PalenqueBob

Paris has so much to offer, from great museums and churches to shopping, fine food, etc. But what perhaps fascinates me as much as these delights are the more mundane aspects of Paris that leave an indelible 'Parisian' impression on my mind:

...The Street Cleaners...Starting early in the morning these mainly Black and immigrant work forces take to the streets with their crude-looking brooms - i guess made of some plant material as they sweep the liter from the sidewalks into the gutters - the gutters are a rush of water that is piped along them to carry all the refuse away -- to where? that's my question - into the Seine or into sewers? Where does it all end up. But anyway the orange-overhaul clad 'nettoyeurs' and 'nettoyeuse' keeping the city clean is a tradition i enjoy seeing even though motorized street-cleaning machines are somewhat taking over

...the fancy dressed policemen and women directing traffic, whistles in hand as they signal cars to go to and fro

...the clochards - well this is not such a nice thought, but always, everywhere the street bums, to be pittied as they clutch their cheap bottles of vin de pays - or more often now their wine in paper milk-style cans -- this sight i wish weren't there, but it is and it's typically Parisian

...dogs...and how folks pamper them - not unusual at cafes to see dogs sitting at the table and getting a few morsels...the special hair dressers for chiens - and in parks Vespachiens - a play on the word Vespasienne - or squat toilet - special dog toilets, Vespachiens in parks

...nattily attired waiters in cafes, at times being rather rude to customers - i'd be disappointed if they were really friendly!

...the ladies who work in the boulangeries and patisseries i so love going into. The de rigeuer 'bonjour monsieur' when i enter and the obligatory 'au revoir monsieru' when i leave, pain au chocolate or hot croissant au beure in my hand - service seems always friendly here...

...the disappearing beret-wearing plumpish old men, Gaulloise cigarette dangling from their mouth, clad in bleue de travail (sp? blue work overhauls).

...museum guards, always seemingly bored out of their mind.

...the pauvre pauvres - street folk at church entry doors, hats out with their usual greeting 'bonjour monsieur' - again i pity these poor souls but it's part of the Pariscope

it's the workaday world i enjoy seeing, warts and all and this is one aspect of what i love about Paris.
What do you think?

Michael

The brooms may look crude, but before replacing the twig brooms with the green plastic ones, the authorities tested different types of brooms to see which ones worked best. At least that is what I heard quite a while back.

Christina

Did you just write this or copy it from someone? It just looks like something that was written for a purpose.

YOu might brush up on your French, you spelled several words wrong.

I don't agree with some of your observations, sorry. I don't think "clochards" are "everywhere", "always" as you say:
<<the clochards - well this is not such a nice thought, but always, everywhere the street bums, to be pittied as they clutch their cheap bottles of vin de pays>>

I don't think the police are dressed up any more than most cities, either, I wouldn't call them dressed in a fancy manner.

PalenqueBob

traffic cops i've seen are often nattily attired - not all cops who wear standard uniforms but i've seen female cops directing traffic - and meter maids too that, at least to me, are fashionably attired.

clochards are everywhere - it's really shocking coming from other European cities. What does everywhere mean? Well maybe that's too strong a word - there are more here than any city i've been in Europe save London. Maybe not everywhere but ubiquitous.

what difference does it make if my French is a bit bad? ??? And what mistakes did i make besides au instead aux in pain aux chocolate and a typo in monsier - all the rest are spelled right according to my French dictionary - not sure about Vespasienne but then i'd bet nearly no French folks can spell it right either. You said several words spelled wrong? Maybe - but please enlighten me - i count two (au and chocolat) and one typo and de rigueur to me is an English word - i need brushing up on that as well. If you say several words wrong please point out for my edification - maybe so i missed some errors and i do admit i speak French like a Spanish cow as they say.

Yes i wrote it - "looks like it was written for a purpose" - yes but not the sinister one you imply - these are some unique aspects of Paris that make it unique - i guess i thought it was something different from "how's the lobster bisque at Chez Alfredo's this week?
I also like the Guignol puppets in the Luxembourg gardens and the kids laughing at the puppets nearly constant bagerrie (sp?)(fighting - a word i learned well when i'd babysit my young French son)
the kids with their wooden sail boats on the ponds in the Tuileries
mothers with their baby carriages in any park on a nice day
the boulistes at the Bastille
and a thousand other things that make Paris such a fascinating city - mundane as they may be...and this i sought to express
Pardon my French

EmBee

PalenqueBob, I enjoyed reading your fascinations! I too love the 'twig' brooms. I watched the Italians using them early in the morning outside the Pantheon in Rome as well.

I had breakfast in rue du Bac recently and watched the waiter run across the road to buy more pastries. As he ran back to the cafe he dropped a croissant on the road, picked it up, blew the dirt off it and withing a couple of minutes it was on our table!!

Same morning, we watched the butcher come out of his shop with a large parcel of meat. (We guessed it was meat anyway).

He loaded it into a carrier on the back of his scooter and zoomed of with his apron on.

The other place we love to breakfast is further up rue du Bac (opposite Blance d'Ivoire) A cafe filled with plant material and roses from the owners own garden!! The tables have multi-coloured oilcloth tablecloths covered in fruits.

I understand your comments. I adore all aspects of Paris but it is the mundane that gives the city the character I love.

cigalechanta

I know what you mean, Bob, I dont know Paris well but I feel the same about the aspects of Provence: The campaniles, the lavoirs, the fontaines, the cadran soliels. All these things are the suble forces that draw us.

cigalechanta

subtle!

Margie

I enjoyed your musings and would add that I enjoy watching the shop keepers open for business in the morning. On our last trip we watched a florist open almost every day. Watching him bring his inventory outside to set a beautiful display was a wonderful way to start the morning as we had coffee at the cafe next door. I also enjoyed watching parents walk their children to school.

Don't worry about typos and spelling mistakes, I think most here are intelligent enough to understand what you were saying. Some people make a hobby out of finding fault, criticizing and correcting others.

Anyone else have some mundane Paris fascinations?

francophile03

PalenqueBob, misspellings or whatever, I liked your impressions. I feel the same thing about the ladies who work in the boulangeries and patisseries too.

Scarlett

Bob,
I loved reading your musings. I understood exactly what you meant..and it set me to musing too

The way the shop keeper will wrap something up just so before sending you off with it...

In March, one of my favorite moments in the day was to sit in a cafe on rue Grenelle in the afternoon and watch the mothers walking the children home from the school around the corner..and most often stopping for something to snack on at the bakery down the street. That bakery would have this long line of school children every afternoon..
My favorite spot to see the moms and nannies with their little ones is in the park in the Place des Vosges.
In the fall, watching the gardeners at the Luxembourg Palace, driving their tiny trucks to bring the orange trees to the conservatory.

Thank you~

LoveItaly

Hello PalenqueBob, although I have not been to Paris I have so enjoyed your thread as it reminds me of life in Italy, especially in the small towns. The business owners sweeping the sidewalk in front of their business, the cafe owners setting out their table and chairs, the older gentlemen walking to the bakery to pick up some goodies, all tied in a beautiful paper with a ribbon around it that they carry back to their residence for the family to enjoy.

The vendors that travel from town to town to set up their markets at a certain time on a certain day of each week. How quickly they set them up (Friday morning until 1:00pm for example in Congeliano another morning in Agordo). And then when the market day is over how very quickly they take apart the market, store everything in their vehicles and leave. It is amazing!!

I like you enjoy the small day to day activities of Europe. Thank you for sharing your observations of Paris. Best wishes to you.

Lizzy76

Coucou Monsieur Bob,
Your note is sweet maybe a bit too nostalgic for France but that's because I'm Parisian, here is the reason maybe...I recognize myself in your speach while I feel the same about Boston, MA...I miss Boston, my fav state!!! Lovely New England
Anyway, it looks like you know a lot about our French expressions and lexis...
Moreover, believe me "you don't speak French like a spanish cow" uhuhuh not at all you're pretty good at talking French
Have fun Bob in france
A+(Do you know that expression...I'm sure you know...)

chiarachiara

Thanks Bob for reminding us of everyday life in Paris and France - which I think we all enjoy!

I also love the ladies in the Boulangeries - throughout France they sound the same and are always so friendly and almost singing their greetings.

I also like watching people coming from work late afternoons - to see how they go into a florist for some flowers - to see them in the supermarket buying something for the evening meal.

Nikki

I like the carousels one runs across here and there, but my favorite one is in front of the Musee Marmottan, where the children try to capture rings on a stick while the operator runs around giving the carousel a push. No automatic mechanism here.

I like the heaters outside cafes which allow people to sit outside when it isn't really warm enough.

I like the musicians in the metro, whom I read are selected by a jury of metro employees.

EmBee

Another mundane fascination:

Sitting in a row outside a cafe watching a fellow in a clown mask imitating people behind their backs.

Actually, sitting in a row outside a cafe doing anything! Feels so French.

111op

Palenque: "au instead aux in pain aux chocolate"

Not to be pedantic, but since you brought it up, I think it's pain au chocolat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_au_chocolat

I didn't really read the rest. But I thought that I should point this out so that you won't perpetuate your own spelling error.

avalon

I love seeing the "sweepers" and get up very early so that I can!

And people hurring along the streets with their baguette ,unwrapped, and sometimes taking a big bite of it!

Very early mornings..on the market streets, watching the staalls being set up, trucks unloaded and a lot of joking going on between the drivers!

dncee11

Keep it up Bob, lets have some more when you think of them

klondike

Dix sur Dix, Bob! Brought back so many memories...

I, too, love the street cleaners, the traditional and the new. We call the new "the green men" as they move efficiently down the deserted streets with their green cleaning machines, transforming the stale post-party look into the fresh, ready-for-the new-day look

How about the early morning sound of the the security gate/shutters being pushed up as the shops open? Or the clap and grate of the shutters at night as you close and latch them before turning in for the night?

The rumble of the metro.

That half hour of silence somewhere around 4-4:30 am, where for just that brief moment She seems to sleep, and then, La Belle se réveille!
.

hanl

Those that take pleasure in the smaller, more mundane things in life might enjoy a book that came out in France a few years ago.

It's called <i>La premi&egrave;re gorg&eacute;e de bi&egrave;re et autres minuscules plaisirs</i> by Philippe Delerm, and it has also been translated into English (published under the title <i> We Could Almost Eat Outside : An Appreciation of Life's Small Pleasures</i.

It's a lovely book of essays expressing the pleasure one gets from buying pastries, taking the first sip of beer, shelling peas... It's the kind of book that makes you sit back and remember to enjoy life.