First Time in France--Paris and Burgundy
Sep 9th, 2015, 01:35 PM
#21
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Manouche and Grethen--I guess your comments were aimed at me. I did not say Europeans did not go to museums, etc. I said they did not go there "much.">
IME with French friends and in-laws who live in Orleans - just an hour by train from Paris - of the dozens I know very very few ever go to Paris let alone go to any museums - most have never been to the Louvre, Orsay or even Versailles.
Tourists go to museums - sometime the raison d'etre of their trips but most locals I think rarely go IME in France anyway.
IME with French friends and in-laws who live in Orleans - just an hour by train from Paris - of the dozens I know very very few ever go to Paris let alone go to any museums - most have never been to the Louvre, Orsay or even Versailles.
Tourists go to museums - sometime the raison d'etre of their trips but most locals I think rarely go IME in France anyway.
Sep 10th, 2015, 03:07 AM
#22
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No Pal, not you but the very "knowledgeable"
dwdvagamundo on Sep 3, 15 at 5:18pm
But then, you do say it. I don't go to our local museums often, but I do go because I can, when I want to. BUT WHY WHY WHY if going to Paris for the first time would you not go. Silly.
dwdvagamundo on Sep 3, 15 at 5:18pm
But then, you do say it. I don't go to our local museums often, but I do go because I can, when I want to. BUT WHY WHY WHY if going to Paris for the first time would you not go. Silly.
Sep 10th, 2015, 02:03 PM
#25
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No Pal, not you but the very "knowledgeable">
my in-laws and son and his mom who rarely go to nearby Paris for anything let alone museums would be offended by your rather IMO haughty chacterization of them as dolts.
Very very few locals in France at least in my experience of knowing many in Orleans ever go to Paris and I know few who have ever gone even to the Louvre. And they are quite knowledgeable.
<when the OP hasn't said anything about museums)> I suggest you re-read the OP when it says they want to go to a few museums.
Most French just are not the cultured elite you seem to think they are and would rather go to the seaside or on walks in the country than to any museum.
my in-laws and son and his mom who rarely go to nearby Paris for anything let alone museums would be offended by your rather IMO haughty chacterization of them as dolts.
Very very few locals in France at least in my experience of knowing many in Orleans ever go to Paris and I know few who have ever gone even to the Louvre. And they are quite knowledgeable.
<when the OP hasn't said anything about museums)> I suggest you re-read the OP when it says they want to go to a few museums.
Most French just are not the cultured elite you seem to think they are and would rather go to the seaside or on walks in the country than to any museum.
Sep 11th, 2015, 01:24 AM
#26
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Turning this thread into a 'culture' battle ?
The Frenchs you usually see in museums are
- school children with their teacher
- children (again) with their great parents
- retired people
- French tourists
Locals ? locals don't go every week to museums : they work, go shopping, have friends coming to their homes etc.
I go to museums in my hometown once every two - three years...
With my kids or with oversea friends visiting me.
I guess when I retire I'll see more of them.
Is it different in your hometowns ?
The Frenchs you usually see in museums are
- school children with their teacher
- children (again) with their great parents
- retired people
- French tourists
Locals ? locals don't go every week to museums : they work, go shopping, have friends coming to their homes etc.
I go to museums in my hometown once every two - three years...
With my kids or with oversea friends visiting me.
I guess when I retire I'll see more of them.
Is it different in your hometowns ?
Sep 11th, 2015, 05:12 AM
#27
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In the Louvre the languages I hear folks speaking are almost always English, German, Italian but and relatively little French. I too waws shocked at how nearly none of the dozens of in-laws and friends I know in Orleans, just an hour from Paris by train, have ever gone to Paris or rarely do and very few have been to the Louvre, etc.
Sep 11th, 2015, 06:08 AM
#28
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Let me clarify the purpose of my original comment:
It was aimed at the OP's statement that she wanted to do what the locals do: "I would love recommendations for places to stay, things to do, and restaurants—things that are less touristy and more for locals in the know."
Putting aside the improbability that a first time visitor who does not speak the language very well would be able to find out and do what the locals do, my comment was simply meant to make the point that she doesn't really want to do that, because what the locals do on a daily basis--whether in Beaune, or Paris, or Atlanta, or anywhere else--is NOT what a tourist should want to do.
I have a very long list of attractions in Atlanta, Georgia, that I have either visited once or not at all in my close to 40 years of living here (e.g. the Georgia Aquarium). But just because I don't go to see them does not mean a tourist should not.
I had no intention of impugning the cultural pursuits of the French, whose culture I value very highly--highly enough to visit this fall for the second time in two years. And when I'm in Paris, rest assured that I will visit the Louvre (second time) Carnavalet (second time) and maybe the Cluny for the second time. I'm a tourist, proud and lucky to be one, and will do what it is that I think that tourists should do. And that's what I thought I was recommending that the OP do.
If the OP really wants to do the things the locals do, I'd advise her to get an apartment around the Parc de la Villette:--there are a number right along the Canal that I saw on Trip Advisor-- shop in the local stores, sit in the local cafes, stroll along the Canal, and just soak up the atmosphere. That is something I hope that I live long enough and learn to speak French well enough to do. But for now, I'll be just a tourist on my third visit to Paris.
D'accord, Gretchen?
It was aimed at the OP's statement that she wanted to do what the locals do: "I would love recommendations for places to stay, things to do, and restaurants—things that are less touristy and more for locals in the know."
Putting aside the improbability that a first time visitor who does not speak the language very well would be able to find out and do what the locals do, my comment was simply meant to make the point that she doesn't really want to do that, because what the locals do on a daily basis--whether in Beaune, or Paris, or Atlanta, or anywhere else--is NOT what a tourist should want to do.
I have a very long list of attractions in Atlanta, Georgia, that I have either visited once or not at all in my close to 40 years of living here (e.g. the Georgia Aquarium). But just because I don't go to see them does not mean a tourist should not.
I had no intention of impugning the cultural pursuits of the French, whose culture I value very highly--highly enough to visit this fall for the second time in two years. And when I'm in Paris, rest assured that I will visit the Louvre (second time) Carnavalet (second time) and maybe the Cluny for the second time. I'm a tourist, proud and lucky to be one, and will do what it is that I think that tourists should do. And that's what I thought I was recommending that the OP do.
If the OP really wants to do the things the locals do, I'd advise her to get an apartment around the Parc de la Villette:--there are a number right along the Canal that I saw on Trip Advisor-- shop in the local stores, sit in the local cafes, stroll along the Canal, and just soak up the atmosphere. That is something I hope that I live long enough and learn to speak French well enough to do. But for now, I'll be just a tourist on my third visit to Paris.
D'accord, Gretchen?
Sep 11th, 2015, 09:30 AM
#30
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Living like a local often means working. Or cleaning. Or paying your bills. or or.
We've often told ourselves that we should book a hotel in our hometown and visit it as a tourist.
And visit the museums.
We've often told ourselves that we should book a hotel in our hometown and visit it as a tourist.
And visit the museums.
Sep 11th, 2015, 09:36 AM
#31
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Pal--I just think it's impossible unless you live there for a long time. I do have a friend (fluent in Italian) who travels to Italy every year, spending part of the time in an apartment in Florence and part in an apartment in a small town in Sicily where her family came from; she tells me she's starting to feel the culture. But the goal of my spouse and I in travelling is to experience as much of the world as possible rather than returning to the same places every year. Mundus amplus vita brevis.
Sep 11th, 2015, 09:48 AM
#32
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Pal--I just think it's impossible unless you live there for a long time>
exactly - I lived for several summers with my young French son - taking care of him during summer vacation - I lived in a neighborhood where practically no one spoke English - my French improved greatly not only talking to my young son in French but the neighbors and parents of other young kids that we did things with.
I became a regular at the local cafe - boulangerie, etc. I saw only French and spoke only French for the whole time - I felt like I was living like a local but only someone in a similar situation would be able to feel that - like becoming an au pair for a French family would be a good chance.
exactly - I lived for several summers with my young French son - taking care of him during summer vacation - I lived in a neighborhood where practically no one spoke English - my French improved greatly not only talking to my young son in French but the neighbors and parents of other young kids that we did things with.
I became a regular at the local cafe - boulangerie, etc. I saw only French and spoke only French for the whole time - I felt like I was living like a local but only someone in a similar situation would be able to feel that - like becoming an au pair for a French family would be a good chance.
Sep 11th, 2015, 01:55 PM
#34
I might give a fantasy version of living LIKE a local a try, and have, with no illusions. But living WITH a local has never been quite what I had in mind. I know people do it all the time and rave about how much fun it is, or where the best place to learn a language might be found, but too real for me. Although you seem to have pulled it off, PQ, and how!
