Raining in Paris on May 1 - What to do?
Apr 29th, 2015, 02:15 PM
#21
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Since a holiday means little traffic as opposed to the normal hectic Paris streets that may be the time to try the Velib' bike rental/sharing scheme:
http://en.velib.paris.fr/How-it-works/Bikes
http://en.velib.paris.fr/How-it-works/Bikes
Apr 29th, 2015, 02:31 PM
#22
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OK - one more note on the burbs - I used a wrong term - let's use the British housing estates or American slums and going on a national holiday there will be like any other day - folks laying around without jobs, without hope... again not nearly as bad as most American cities, by far - but an interesting place to visit and you can see the likes of them by suburban trains from Gare du Nord - I was standing on a platform waiting for a train eating a pain au chocolate and some arab looking guy asked me if he could have it - I said "non" and he gave me such a reaction like 'you better give it to me' and I did! Only time ever in decades of European travel anything like that happen to me.
Again I only brought it up and used wrong terms as an idea to see a different side of Paris and one that is talked about ad naseum these days even being called "no go zones by Fox Noise News here not long ago".
Again I only brought it up and used wrong terms as an idea to see a different side of Paris and one that is talked about ad naseum these days even being called "no go zones by Fox Noise News here not long ago".
Apr 30th, 2015, 06:02 AM
#26
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kerouac - I see why you don't like banlieus - I asked my French friend who is here now about the word for those areas and she said "zone"!
Ackslander - having worked the 2010 U S Census - we were told that Arabs are white folks!
anyway I hope artsnletters reports back on May 2 to report just what they did do on May 1st - so others in Paris on such holidays can expect.
Ackslander - having worked the 2010 U S Census - we were told that Arabs are white folks!
anyway I hope artsnletters reports back on May 2 to report just what they did do on May 1st - so others in Paris on such holidays can expect.
Apr 30th, 2015, 07:39 AM
#28
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"Frankly, what I have never understood is this obsession with using the word 'banlieue' "
When I learned French, and first visited people my age in France, a banlieue was what every ambitious or posturing teenager most wanted never to get anywhere near.
Leafy, stuffed with boring bourgeois, complacent: all the things they assumed (almost accurately) I'd hate as much as they did. I was once taken on a tour of what we'd call Edwardian villas to demonstrate just how impossible it was for anyone branché (which presumably dates me) to live somewhere so un-sympa.
In London, today, they'd be at least £5 mn each. And probably inhabited by someone doing A level French the same time as me.
When I learned French, and first visited people my age in France, a banlieue was what every ambitious or posturing teenager most wanted never to get anywhere near.
Leafy, stuffed with boring bourgeois, complacent: all the things they assumed (almost accurately) I'd hate as much as they did. I was once taken on a tour of what we'd call Edwardian villas to demonstrate just how impossible it was for anyone branché (which presumably dates me) to live somewhere so un-sympa.
In London, today, they'd be at least £5 mn each. And probably inhabited by someone doing A level French the same time as me.
Apr 30th, 2015, 08:13 AM
#29
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Ackislander
"Some Arab looking guy" ? Really? "ethnic French?" You mean "white people?", Pal? Your problem is not solved."
My opinion too !
BTW, Last time (2 days ago) a nice ethnic french tramp asked me for money, I said no, he looked at me aggressively, I stared back, he started to move and 2 security agentsasked him to leave the station.
The tramp (good started a lithany of insults - proving he was a real white ethnic french).
The security guards ignored him, and we share a knowing look.
Ah, the 2 security guards were French. Black Frenchs.
"Some Arab looking guy" ? Really? "ethnic French?" You mean "white people?", Pal? Your problem is not solved."
My opinion too !
BTW, Last time (2 days ago) a nice ethnic french tramp asked me for money, I said no, he looked at me aggressively, I stared back, he started to move and 2 security agentsasked him to leave the station.
The tramp (good started a lithany of insults - proving he was a real white ethnic french).
The security guards ignored him, and we share a knowing look.
Ah, the 2 security guards were French. Black Frenchs.
Apr 30th, 2015, 08:41 AM
#30
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What would you call the folks who have lived in France for centuries? French, yes but how would you distinguish them apart from immigrants, like Kerouac ironically is, being raised in American and going to UCLA before emigrating to France - aboriginals? What is the PC word auckslander? Curious?
Apr 30th, 2015, 10:52 AM
#32
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I've actually toured Pere Lachaise in the rain before. Very atmospheric, and if it's not raining hard, quite nice. The paths are mostly gravel, so you don't get muddy or get splashed on much. And with a little rain there will be no other tourists. The gardens and park at Versailles are also open that day (though not the palace), and I suspect Chartres Cathedral will be open since it's a church, so that might make a nice day-trip. It's a good day for all churches but not for their museums (the towers and crypt at Notre Dame, for instance, will be closed).
Buy a cheap umbrella and enjoy.
Buy a cheap umbrella and enjoy.
Apr 30th, 2015, 11:26 AM
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Pour moi, un Fran�ais c'est un type/meuf qui parle Fran�ais, avec une carte d'identit� fran�aise...
Apr�s, black, beur, dom-tom ...
How many centuries do you want to go back ?
Before Roman invasion - these guys, suntanned coming from the Med ... no, we should stick to celtic heritage...
Apr�s, black, beur, dom-tom ...
How many centuries do you want to go back ?
Before Roman invasion - these guys, suntanned coming from the Med ... no, we should stick to celtic heritage...
Apr 30th, 2015, 11:37 AM
#34
We don't have ethnic divisions in France anyway -- it is against the law to make ethnic or racial statistics. If we had a president like Obama, we would not at all have the embarrassing obligation of saying that he is "black" when he is 50% white. Since France is the #1 country in the world for mixed marriages, it looks like the concept is working in spite of the comments made in some other countries about France.
Apr 30th, 2015, 01:51 PM
#35
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We don't have ethnic divisions in France anyway>
What France do you live in? Again rather incroyable no matter how you define ethnicity - Yeh the U.S. is worse in racism but France has its own problems too - that Le Pen finished as a runner-up on his anti-immigrant agenda speaks volumes about what you say not being the real case.
What France do you live in? Again rather incroyable no matter how you define ethnicity - Yeh the U.S. is worse in racism but France has its own problems too - that Le Pen finished as a runner-up on his anti-immigrant agenda speaks volumes about what you say not being the real case.
Apr 30th, 2015, 02:24 PM
#36
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This perhaps belongs in the Lounge, but:
>> Since France is the #1 country in the world for mixed marriages,<<
If California were a country (population 40 million) I think we might have the #1 number of mixed race marriages.
Stu Dudley
>> Since France is the #1 country in the world for mixed marriages,<<
If California were a country (population 40 million) I think we might have the #1 number of mixed race marriages.
Stu Dudley
Apr 30th, 2015, 03:10 PM
#37
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since the OP has their info I don't feel guilty extending this discussion a bit about ethnicity whatever that means - first of all France is much MUCH more tolerant about ethnic differences of which IME there are indeed some in France (and every western country) - but even my ex-wife and dear friend who has voted socialist all her life (though expressing shockingly to me a certain admiration for Marie Le Pen) says she laments losing the 'French way of life' - talking about wanting immigrants from Africa and Arabia - mainly Moslems - to take to the "French way of life" - this in a discussion about banning the wearing of the head scarf and now apparently long skirts in public schools - she talks about "being afraid we're losing the French way of life" - so the question for kerouac and others who are French residents is what does she mean by losing "the French way of life and traditions" -???
Her neighbors, Moslems from Algerie are a case she laments - the middle-class couple - the women never wore a head scarf until recently and my ex-wife laments that - saying that is part of assimilation - that folks should abandon their customs and 'live the French way of life".
What is the French way of life that she fears losing? If indeed there is no ethnic divisions in France everyone would be the same and the French way of life would be what everyone did - but she says it is not - now her interpretation of the 'French way of life' may be different from yours but it is a thing I hear many of her relatives echo - that 'we are afraid of losing the French way of life."
Expliquez qu'est-ce que'est the French way of life - and why do folks - or some folks feel it is threatened?
I'm sorry I got off on the wrong foot in some comments above and the OP has their answers so it's OK to ask this now - I too love the French way of life and it does not conjer up wearing the head scarf or veils, etc. What is she and others lamenting and does she have reason to do so?
Yes today's NYTimes carried an article about something in say Charleville-Mezieres near the Belgian border about a school principal sending home a Moslem student because her skirt was too long - and she said that is right because long skirts are a religious symbol - this seems to be going too far and the article said that it had angered Moslems throughout France.
Are long skirts not in keeping with the French way of life - I've seen nuns for years wearing long skirts and no one complained - indeed I think there is some ethnic divisions in France and at least some French feel threatened by losing 'the French way of life".
Her neighbors, Moslems from Algerie are a case she laments - the middle-class couple - the women never wore a head scarf until recently and my ex-wife laments that - saying that is part of assimilation - that folks should abandon their customs and 'live the French way of life".
What is the French way of life that she fears losing? If indeed there is no ethnic divisions in France everyone would be the same and the French way of life would be what everyone did - but she says it is not - now her interpretation of the 'French way of life' may be different from yours but it is a thing I hear many of her relatives echo - that 'we are afraid of losing the French way of life."
Expliquez qu'est-ce que'est the French way of life - and why do folks - or some folks feel it is threatened?
I'm sorry I got off on the wrong foot in some comments above and the OP has their answers so it's OK to ask this now - I too love the French way of life and it does not conjer up wearing the head scarf or veils, etc. What is she and others lamenting and does she have reason to do so?
Yes today's NYTimes carried an article about something in say Charleville-Mezieres near the Belgian border about a school principal sending home a Moslem student because her skirt was too long - and she said that is right because long skirts are a religious symbol - this seems to be going too far and the article said that it had angered Moslems throughout France.
Are long skirts not in keeping with the French way of life - I've seen nuns for years wearing long skirts and no one complained - indeed I think there is some ethnic divisions in France and at least some French feel threatened by losing 'the French way of life".
