new camera, not permanent damage.  Hotel room a bit cramped, though probably larger than a cruise ship would have offered.  Even the dogs that people walk on the sidewalks appear UnAmerican.  But no panhandlers or homeless people bedded in storefronts thus far.  That's probably UnAmerican too.

Mostly adapted.  Pâtisseries where we had lunch last night and breakfast today were top-notch experiences.  Walked the perimeter of my hotel.  Charm in one direction, in the other a small enclosed park area with an iron fence.  Architecture probably from some era just before Art Deco.  Or maybe since Art Deco originated in Paris, what we have here is the precursor to Miami's South Beach buildings or NYC's Chrysler Building.  I saw a few penthouses, but mostly fronts with carved design.  Streets are rather wide for a city.  From the air and from the highway that connected the airport to town, the buildings had more of a Soviet look.  Tall rectangular structures, plain boxes of about 10 stories, mostly white or other neutral shade placed in clusters.  No external architectural features. Probably where most of the people can afford to live, or maybe why there appear a dearth of homeless people.

Not a lot of traffic on a Sunday morning.  For all the great Cathedrals people come to Paris to see, I did not encounter anyone walking to a local church for worship, let alone a church itself. I would have expected more of the small businesses to be closed this Sunday. One lantzman, a young fellow with a white kippah, who did not seem too concerned about being attacked.

Our hotel seems to survive with tourist contracts, a mixture of tour groups and a fair number of airline staff assigned to this hotel fort their rest period.  Various tours have signs or tables.  People in corridors or elevators with airline uniforms.  Hotel seems American.

Long Trip

Essentially allotting nearly two weeks to visit France.  Approaching the packing stage, what to take, what to leave home, what contingencies I need to anticipate.  It's been many years, probably five since my last European cruise, that I packed a large suitcase as a check-in, though for a few long drives I've put into my trunk a duffle that an airline would not allow in its overhead bin.  Rather steep surcharges deter checked baggage.  I don't know yet if I can avoid it.  On Rick Steeve's tours on PBS he tries to get his tour groups to travel light, as he does himself.  I could see if the hotel has a laundry, though not listed on its website.  I suppose if our tour moved us every 2-3 days to a different place, I'd want something I could carry, though my trip to Israel did that and big suitcases moved with us.  A baggage fee, now expected, is as good a nudge as any to be selective about what I take.  Other than my eyeglasses prescription, things needing photocopying are done.  And I have to move my spare eyeglasses from the car's center console to my backpack.  Parking documents copied, Directions to EWR parking on Waze App.  Fill gas tank before I go.  

Seasonal weather projections are about what they are at home, perhaps slightly cooler at times so some layering and long sleeve options need to be available.  Maybe only two pairs of walking shorts.  The hotel does not seem to have a pool.  It does have treadmills so include exercise shorts and a few t-shirts, my joint braces, and shoes that can go on the treadmill.  I think my usual walkers and boat shoes will suffice.  But mostly chinos, perhaps jeans, and collared polo shirts.  And I'll assume no laundry.

Tour guide and airline sent me pretrip info which I read.  For some reason my ticket has a suitcase allowance but my wife's does not.  We purchased them separately, and even adding the baggage fee, hers cost less.  Looked at the hotel's website too, and its reviews.  Hardly any mediocre reviews.  Either the guests loved it or hated it.

And some fantasies about what Paris is like.  I went out for coffee today, Panera.  Nothing quaint or elegant about Panera. At mid-morning the number of pastries on display in the case was a fraction of when I was last there.  Some breakfast souffle's in the case.  Looked a little overdone and priced considerably higher than when I last ate one pre-pandemic.  They had a few outdoor tables but as part of a strip mall, no people to watch walking by.  SF when I visited a few months ago seemed too dirty to offer outdoor seating and vagrants detracted from people watching so they didn't offer it.  I think of Paris, at least my hotel district near Champs d'Elysees and the Arc d Triomphe as having more of an urban charm.  The hotel itself seems like a mega city hotel with a breakfast buffet, more geared for a convention than reliving anniversary romance.  But it's not part of a strip mall or a cluster of places to stay off an Interstate exit.  Expect to have ample time to wander around and see how well the experience of Paris meshes with my imprint.

Still a fair number of things to do before heading there.