Parisians Redeemed: Travel Writing

Though I adored the many sights and aesthetic appeal of Paris during my first visit in early September I was rather disappointed with the overall attitude of the Parisians. I have spoken French for close to eight years and was quite discouraged to find that every time I spoke French I was rudely spoken back to in English while they chuckled. It surely didn’t motivate me to continue my French speaking or be overly friendly to the French population in general.

I will admit, I loved France: the food, sights, and atmosphere so of course when my boyfriend, Mick, visited me I wanted to bring him there to spend a few days in the most romantic city in the world. I was a bit weary to see if the domineer of the Parisian population paralleled my last encounter. To my pleasant surprise, the French welcomed us with friendly “Bonjour’s!” and “s’il vous plait’s” all week.

From the first tour we went on in Montmartre, the Moulin rouge city right outside of Paris, where we stopped for a glass of wine the bartender offered us tips on where to visit on our trip and commended my attempt to tell him where I was from in French. I wasn’t scoffed at or rudely answered in English, but more so asked in French where I learned to speak French and how I liked the visit so far. In addition, he offered us a free map and a genuine “Au Revoir.”

As the trip continued the waiter at our first meal offered us free tap water and two baskets of bread, this may seem like nothing, but in Europe free water and bread is quite rare. She was quite smiley and seemed to while knowing we were tourists still treat us like locals.

Each hotel we visited had an even friendlier receptionist and even the woman cleaning the orange juice dispenser during the continental breakfast offered me a huge smile and friendly “Comment ca va?” as she poured me a glass of fresh orange juice.

Even the man at the Panini stand offered us a lovely French greeting in addition to a warm aperitif while we waited for our Panini to finish cooking. It was a fabulous deal a crepe, Panini, and drink all for 6 euro, pretty reasonable and perhaps one of the best meals we had while we were there. The generosity outpoured throughout the whole trip.

I appreciated the level of respect I was given which outweighed the level of mockery I felt on my first trip. The Parisian crowd most certainly redeemed themselves! I don’t know that I will necessarily be able to return to Paris this year, though in the future I most certainly would like to visit. I’ll be sure to brush up on my French phrases and pronunciation before I go in order to be able to appropriately address the Parisians when they kindly speak to me in French.