Mixed Feelings

If my wife's month here went fast, think how fast my week has gone (click here to read her very cool post about leaving). I'm torn. I'm ready to go home (and get rid of my Paris cough) but I could easily spend another week here without batting much of an eye (especially with finally having a working toilet again).

Some observations. It's not a stereotype to show a Parisian with a baguette. With boulangeries on every block, people are walking around with 18-inch baguettes quite often.

The Parisians I came in contact with were not impolite. The waitstaff is taught to be unobstrusive. If you want something extra, you have to flag down your waiter and ask for it. They do not hover around your table asking if you need anything. It's just not done. But everyone smiled and welcomed you and thanked you. The few people I actually met were very nice and genuine.

If you're walking in a crowd, you better be assertive and WALK or the mass of people will sweep you to the side. However, even with the devil-may-care of walking in crowds (or driving their cars/scooters) there's very little jostling.

I am very surprised I did not witness a car/scooter/pedestrian accident at any time while here. That truly is a mad game and I don't see how Americans can rent cars and drive around the city. Yikes, people.

The food was okay. Nothing special, though the pastries are a cut above what we normally find in any given restaurant back home.

It's amazing to see so many galleries. How do they all survive? The same with all of the micro boutiques. They're everywhere. These shops that sell niche products in such a small area (some shops are hardly larger than a walk-in closet). They never seem to have customers, but they must get by, right? I don't know how they survive, but it's one of the cool things in this city, adding to all the things you can look at.

Paris could use a whole lot more public restrooms. But it's amazing that this city could build any type of plumbing and electrical infrastructure seeing as how so many buildings are hundreds of years old. Imagine retrofitting all of these buildings with phone, cable, electrical, and modern plumbing. It boggles.

Le sigh. I will miss it here, but I am also looking forward to being home with the puppies and my 50" TV. Ah, priorities.