Parisian style

In addition to trying to learn French, one of the things I’ve been paying attention to in Paris is how other people dress.  I spill on myself way too much to achieve any sort of effortless French chic, so I just watch people on the street and aim to look like someone that might not be a tourist.

A few things that we’ve figured out from 8 months of people-watching:

- People are often dressed as if it were 20 degrees cooler than it actually is.  It might be that after 30+ years of living in the upper Midwest I am trained to put on summery clothes the moment the temperature rises above 60 degrees, but I got a lot of weird looks the other week for going out on a sunny, 68-degree afternoon in a light cardigan and a dress.  Everyone else on the street was wearing a coat (and some of the coats were wool).

- The French (men, women and children) really do wear scarves a lot.  Even in warm weather.  This may have something to do with my previous point.  

- You generally do not see French people wearing exercise clothing (sweat pants, yoga pants, athletic shoes) unless they are exercising.  Conversely, you can wear almost anything you want to exercise.  We go running on a path near our apartment every weekend and have seen runners wearing rhinestone-covered halter tops, harem pants with a string bikini top, and khaki pants with a sweater.  I guess that’s the French equivalent of wearing yoga pants to the grocery store - business casual clothing on the running path?

Yesterday in Paris

Lately it seems like there is always something interesting happening in Paris.  Yesterday, we ran into the tail end of a parade running down our street.  There were no signs or advance warning that the street would be shut down or that a parade was scheduled, but we came back from a walk to find a giant creepy puppet surrounded by dancers walking past our apartment building, followed by a marching band that was dressed like harlequins and playing Mmmbop by Hanson (I am not proud that I was able to identify that song so quickly).  While I was out of town earlier this month, J encountered a parade of guide dogs and their owners marching down our street.  Who knows what we’ll see next!

Sometimes we have to work a little harder to come across random discoveries.  Mid-week last week, while trying my best to read the newspaper in French, I discovered that there is an annual “Night of Museums” in Paris and other European cities where museums are open from 6 pm to midnight on a Saturday night and admission is free.  Having just missed the monthly free museum Sunday in Paris, I was very excited to learn that la nuit des musées was just days away.  We had dinner plans on Saturday night, so I consulted the map of participating museums and realized that the Centre Pompidou was very near to the restaurant.  And so we ended up enjoying modern art and gorgeous views of the city at the Centre Pompidou last night, surrounded by a surprising number of other people.  I think visiting an art museum after midnight was even more fun than all of the parades running down our street, but I probably need to check out a guide dog parade in person to be sure.

Awkward moments back in the United States

I was back in the U.S. for the last week.  Though we’ve only been in Paris for 7 months, there were a few things that I mixed up . . .

I kept forgetting to specify a size when ordering coffee at coffee shops because coffee only comes in one size in Paris.

I spent longer than I would like to admit looking for the drying settings on my parents’ washing machine, only to remember that they have a separate dryer (in our apartment we have a combination washer/dryer).

When grocery shopping with my mom, she asked if I wanted anything special for breakfast while staying with them.  I grabbed a single yogurt and had to be reminded that I could buy yogurts for the whole week (and fit them in the refrigerator) all at once.

Les ponts de mai

This year there are four French holidays in May:  May 1 (Labor Day/Fête du Travail), May 8 (VE Day), May 17 (Ascension) and May 28 (Pentecost Monday).  When the holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, taking the adjacent Monday or Friday off to make a long weekend is called “faire le pont” (to bridge the gap).  We bridged the gap between Labor Day and the weekend to take a trip to London.

This was the first visit to an Anglophone country for either me or J since we moved to France last fall.  As much French as I have learned since moving here, it was so nice to have a long weekend where I did not have to mentally prepare for every single interaction.  

We did not have a set itinerary going into the trip; our big plans were to speak English and eat Indian food.  When we realized that the weather was going to be cold and wet, we picked a few museums to visit to keep out of the rain.  We went to the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Museum.  

The National Portrait Gallery was fascinating.  The paintings are arranged in a mostly chronological order, with information next to each portrait about that individual’s role in history.  I really enjoyed seeing the faces of so many people that I’d read about, authors I’ve enjoyed, and scientists whose constants and laws I’ve used.  

We had a great time exploring both the Tate Modern and the surrounding neighborhood.  We wandered through the Borough Market, but the weather was too miserable to take full advantage of the many interesting food stands and vendors selling cups of prosecco.

The rain finally cleared up for the last 24 hours that we were in London and we were able to take a long walk through Hyde Park.

On our last morning we took a quick trip to the British Museum to see just a few of the many treasures there.  We visited the Rosetta Stone, saw the gorgeous Elgin Marbles taken from the Parthenon in Greece, and inspected a series of Assyrian reliefs.

Despite the weather for most of the trip we had an amazing time and some fantastic meals.  I was excited to introduce J to the Cinnamon Club, an upscale Indian restaurant that I had eaten at on a business trip to London a few years ago, though I think the edible highlight for him might have been the pints of British cask ales.  It was so easy to take the train from Paris to London that we decided we’ll have to make it back soon!