Tuesday, December 17, 2013

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 love it! Though the heels issue seems unavoidable:) #14 seems an international phenomenon as when I was in Chicago a local prosecutor told me the courts call the (inevitable) result of flashing one's iPhone on the metro, "Apple picking."

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  2. Ooh, la-la, Cara, you make Paris sound SO attractive! :-)

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  3. Thanks once again, Cara, for the memories and the advice for my next trip. I have stayed my last few times near Place de la Bastille. I would add a corollary to your warning for cyclists, viz, pedestrians crossing Bastille should watch out for the amateurs riding rental bikes. You value your life, right?

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  4. Jeffrey I like Apple picking! Regarding #2 there is an academy for help with the high heel impaired
    www.talonsacademy.fr

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  5. These were great. I learned the hard way regarding #2. Luckily, I didn't break or twist an ankle.

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  6. This is delightful, and,um, very revealing.

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