Friday, September 22, 2006

Things I like about France



Buildings
In Paris, almost every building is worth stopping and staring at. I particularly love the intriguing, large doorways through which can be glimpsed inner courtyards leading to apartments and offices. I imagine all sorts of interesting things happening in these inner courtyards. In Aix, the buildings are small and narrow, stories tumbled on top of stories in narrow laneways, and the stone seems baked by the sun for centuries. Even though some of them seem to be falling down, they are fascinating.

Small cars
Everyone drives small cars in France. I have never seen so many smart cars, the tiny little two-seaters, as I have here. Not only is this very economical and eco-friendly on the part of the French, it appears to be absolutely necessary when you see the way the French park. If you had a great big four wheel drive, you would have to drive it around continuously all day, because there would never be a space big enough for you to put it in.

Manners
French people, even in the city, seem to be rather nice to each other. On the road, although it is chaos, things actually flow smoothly, and there's a distinct lack of shouting, horn-tooting and road rage. In the street and on the train, people say "pardon", and "excusez-moi" if they bump into each other. In shops the assistants always, always say "bonjour madame", and "Merci, au revoir". My very favourite polite thing they do though, is on the train. On the TGV from Paris to Marseille, there are little cartoon signs of sleeping mobile phones. If someone's phone rings, they hurry out of the carriage to have their conversation, so they don't annoy everyone else. That is tres civilisee, n'est-ce pas?

Style
French people, it's true, are very stylish. I love the way they don't compromise their style, even when it comes to practical things. You see women everywhere in Paris on bikes. But are they wearing bike shorts and running shoes? Non, pas du tout. They are in skirts, and heels, and nice work trousers. They don't let the fact that they are on a bike get in the way of wearing good shoes. (They are unencumbered by helmets too, which allows for nice hair on top of it all). Likewise the men - they're everywhere in their lovely suits on their scooters. And French men are probably the only men who can pull off that look of the pastel sweater tossed casually over the shoulders for a night out. I think the French style, generally speaking, is quite conservative and classic rather than trendy. But having perused the shoe departments and Galleries Lafayette and Printemps, I can tell you that next winter, they will be wearing a lot of ankle boots. Quite like (not to be smug or anything) the boots I bought last may in Melbourne and have been wearing all winter.


Dogs
The French seem to love their dogs. Everyone in Paris, it seems like, has a little one as an accessory. The thing that really struck me was how every single dog I saw looked like it was on its way to a shoot for a dog food commercial; they are so perfectly groomed it's scary. Near our first hotel in Paris there was a shop dedicated to doggy stuff; you can get dog perfume, dog clothes and - I'm not kidding - nail polish for dogs. The cutest thing I saw though was actually a cat: at one cafe a guy had his cat, sitting on a chair on a little lead, happily watching the world go by with an expression on its little face as if to say "Oui, can I help you?"

Waiters
French waiters are not at all the scary creatures I had imagined them to be. In fact they are friendly, helpful and multi-lingual. I think the waiters, in Paris at least, are the most educated people in town. A waiter in what came to be known as our favourite cafe, whose name was Pascal, spoke four languages, happily chatting to us in English and to our neighbours in Spanish. He himself was Portuguese. It makes me feel rather humble with my mangled Franglais!

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