I had a thought of traveling to Giverny to visit Monet's house and gardens, but decided against it. I have been on enough trains, planes and automobiles for awhile. I think seeing the wonderful Lavender fields of Provence and the gardens of Versailles will suffice. I will save it for my next trip.
I decided to just aimlessly wander today. I hadn't spent a lot of time in Le Marais and enjoyed my small taste on Saturday night that I thought i would begin there.
Since I am an early riser, I am out on the streets early before most things open it appears.
I crossed Notre Dame to Chatelet and past the Pompideau Centre. I wandered to Places du Vosages and then back along to Les Halle's. There is a very different feel and culture to this area, still very bohemian. The women are not "Chanel" beautiful, but "Hippy" beautiful and the fashion is very artsy and flowing.
Next thing, I know I am passing Opera and then am at Le Louvre.
I head back and wander around Isle Ste. Louis.
I decide to stop for a cafe au Lait. My waitress is slow and disinterested.
This is where I have to insert some sadness and dismay to this trip.
Paris is not at all what I wanted it to be. The tourists are rude and the staff and locals are disinterested and dismissive. This began my first evening when I stopped at a Computer Store to purchase a Sim card for my Ipad. The staff initially were ok. As i questioned the young man activating the card, he kept saying he didn't know what i was talking about. He refused to insert my card into my device. His boss came over to help and said that the young man did not really understand English. Guess that is an excuse for being rude. I then went to a familiar restaurant for a bite. It was early by Paris time, about 6:00 pm and the place was almost empty. I could barely get the waiters attention.
He brought me my wine, then my meal and I had to ask three times for some water. I would have taken it personally had I not seen everyone else being treated the same way.
As I wandered the area, I felt very invisible. Now, I am by no means a waif, but I could not believe the number of tourists just walking into me like I wasn't there.
The shop keepers as well, would greet you with an obligatory "bonjour" and that was it.
I miss my neighborhood, where when walking along the street at least some stranger will smile at you.
In restaurants, I order, they bring it. I ask for the bill, they bring it and no further conversation takes place.
Today in Montmartre, I asked twice for directions. I was heading to my dessert class, knew the street was near by, but wasn't quite sure how to get around the Basilica. I asked a waiter and he didn't understand me, so he walked away. I then asked a women working the Pharmacy. She said she didn't know. She didn't even make an effort to look at the map.
There were some lovely exchanges, but the majority were snooty and I had never experienced that in Paris before, nor had I witnessed it.
I did read an article in The Huffington Post:
PARIS -- It's a July evening on the terrace of the legendary Cafe Flore. A coiffed woman sips chilled wine, another savors her chocolate eclair.
The one thing to complete a perfect picture of Parisian life? A dash of French rudeness.
It comes from the waiter, who snootily turns away a group of tourists: "There's no point waiting," he shrugs, even though there are many empty tables. "No space outside."
Such rituals of rudeness have long been accepted by visitors as part of the price of enjoying such a beautiful city as Paris. But it seems the French themselves, who over centuries have turned rudeness into an art form, have become fed up with their own incivility, according to recent polls and publicity campaigns.
There's a fabled history of French rudeness from Napoleon, who called the English a "nation of shopkeepers," to former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who infamously snarled at a voter: "Get lost, poor jerk."
Now, bad manners and aggressive behavior top the list of causes of stress for the French, even higher than unemployment or the debt crisis, says pollster IPSOS. A total of 60 percent cited rudeness as their number one source of stress in a survey last year on social trends.
"We're so rude," admits 34-year-old French teacher Stephane Gomez, as he comes out of a Paris metro station. "France lacks the civic sense that you find in Anglo-Saxon countries."
"It's so easy to be polite, but we don't do it," says 30-year-old Zahia Sebahi. "I never see someone give up their seat for an elderly person."
But Paris's public transport authority is leading the fight-back in a summer-long publicity campaign against rudeness.
Billboards depicting Frenchmen with animal heads have dominated metro stations; they target passengers who are rude to staff and push and shove. "If you shove five people getting onboard," the posters say, "it won't make us set off faster." Bus ads read: "One bonjour doesn't cost a penny, and it changes your day."
Transport officials say they've tried to keep a light touch on a serious matter.
"We used humor to not be moralistic," says Isabelle Ockrent, RATP communications director. "But we've been alerted by our staff that there is a real problem."
Public transport staff even held "rudeness forums" over three days in late June in 20 metro stations, in which they exchanged views on correct etiquette with passengers.
Among other things, people were asked what they thought the root causes were for pushing and shoving: Lack of time? Unhappiness? Many Parisians attribute the decreasing tolerance to rudeness to the fast-pace of the Internet age, with i-Pods on the metro and mobile phone noise in public spaces.
"It might seem obvious, but when stressed for work, Parisians forget `hello' or `thank you' when asking for a ticket," says Ockrent.
Parisians, it seems, may be pleased to be going back to finishing school.
Passengers regularly gawk at the ads, which have stretched from ceiling to floor inside some metro stations, and the RATP say the campaign has gotten near universal positive feedback on it.
The results of this year's IPSOS trend research won't be published until fall. But the agency can already reveal that the backlash against rudeness is rising.
"In 2012, one thing is clear; the French are irritated and want a return to good manners. They've had enough of rudeness ... reached a limit," says Lise Brunet, IPSOS's director of trend studies.
"The acceleration of life with cells phones means that people have even less time to follow the rules of politeness," adds Brunet. "Today, it's even more of a concern than the economic crisis. People just want to hear `Thank you.'"
In France, the world's most visited country, rudeness is also a concern for tourism companies – especially as France feels the bite of the financial crisis.
Atout France, the country's tourism development agency launched a summer campaign in regions where tourism is suffering to promote service quality.
"We're very aware of the problem making tourists feel welcome," says Fanny Moutel, communications director for Atout France, the country's tourism development agency. "We've noticed that there are fewer English visiting places like Brittany and Normandy and the Loire, so the campaign aims to improve the way tourists are treated."
Where English-speaking tourists were once greeted with raised eyebrows and a Gallic shrug, more and more French in the service industry speak English.
That's just one of the many ways in which France is changing.
Earlier this week on a high-speed train, there were puzzled smiles from passengers after a decidedly un-French loudspeaker address:
"Hello, welcome, please greet your neighbor, and may you adopt a zen attitude."
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When I went out to dinner, I walked the Village in the area where I am staying. In the past the Restraunteurs would be out on the street greeting tourists with a Bonne Soir and enticing them into their establishment to dine. Not so this time. People will actually be viewing the menu and be totally ignored.
I was craving crepes, so choose a restaurant that specialized in them. My waiter was quite friendly as I greeted him en Francais. I chose an English menu and saw his demeaned change slightly. Again, he brought my food, my bill and nothing more.
There have been some shop keepers and Transit people who have been just lovely, thankfully. Even today, as I was waiting outside the cooking school for my class to begin, a homeless man approached me quite aggressively asking for a Euro. I ignored him and he kept insisting to the point of touching me. I then kept saying no and he became more forceful. I had to literally get up and walk away.
Perhaps I was just totally spoiled by the wonderful ness of the people in Provence.
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