5 Observations About Paris
 

We're just back from our most recent 10-day stay in Paris. As usual, it was amazing. We took our 3-year for the third straight year (it's the perfect city for kids).

A few things I noticed:
-Kids meals in restaurants are more sophisticated, no chicken fingers anywhere.
-Paris needs more fast-casual dining options and a good Tex-Mex restaurant.
-The French are rarely rude, they're simply polite and expect us to be the same.
-Even in our burgeoning casual society, dressing well is still important.
-Marlborough Lights still rule. Everyone still smokes.

Read it all here, if you like. http://www.theginamiller.com/2014/12...out-paris.html

I'd love your thoughts.

I agree with #1 and #3. The other observations are obviously crap, so I don't feel any need to click on the link.

everyone smokes - yup pure crapola indicating at most an ephermeral encounter with the French to say that! More smoke but not nearly everyone - less than half I'd wager.

Actually stats say Americans smoke more cigs per year than the French.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ion_per_capita

I don't even agree with no. 1. Or no. 3 for that matter. That depends on a cultural definition of what's rude, anyway, but French people are like people everywhere, some are indeed rude (especially in Paris).

Exhibit A, kids menu at Hippopotamus:
http://www.hippopotamus.fr/skins/bas...Carte_Kids.pdf

includes chopped meat (cheap hamburger) and chicken nuggets. Not the only place that is the case, either.

Lots of people on the subway dress like crap in Paris, as well as US.

Of course, you're entitled to your opinion...
But I wonder why you continue to return to a place that falls so short of your expectations?
Also wondering why you keep returning to a foreign city when all you seem to want is familiar food and familiar customs...
If I were you, I would save my money and take my child to Disneyland or LasVegas, where you will all be happy.

My observations & opinions

#1. see next opinion
#2. France needs fewer fast food places - especially places featuring high-carbo Tex Mex food. Americans are fatter than the French, and have shorter life-spans.
#3. The French are more "private" than Americans. Sometimes "private" is mis-interpreted as "rude".
#4.
what I "googled"
........ lead-in precedes....
That puts France above average for adults who smoke in Europe – and well above the US. According to a report released in early December by the World Health Organization, 28 percent of European adults smoked daily in 2011, compared to 31 percent of French adults. Only 14 percent of American adults smoked daily in the same year.

Stu Dudley

So, fewer Americans smoke than French, but those Americans who do smoke must be chain smokers.

For no.2: http://www.buffalo-grill.fr/la-carte/buffalo-specials
which can be found all over Paris.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/4935670952

I read your blog post to see your full comments. I think the reason you noticed fewer fast food outlets is because in much of America the majority of dining options are chain restaurants so you are surrounded by chain/fast food restaurants in America whereas there are far more (IME) individually owned restaurants in France. You were also going to fast food places at lunch time when every other Parisian looking for a quick lunch is going to the same kind of place, hence the lines you encountered. Although some French/Parisians are just looking for a quick bite on the run more people here will take the time to sit down and eat a meal than in the U.S.

You also noticed by the end of your trip that your finicky eating daughter was more interested in what the grown-ups were having. French kids are exposed to a far wider choice of eating options than American kids and thus generally develop better eating habits.

In regards to exorbitant tax rates and bureaucracy, while the bureaucracy is sometimes maddening the exorbitant tax rate is not. Consider the insanely cheap and excellent health care coverage those taxes pay for (in comparison to the U.S.) and the fact that you won't pay for your kids to go to college nor will you ever lose your house or savings to a health crisis and those higher than U.S. tax rates start to look pretty appealing.

Anyway, I get that you enjoy Paris and it sounds like you'll be back again so I hope you enjoy your next trip as well. :)

French kids are exposed to a far wider choice of eating options than American kids and thus generally develop better eating habits.
SO true
We were eating at maybe 9PM at Auberge de Champ de Mars--a really modest place--may not even be there now. Obviously 2 families came in to eat--parents sat down at one table and children (I'd guess 8-12, four of 'em) at an adjoining table. What a pleasure for a grandmother to watch!!
AND I'd have to say our kids have done this (exposure) with our grands. NONE of them eat fast food!!

>> . . . and a good Tex-Mex restaurant<<

OMG. Really?

Why would anyone need a Tex-Mex fix on a vacation in Paris . . .

Actually, I bet if there were an interested entrepreneurs a Tex-Mex place, or several, would probably do pretty well here. It would just be another in the dozens of types of ethnic cuisines you can find in Paris. Most of the American themed restaurants here are popular and do well. I always see a big line outside the HD Diner (Happy Days Diner) in the evening in the Châtelet-les-Halles area. Yes, the French know about The Fonz, Potsie and Mr C.

>>. Although some French/Parisians are just looking for a quick bite on the run, more people here will take the time to sit down and eat a meal than in the U.S.<<

My wife worked for Visa here in the US for 20 years. They had a joint project with Carte Bleue in France & my wife was the project leader. Here in her US office, she usually eats lunch at her desk and either conducts a meeting while doing so, or goes through her e-mail, project reports, etc. while chomping on lunch (usually a sandwich).

There was a BIG meeting at the Paris office. She reserved rooms for Monday through Wednesday at a hotel near the Carte Bleue office for herself & the rest of the US contingent. The meeting started on Monday, so they flew out of the US on Sunday & arrived at CDG early Monday morning. The US contingent immediately went to the hotel to shower, shave, & freshen up. They got to the Carte Bleue offices by 10am & proceeded with the meeting. At 1:00 the Carte Bleue people announced that it was lunch time & proceeded to leave the office for a nice 1 1/2 hr lunch. The US contingent followed them to lunch. My wife asked her French counterpart if he always had lunch "out"? He "snickered".

They went out to dinner too & didn't get "home" till around 11PM.

Next morning, the US contingent convened before the meeting and decided that they were behind schedule. To get on schedule, they would "suggest" a "working lunch" for Tuesday. When they got to the Carte Bleue offices, they told the Carte Bleue office staff to "send out" for pizzas.

At 1:00 the Carte Bleue office staff announced to the US/French people who were holding the meeting, that the pizzas had arrived and they were in the "lunch room". The French contingent adjourned the meeting & went to the lunch room and had a 1 1/2 hr "non-business" lunch. My wife & her contingent followed. No business was conducted.

Stu Dudley

Reminds me of my experience in Ireland many years ago, Stu. We made appointments, from our London office, with the Irish nuclear regulatory folks to talk about nuclear plants. Flew over in the morning expecting serious discussions and to sell them our consulting services. Met at mid morning and just as the social stuff seemed over someone looked at his watch and said, "The're open!", and we adjourned to a pub for lunch. This was long ago when there were strict opening hours.

We had a lovely lunch, with a lot of Guinness on the menu and we, the deep pocket Americans, were given the check. It was suggested we retire to our hotel to digest the lunch and we would meet later in the afternoon. We did so, and the afternoon meeting was barely underway when the same chap with the watch said, "The're open!", again and off we went to the pub.

Absolutely no business was conducted. We gave up all hope of opening the Irish market.

"...a good Tex-Mex restaurant."

There used to be quite a well-known one, but if it's not there anymore, well, I guess it wasn't needed after all.

<< Why would anyone need a Tex-Mex fix on a vacation in Paris >>

Why would anyone need a Tex-Mex fix any time, anywhere? I don't think I've ever eaten this food.

We passed a nice looking Mexican restaurant everyday last year in Paris and I couldn't get interested in Mexican or Tex Mex food while in Paris. Can't agree with that observation!

I love that Paris doesn't have lots of fast dining options...that's part of the enjoyment for me...no rush, well prepared food and no corporate food (well, not for me). Love that French kids grow up eating better food and essentially eat what adults eat....it should be that way. I saw an Anthony Bourdain show that showed a French elementary school. They ate a true meal that was freshly prepared from fresh ingredients....all things that American parents would swear their kids wouldn't eat. I would have eaten that school lunch!

When we lived in Germany, there was a TexMex place in Cologne that was hugely popular.

<Why would anyone need a Tex-Mex fix any time, anywhere? I don't think I've ever eaten this food.>
Well, people who live in Texas enjoy it. Why do you imagine it's OK to denigrate US regional food while attempting (I assume, in your boorish way) to celebrate French regional food? I mean, you're a crashing snob, obviously, and ignorant, too, but surely the inconsistency should occur even to you?

"Well, people who live in Texas enjoy it." Could it be that people who live in Texas don't know anyting different? Tex-Mex is interesting, but hardly worth heralding.

"but French people are like people everywhere, some are indeed rude (especially in Paris)." Someone needs to get out amoung the people (Parisians) a little more often. Having been going to Paris, and France in gereral, since I was a teenager many years ago, I've never encoiunterd the rudness you refer to. It comes down to understanding the culture. I hear the same comments about Spaniards from novice travelers.

I'm surprised you didn't wander past at least one

http://www.indianacafe.fr/

We never go for the Tex-Mex, but they do have terrific salads and wonderful breakfasts when you really miss the eggs, bacon, toast, etc.