Maryann

We decided to go to Paris for our first year wedding anniversary, it was amazing. We were there for 6 nights. We stayed at the Derby Alma Hotel, a block from the Eiffel tower on the 7th arr (derbyalmahotel.com). The hotel staff was great. <BR>We breakfast a few times at a cafe shop near our hotel, Champ de Mars, pretty good. <BR>We had dinner at Petit Zinc, Fontaine de Mars and Cote Seine as well, all very nice. <BR>We took a day trip to Versaille, wonderful. I can honestly say I had THE BEST Coq a vin (spelling?), at a small restaurant in Versaille. It was truly the best stew I have ever had.<BR>Everybody was so nice. It is not true what people say that the French are rude to Americans, we barely spoke French and everybody was so nice to us. We even had a waiter apologize because his English was not very well, when we were the ones to apologize for our lack of French. I also had a lady go out of her way to help me look for directions.<BR>The weather was mild, it rained times, not too bad though. The temperature was around 45-50 degrees just about everyday. There was a day we did not even need our jackets, a sweater was good enough.<BR>We did a lot of walking. One day we walked from Notre Dame to the Eiffel tower, our feet were going to explode. I figured if we were in Paris, walking was the way to go.<BR>We also went to see a show at Moulin Rouge, it was good entertainment, but that is all.<BR>Overall, we had a GREAT time!!!

Louis

I went to France a least a dozen times and I have never, ever, been treated rudely.<BR><BR>I think that the people who say that the French are rude to Americans are probably jerks themselves. If someone is in anyway impolite or obnoxious, you can count on the French to let him/her know in no uncertain terms.

aj

Maryann,<BR><BR>Thanks for the good report. I love to read reports regarding the &quot;first trip to Paris&quot;. It reminds me of my excitement on my first trip to Paris. Paris is my &quot;favorite&quot; European city. I hope to return there again in Jan.

RnR

Agree, Louis, and happy your trip was great, Maryann. Welcome back, and it's not too soon to start planning the next visit to Paris.

x

Hi Maryann,<BR>I'm glad to hear you had some really good coq in France.

jetset

Welcome back!<BR>Glad to hear about your nice trip and partly because of your positive attitude that goes along!!<BR><BR>Where to next??

xxx

<BR><BR>Actually, it is true that Parisians--some of them--can be rude. And not just to Americans. I've heard French people who don't live in Paris say that they find some Parisians to be rude. <BR><BR>Every time this issue arises, I find myself asking why must people view it as &quot;Parisians: rude or not rude&quot; when, in reality, it's not as if all Parisians are rude or all Parisians are not rude. Some are rude and some aren't. <BR><BR>The problem becomes when a tourist encounters some rude Parisians and then, from that personal experience, concludes that all Parisians are rude. Likewise, a tourist who may not encounter any rudeness may conclude that it does not exist, simply because they did not experience it.<BR><BR>Aside from that, glad to hear you had a great time in this most beautiful of cities.

y

xxx, grab your dict. and check out tautology, and as long as you're in the tees, flip over to tortuous.

Alice

Hi, Maryann... glad you had such a good time... now, please divulge details about your hotel, what kind of room, size, view, noise, decor, cleanliness, etc. We &quot;hotel collectors&quot; want to know!