Paris, Je t’aime, part 2

There’s nothing like a United Airlines meal on the flight back that reminds you that you’re no longer in Paris. Which is funny because on my flight to Paris, my last meal included a shrink-wrapped “all butter croissant.” There was no such croissant on the way back, which is fine because I got up at 5:30 am to get an amazing croissant from a proper French bakery before my morning flight out.

This was my 6th trip to Paris, and it’s still as magical as ever. A friend asked me why I liked Paris so much, and the answer was easy: the city is beautiful, and has amazing food. Not only that, but as a city Paris feels more accessible due to its size. I was in New York City last year around the same time, and it felt a lot bigger with not a lot more to show for it — Paris has better food packed into a smaller area with less cockroaches and rats (tbd on the bedbugs).

Some cursory googling confirmed my suspicion: Paris is only 41 square miles, compared to 47 for San Francisco, 305 for New York City, 606 for London, and 845 for Tokyo.

I loved walking around and soaking in the history and classic architecture, and I’m also never tired of seeing or taking photos of the Eiffel Tower. Granted, the weather was great when I was there so I’m not sure what my experience would have been if it were raining, but this is also why I live in California and can never leave.

If there’s one thing that was less than ideal about my trip, it was the flight. I expected it to be awful, and thankfully it was just very unpleasant. I was able to doze off more on the return flight so that was actually better than my flight going to Paris…I’ll have to consider premium economy next time.

People say that French people / Parisians are rude, but that hasn’t been my experience in all the time I’ve spent there. Yes, I do try to use one of the six French phrases I know (bonjour and merci being two of them), but honestly, I just try to look as friendly and helpless as I can, and then people are generally helpful. On my first day in Paris I was trying to find my way to the Roland Garros Stadium (to watch volleyball), and was a bit confused it wasn’t where Google maps was telling me it should be. So I made eye contact with this older gentleman walking towards me, and he automatically stopped and asked, “Oui?”

I asked, “Oú est Roland Garros?” He must have sensed I wasn’t a native French speaker, because then he told me in English where to go.

There were so many instances like that, and especially at restaurants since they have to deal with tourists from other countries, and almost every time I have found the French to be friendly, if a bit slow compared to American service. This I did know from past experience, and it’s more of a reflection of how French / European culture is different than what I’m used to. I will say I was frustrated on my first day in Paris because I was grabbing a late night (after 9 pm) dinner after a full day of activities, and I was exhausted.

I had already devoured the crepe rolls I had ordered, but it had been over 30 minutes since I ordered a dessert crepe. I was trying to be patient but I honestly just wanted to cancel my order to go home and sleep. Sadly my server didn’t really speak English, so I waited and finally got my dessert. I think they just forgot my order (or didn’t understand me), but that was really the only snafu my entire trip.

There’s more to say about this trip but I’ll end it here for now. More to come next week…and Paris, until next time…