Tuesday, July 7, 2015

20 Mistakes to Avoid in Paris

Here's one from the archives!

20 Mistakes to Avoid in Paris


1. Missing the last Metro home
Full taxi's pass you by, you face a long walk home

2. Heels on cobblestones - unless you’re Parisian + have grown up doing this.

3. Sacre Coeur pickpocket petition scams - avoid them and go up the back stairs

4. Bicycling the rond-point Bastille - you value your life, right?

5. Sales clerks on the Rue St Honoré - only if you’re really buying that Vuitton should you face them
6. Demonstrations + strikes - forewarned is knowledge - check before leaving the house or you might have no bus or Metro to catch
7. Side stepping suspicious streams on the pavement/trottoir - you get the reason, non?

8. Les soldes/ The Sales in January and June - only if you’re obsessed, determined + have your game plan in place should you enter the fray at Galleries Lafayette

9. Touching the fruit at greengrocers - just don’t

10. Fishing in the Canal St Martin - it’s very shallow and yet they find bodies once in awhile 

11. Paris Plages - your call if you want to slap on oil and sardine crunch with the Parisians who couldn’t get out of Paris in August 
12. Driving through Sunday manifestations/strikes - again, you value your life, right?


13. Not greeting shop assistants when you enter and leave - an expected common courtesy
 14. Flashing an iPhone at Metro stations - that’s if you want to keep it

15. Puces St Ouen - instead go to Porte de Vanves fleamarket more locals and deals

16. Pigeons - hard to avoid but keep extra cafe napkins in pocket to alleviate those white plops

17. Late night kebab - eh, go for the frites 

18. Sunbaking on the Seine - see #11 Paris Plages + #16 Pigeons
19. Lining up for the Louvre - find the back entrance and enter via the Pyramid

20. Dog deficit - hop, skip + jump 

Any questions?

Cara - Tuesday

6 comments:

  1. I was once pestered in Paris by a very persistent Frenchman who might have wanted to take me for lunch...or he might have been a serial killer. In sign language I told him I didn't know what he was saying. He went through all the languages he knew. I answered in Gaelic (saying the only Gaelic phrase I know - Thank you for the handkerchief..) over and over again. Eventually he went away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Imagine what he's telling his friends back home in Iowa about his experience with this lady in Paris he was just asking for the time.

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    2. Friend of mine did the same with a persistent Italian on a trip to Venice. She answered in Welsh, which threw him completely.

      Good advice all round Cara!

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  2. I loved it, Cara! Seems to combine the "best" of a combination between NYC and Athens, with Central Park standing in for ##s 11 & 18.

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  3. I will keep these things in mind as I watch Le Tour and wish I could be there.

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