For churches, you are confusing France with Italy. There is no dress code for French churches (which belong to the government if they were built before 1905) other than what your own vestimentary code dictates.

You can absolutely wear whatever shoes you want -- nobody cares -- but to totally reassure you about what real Parisians wear when they are not at work, here is a set of photos from my neighborhood in the 18th arrondissement from
a: 2009 -- http://tinyurl.com/28bnlq9
b: 2010 -- http://tinyurl.com/62my3gx

And if that's not enough to convince you, I have worse stuff in stock.

Wear what you want. Honestly, no one will care. It is true that day to day, Parisians may wear neutrals -- but that is because they are at work. You are on holiday. But you may not be comfortable wearing shorts.

was posting the same time as kerouac . . .

We are on our way to Paris next weekend for 10 days,and I will be packing black and tan pants with tops and sweaters to mix and match. During the day any color will due, but at night I like to keep to black and tan.

This has worked very well for me the past few years we have been there.

Wear what you want. Dorie's suggestion, however, will make your packing really easy.

Hi FT,

>He thinks some of my things are too bright; that people will mostly have neutral colors on - particularly at night. Any thoughts <

Unless you really wish to stand out as a complete rube from the US, you must wear all black. That includes nail polish and lipstick. It would be a good idea to dye your hair black as well.

Enjoy your visit.

Unless "too bright things" means that you usually sport a HiViz vest, I think you can dare to wear what you want.

Parisians are very tolerant. And have better things to do than to look at tourists' feet.

The rules about covering shoulders and knees in churches is for Italy and not France.

You are perfectly free to wear whatever you want.

You just need to realize that dressing in bright colors (esp pastels) and large white sneakers - for adults - will mark you immediately as an american and may increase attention from pickpockets and other scammers. (And I find walking shoes -even Skechers mary janes - much more comfy then sneakers.

IMHO adults should not wear shorts in cities - only for sports and at resorts - but that's me. (I won;t wear shorts here except for biking in the park or running errands in my neighborhood. If going out for dinner or to a major museum or show I always wear either pants or a skirt and real shoes - not tennies.)

As for colors, in NYC a lot of my stuff is black and much of the rest is neutral. I do have some bright tops/sweaters and a few solid bright work or cocktail dresses but I would never wear solid pastels, esp matchy matchy - at all.

echo wear what you want - white shoes nobody will notice nor care.

About half of Parisians are immigrants so their style of dress is far from the ethnic French - point is anything goes.

and to me the first time I went to France the major thing I had wrong was that the French were fashion horses - quite the opposite IME - rather frumpy attire on older women and yes younger women like in any country wearing the fasions but often tight jeans and the Vogue look.

What you wear in Paris is up to you and nobody cares in my annual trips there for decades now.

U can wear anything you want even a burka if u want but

parisvoice.com

gives you a sense of what it takes to blend in

wear casual darker quality designer clothing to blend in

designer Ts sneakers etc all fine if they have style.

Tank Tops baseball caps loud garish colors will get

dirty looks or kicked out of some churches and restaurants.

To be most authentic do not take a shower for a week

and splash yourself with Chanel #5 to cover the BO up

and whatever u do do not clean up after your foo foo dog

so that u leave dog poop land mines all over for folks to

step in... then and only then will you truly blend in.

Let's set aside the sarcasm.

For a period of a decade or two ago, there was a tendency of American women ages 30-50 to wear, God knows why, bright pink track suits with really large white athletic shoes. They strutted the streets of Paris proudly, and all we Americans trying, God know why, to "fit in", cringed.

Several things have happened since then, such as...
...that strange pink thing, weird shape fashion craze has passed (well, there are still a few 80-yr-old relicts out there)...
...other Europeans now tend to dress worse than we do and...
...we Americans are far less neurotic about the image we present.

That said...
Please, if it is possible you are so inclined, just leave any track suits at home. If you are not inclined to wear track suits, I think you are good to go.

The rules about covering shoulders and knees in churches is for Italy and not France.

You are perfectly free to wear whatever you want.

You just need to realize that dressing in bright colors (esp pastels) and large white sneakers - for adults - will mark you immediately as an american and may increase attention from pickpockets and other scammers. (And I find walking shoes -even Skechers mary janes - much more comfy then sneakers.

IMHO adults should not wear shorts in cities - only for sports and at resorts - but that's me. (I won;t wear shorts here except for biking in the park or running errands in my neighborhood. If going out for dinner or to a major museum or show I always wear either pants or a skirt and real shoes - not tennies.)

As for colors, in NYC a lot of my stuff is black and much of the rest is neutral. I do have some bright tops/sweaters and a few solid bright work or cocktail dresses but I would never wear solid pastels, esp matchy matchy - at all.

You people crack me up - and help me at the same time! I don't want to stick out like a rube/a dork/a pickpocketer's dream, so I will scrutinize my wardrobe, but yet not be anal about the whole thing. Rest assured my bright clothes do not include a HiViz vest! I already have black hair, but draw the line at black cosmetics. And no shorts for this girl, but I do love capris. Thanks for brightening my day, and making my coworkers wonder what I'm snorting about as I try to stifle my laughter.

I always travel with white sneakers, they are my best walking shoes. No one in Paris will care or notice. Believe it or not Europeans also wear sneakers for sports and casual, like doing their errands.

I take my favorite outfits that match the weather where I'll be traveling. The fabrics that will pack well, not wrinkle, and pick pieces that mix and match all with each other.

People will know you are a tourist, doesn't matter if you want to wear your bright colors or not.

Fae: It appears you'll be taking the best accessory of all....a good sense of humor!

Have fun.

I have lived in Paris for 38 years and have never worried about wearing white sneakers when so inclined -- for example when I am going to be walking all day, which is what the majority of tourists tend to do.

Here's my shorts/sneakers/europe story. I had the same worries before my first trip.

So I'm staying with a girlfriend who lives permanently in Switzerland (the french-speaking region) and we're getting ready to head to the open air farmers market on Saturday morning at the beginning of my trip. What does she pop into my room wearing, you guessed it, kakhi shorts and white sneakers!

It was not a trend for "American women" age 30-50 to wear bright pink track suits in public a decade or two ago. Perhaps this was a trend by a few American women, but it what not common by anyone I knew or anywhere I lived, and that is my demographic. So it is exaggerating to say that was a trend for all American women because a few did that (or still do, most likely, and now men are getting in on it, at least wearing track suits as leisure wear on planes, but not pink). I did sit next to a woman wearing a bright pink track suit on a flight to Cancun once a couple years ago. But I was connecting in Houston so that explained it, she wasn't from where I lived on the East Coast.

I wouldn't be caught dead wearing white sneakers anywhere, even the gym, but that's just me. I've never liked them and never worn them, even for athletic purposes. They would be okay for tennis but I don't play tennis.


I've been to French churches for services, not just as a tourist, and even local French women that belong to the congregation sometimes had bare shoulders in church. And certainly bare legs (?) in summer. Even in Italy, I don't think there is any rule against bare legs in general, just too-short skirts or shorts.

Think dark colors. The suggestion about black and tan is a good one although not colors I would chose but think black and a color. Navy or dark brown or grey. Whatever best compliments your skin.

The reason is simple, travel can get dirty. You want something that hides stains if you can't run home and wash it right away.

Pack clothes that can be washed in a sink and dry easily.

Wear nicer clothes, simply because you don't know where you'll end up.

Certainly you can wear what you want anywhere in the world but, just like here in the US, you'll get treated better if you look like you care about yourself.

I'm not saying you need to get dressed up each day, but why not look great in clothes that suit you? You're going to get your picture taken quite often.

Some friends were showing me their vacation photos and we came across some photos of a guy in a ball cap and t-shirt. Finally, I said, "who is this guy?"
Yikes! It was the wife.

My only problem with white sneakers is that they are a limiting item in a wardrobe. There are so many cute walking shoes out there, why bother packing them?

I only want shoes that will do double duty and I pack 3 pairs of shoes.

Because I have never found a "cute walking shoe" that is as comfortable as a true running/fitness sneaker.

Okay, maybe "cute" was going to far since I haven't had a truly cute pair of shoes since I let go of wearing heels.

Light colored shoes, imo, pose the same problem as light colored clothing; if it gets dirty then it's dirty for the whole trip. I just don't like that for me.

I think the best advice here has been to select your wardrobe based on it being captured in all the photos you will be looking at years from now.

I'll be packing mostly J.Jill's wearever line for our fall trip to Paris. Black and grey slacks, a long blue cardi and assorted tops in neutral tones. Layers for changing weather, tights if it turns cold and a beautiful scarf or two to dress up for dinner or for warmth. These clothes are easy to pack, handwash and coordinate easily.

For our two week trip DH and I will plan one morning at the laudromat so we can carry small light bags. We have found this time to be a relaxing break from sightseeing. We have chatted with locals, read, taken turns walking around a neighborhood and sometimes bring back a bakery treat.

One of the best dressed women (and, yes, she was French) I saw on my trip to France last year was wearing white canvas sneakers. There are no fashion police in Paris.

White canvas sneakers can be very attractive with the right outfit. If you can go home and clean them, even better.

I have nothing against sneakers but I think that a pair of light hikers makes more sense and gives me more opportunities. If I'm in Paris and decide to take a day trip to Normandy, I'm ready.

I must do a report on Parisians in white sneakers sometime. I'll start it with some photos of my Parisian friends.

Awesome suggestion to remember what I'm going to look like in photos. My husband doesn't like white sneakers, either (he sounds more persnickety than he really is). I told him that they're going to know I'm a tourist when I am standing on the corner with a map in my hand, despite my footwear. Or when I open my mouth and "Merci" comes out with a Texas twang.

I am going to pull all the neutrals from my closet and work from there. I can most likely get by with other shoes besides my sneakers. If not, then I'll just make sure my photos are cropped at my ankles.

And I've never owned a jogging suit - pink or otherwise - in my life!

" they will know you are a tourist"?

Unless you try to speak the language
why would it be obvious?

It depends too, on when you are going. Nothing says, "I'm trying too hard to be chic", like dark clothes in the summertime."

You know that, you're from Texas. Have a great time.

No one really cares if you're a tourist. I live in a tourist city and the only time we even roll our eyes at someone b/c they are a tourist is the driving thing.

Other than that, no problem.

People will always respond to you by your attitude, not by your clothes. Unless of course, you spend all of your time think, "darn, why did I wear the hot pink blouse? She must think I'm..."
While what she's thinking is, "she's not very friendly."

My DD told me last week that we need to update our Paris wardrobe or else all the photos we take will look exactly like last year's photos. She's right, so I bought a new wool scarf in a different color!

I've paid attention to fashion in Paris in years past and whenever an overweight, poorly dressed, white athletic shoe wearing person appeared, I'd groan. Then they would start speaking...in another language than English. Americans aren't always the worst looking tourists.

"Americans aren't always the worst looking tourists."

Yep, ask any person living near a Florida beach about that.

----

Love the thing about worrying more about the photo album rather than the locals' impressions. So true!

-------

Fae_Thomas--You'll be fine.

And I would TOTALLY love it if your husband is the one who looks out of place. Find a few bad ones of him there and post for sure.

"Love the thing about worrying more about the photo album rather than the locals' impressions. So true!"

Isn't it? After all you'll probably never see those people again!

Want to blend in? Don't know quite how to accomplish it sensibly?

Answer: Wear a scarf. Any scarf, preferably something feminine, pretty, or chic. Only take one or two though coz......there are so many amazing scarves for sale in Paris! Once there you will want to buy at least ten ( I know I did, though I limited it to three )! Scarves are THE European trend of right now, and I am totally hooked! I look back at my photos and think to myself, man, I look totally European in my scarves, and I don't feel like I stuck out at all! You won't regret taking a beautiful scarf, and you certainly won't regret wandering the streets of Paris in style!

( Did I sell you on the idea in this short informercial, if not I will have to keep going......)

LSky: "Nothing says, I'm trying too hard to be chic", like dark clothes in the summertime.'"

Well, I wear black clothes year-round whether I'm traveling or not. You could be right that I'm trying too hard -- not to be chic so much as to look slim because I'm so dang short! (5' 3" if I stretch) I can barely get back to the size two I should be for more than a week anymore. I've been wearing black & navy even in the summer since I was a teen. Actually, I like Ira's response best -- but most of us are too old to pull off that Goth look!

Seriously, Fae, wear whatever makes you comfortable as traveling can take its toll on your mood anyway. I personally can't bring myself to wear white tennies, but heaven knows my feet would actually feel so-o-o much better if I did.

LSky, I think you were also the one who first said that you should dress with the thought of photos in mind as opposed to worrying about what others think. That was just brilliant - probably the smartest response I've ever heard to one of these sartorial threads.

"not to be chic so much as to look slim because I'm so dang short!"

That makes me a little sad to read that. I'm tall and there are clothes that I'd love to wear but I end up looking hmm. Well if you're too old for goth, you may know this. Remember Edith Ann? The Lily Thomlin character on Laugh-In? That's how I feel in certain clothes.

It's like hair; doesn't matter if it's straight or curly, sometimes you just want someone elses.

Thanks btw for the compliment. Come into summer in ice cream colors sometime

Kerouac: Thanks so much for the photos. This proves that people everywhere can be "comfortable." And sloppy. You are right, there are lots of people who simply do not care what other people think - your photos prove it. Frankly, I wouldn't go outside looking like those folks unless I was going to wash my car or weed the garden. I suppose that makes me one of the nuts who actually do care about our appearance.

I don't wear my business clothes when I travel, but I do try to look well dressed. I don't know what's wrong with that. I don't wear athletic shoes at home, so I certainly wouldn't wear them on a trip anywhere. I think they are inappropriate for anyplace other than the gym or tennis courts. I have done lots of traveling and walking in shoes that are both attractive and comfortable - it's not a real challenge.

When I'm a tourist, I generally wear black slacks and pair them up with a tank type top and an unstructured three-quarter sleeve jacket (Coldwater Creek or Chico's). I find this good looking and still comfortable. Many folks here and elsewhere believe you have to wear baggy cargo pants and t-shirts to be comfortble - that's just not me. And I don't think it really takes much effort to look presentable.

You will see everything and anything being worn on the streets of Paris. As long as you are covered up, you won't have a problem.

However, the reason that you don't see white sneakers on city folk is that white gets filthy very quickly on the streets of London, Paris, New York, etc.

Most city people wear darker colours to hide the dirt.

Go to style and the city or garance dore to see what fashionable people in Paris wear.

P_P, whose friend is an editor at French Vogue

<they will know you are a tourist"?>
<why would it be obvious?>


danon, I don't know how to explain it, but I can always tell the tourists in my home city. Partly it's because they are usually clutching a walking map, not working on a weekday, etc. but also it's there clothes and shoes. Japanese tourists here are very visible because they are most often in a large group. But I can also often spot Europeans by their dress (confirmed when I overhear them speaking a non-english language).

I Am usually identified as a Scandanavian in France, that is true, in a sense, but since our family left Norway in the 1840's, it is a bit strange. I do dress much better than most tourists, but that is for selfish reasons. I believe it gains me superior service/ treatment. Give it a try.

If you are American, they always know and I don't care. In fact, we are always over dressed compared to those around us.
We always look nice and would rather over than under dress. We don't wear athletic wear or shoes out. I do stick to darker colors because they are easier to mix and match for travel.
Be comfortable, don't worry about being a tourist (not a crime).

Enjoy your trip!

Hi D,

>>danon on Aug 2, 11 at 6:34pm

" they will know you are a tourist"?

Unless you try to speak the language
why would it be obvious?<

From the way you carry yourself, your clothes, the way you walk, hand motions, distance between you and other people....

Also the camera, map, travel wallet bulge, backpack....

If people do what you describe, I guess you have a point.

I dress the same way I do in the center of a big city where I live ( except for a bit more comfortable shoes).
I don't own a backpack,I have stopped taking pictures years ago. Don't know what a travel wallet is.
I walk exactly in the same way most people in Berlin or Paris do and don't motion with my hands unless I am trying to hail a cab.

<<f you are American, they always know and I don't care.>>

Well, I wouldn't care, either, but innumerable French people have been completely shocked to find out I am American...have even argued with me about it. Sometimes they think I'm Swiss, sometimes Belgian, most often French...so they don't always know.

In Paris, this June, here were my observations:

1. Everybody (tourists and locals alike) seemed nicely dressed. This surprised me. Just looking pulled together. Not much ratty clothing on anyone except tourist children.

2. The French pull it together better than anyone. Not always even expensive looking, but the right belt, the right scarf, bag.

3. Locals wear all sorts of athletic shoes. None I saw were white. I did not run into Kerouac.

4. No T-shirts with logos/writing on the front.

5. No one had hardware in their face.

6. I saw only one (1) tattoo, on the last day, on the back of one girl's neck.

Back in my city in 24 hours I was reminded why we are the slobbiest nation on the planet.

You won't go wrong dressed like this :

http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/american-tourist.jpg.jpeg


Peter

One thing that identifies tourists no matter how they dress is that they do not walk with the same rhythm or purpose as the locals. As a tourist, I found it absolutely impossible to ever get in synch with the people of Tokyo or Hong Kong, so I can imagine what it is like in any big city for people who come from a small town.

Paris is a big city, and people wear essentially what they want. You will see all styles and attitudes in Paris. And it is impossible to blend in; you will be recognized as a tourist thanks to your body language, speech, and behavior, no matter how you dress.

Some giveaways for American women include short shorts, flip-flops, painted nails, stockings in warm weather or with pants, obesity prior to menopause, "all-in-one" outfits (bought directly from the store window at home), and extremely casual clothing.

Of course people who live in Europe wear tennis shoes - they have an entire closet of a wide variety of clothing and they can change into whatever they want depending on the day, etc.

When I travel, however, I don't bring my entire closet. I'm really not trying to "blend in" but I am limited in what I can bring and so I want to bring the least amount of items that will be appropriate for the biggest number of situations. If I am sightseeing all day in shorts and tennis shoes and see a nice place for dinner, then I will have to return to the hotel in order to change into appropriate clothing. If, on the other hand, I wear something that I can both walk around in AND sit down and have a nice meal, that works much better.

One other thing - while I very much appreciate the pictures of people in Paris I do take issue to everyone pointing out "see - they're wearing shorts, so I can too!". In at least one of the nice slideshows I watched from this board I looked at the 30 pics of people wearing shorts. The vast majority were either male or, if female, then they were young. I'll wear shorts when I'm running, biking or at the beach. But my summer skirts are cool & comfortable and, when worn with sandals (instead of my running shoes) will take me from sightseeing to dinner AND look good in pictures. If none of that is important to you then you're absolutely free to wear what you want.

Do NOT wear a burka as qwovadis suggested unless you want to pay a Fine!

Only the niqab or face covering is prohibited, as faces must be visible in public. The rest of the garment is fine, although why anyone would cover herself entirely in black in summer heat is a mystery to me (yes, I know that they aren't always black).

<<The rest of the garment is fine, although why anyone would cover herself entirely in black in summer heat is a mystery to me>>

It's hardly a mystery to scientists.

And exactly what do scientists say?

Black clothing absorbs sunlight and the heat radiating from your body, but if it is loose-fitting, and there is wind, the wind convects the heat away faster than it is absorbed. White clothing reflects sunlight, but also reflects internal heat back toward your body, so the net effect under identical conditions is less cooling than if you wear black.

If you travel in Africa and the Middle East it's quite noticeable that a lot of people have figured this out.

I like AtlTravelr's answer best. Exactly my reasoning, too.

~Liz

The wind will remove heat at the same rate no matter what color clothing is. Black garments absorb sunlight and heat up very rapidly; white garments reflect sunlight and heat up much more slowly. In late afternoon sunlight, standing in sunlight dressed in black means that you're absorbing about 1000 watts of heat, the equivalent of having a hair dryer blowing into your clothing. It's a fast ride to heat stroke.

Radiation losses directly from the body when fully clothed are insignificant.

I was born and raised in the desert, and I can assure you that wearing black at 115° F is a very, very bad idea.

If black is better for hot weather than white, then why do Arab men dress in white?

Amiram Shkolnik, C. Richard Taylor*, Virginia Finch* & Arieh Borut, Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
*Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138


Survival in hot deserts has always posed a problem for man; Moses had to solve it in order to lead the children of Israel through the wilderness of the Sinai—a formidable hot desert. It seems likely that the present inhabitants of the Sinai, the Bedouins, would have optimised their solutions for desert survival during their long tenure in this desert Yet, one may have doubts on first encountering Bedouins wearing black robes and herding black goats. We have therefore investigated whether black robes help the Bedouins to minimise solar heat loads in a hot desert. This seemed possible because experiments have shown that white hair on cattle and white feathers on pigeons permit greater penetration of short-wave radiation to the skin than black. In fact, more heat flowed inward through white pigeon plumage than through black when both were exposed to simulated solar radiation at wind speeds greater than 3 m s-1 (ref. 3). We report here that the amount of heat gained by a Bedouin exposed to the hot desert is the same whether he wears a black or a white robe. The additional heat absorbed by the black robe was lost before it reached the skin.

Another way to look at it is this its like having a FAN - The explanation I heard for this is that the clothes themselves are very loose (rather like Roman togas). The extra heat caused by the black colour causes increased upward convection of the air between the cloth and their body. This additional air circulation actually aids in evaporation of perspiration and thus results in better cooling.

Another scientist put it like this:

Darker clothes absorb more of the sun's energy, so this seems to make no sense, say David Halliday et al. in "Fundamentals of Physics." In fact, black robes have been found to be 6 Celsius degrees hotter than similar white robes. The Bedouin secret lies in the convection breeze set up when the warmer air inside a dark robe rises faster and escapes upward through the porous material, sucking in air from below. So a black robe winds up being no hotter, and its circulating air may even make things more comfortable.

Notice that a key element in this system working is the convection made possible by the escape of air through the porous material.

Thanks for the pix, kerouac. Those could have been taken in almost ANY big city~there were very smartly-dressed, fashionable folks, those who looked like they'd been featured on What Not to Wear, and those in between. Like suze, I have yet to find truely comfortable shoes that are fashionable. Unfortunately, the most comfortable pair of shoes I own are the ugly rubber clogs I wear to work.......

>And it is impossible to blend in; you will be recognized as a tourist thanks to your body language, speech, and behavior, no matter how you dress.<

That comment is as daft as Bertha Rochester. Who are you Grace Poole? A gaoler's mentality, no doubt.

This is another myth of Europe propogated by the court jesters of Fodorville. People in big cities all over the world are so busy, so driven, that they do NOT walk around wondering where you are from.

I am a European-born (London, England) American citizen. I have lived in the US since 1969, and never in all my travels to Continental Europe has anyone ever approached me speaking English. Never. Not in 20 years.

I get asked for directions all the time in Paris. The askers always speak to me in French. Train conductors in Switzerland always speak German-Swiss to me when asking to see my ticket.

In Berlin, I must have been asked 20 times to take someone's photograph. The askers all spoke German to me.

This past summer, a female train conductor on the Luzern to Zurich train was absolutely shocked that I was not Swiss. Shocked!!!!!!

If you are an American college student walzing around Rome in a Penn State sweatshirt yelling, "Dude, Rome is just soooooooooo cool and the babes are all over me," into your mobile then, yes, you will be pegged as a tourist.


I live in Philadelphia, which gets a lot of foreign tourists who come to see the City of Benjamin Franklin. I DO NOT walk to my job trying to peg where people are from. That is just nonsense.

P_P

Thanks St Cirq that was informative, who doesn't love science? It always made sense to me that the way to dress in hot weather is to look at the way people who have lived in the desert for many generations dress.

I am a European-born (London, England) American citizen. I have lived in the US since 1969, and never in all my travels to Continental Europe has anyone ever approached me speaking English. Never. Not in 20 years.>

You must not have traveled much or you would have been approached by Gypsy women who indeed will address you in English, no matter what language you speak - I guarantee that.

I was standing on a street with my son when I was asked for directions in French by a Frenchman the second day I was in Paris. (Obviously, he was not Parisian.) I was rather pleased until my husband met up with us a few moments later and refused to believe me. At least the kid was a witness.

StCirq, none of those citations explains why Arab men would wear white, while the women wear black. If one color were better than the other, both sexes would wear that color. But I suspect that the choice of color sometimes has little to do with science.

Anyway, most tourists do act like tourists, which is why they are easy to recognize. Some of them dress in unusual ways that mark them as tourists, too. Of course, there are exceptions, especially in a big city. I saw several young women a few days ago whom I instantly recognized as being from England, thanks to their attire (and I'm not at all fashion-aware). But many of the people standing around them were of unidentifiable nationality, although they still had the aura of tourists, somehow.

My husband and I always enjoy when people try to guess where we are from - we are Americans, but people don't always guess that. I think that there are 2 things that throw people off. One is that we are both really short and Americans have the reputation for being tall. The other is that my husband is hispanic and since I have dark eyes and really curly hair, even though I have pale skin, I guess I could be from any number of places. People guess Spanish and Italian a lot, but we have had people guess Equadorian too - that was funny.