Paris:
When I stepped off the bus into the bustling streets of Paris I was expecting something completely different from what I found. I was told was that Paris was going to be the biggest culture shock of all the cities we were visiting. I have to admit there were some things that struck me as odd, but nothing too off putting.
One thing that I noticed was the amount of dog poop. If you didn’t watch out you could step in it anywhere, even in the metro. In London the tube was very clean and orderly; however, I got the opposite impression of the Paris metro. Once you got the hang of it, the metro was easy to use, despite the learning curve. Where the big difference lies is how dirty the Paris metro stations can be. They are often full of homeless people sleeping where people should be sitting, and many stations smelled of feces. What I did like was some of the performers who actually rode the metro and played music from the godfather and other classic movies as you ride by the streets of Paris, giving everything a distinctly European feel. That the metro actually rides in some places above ground was a welcome change from the tube because it allowed you to still see the city and get to your destination in a timely fashion.
Another cultural norm I noticed was the people-watching that takes place from covered outdoor seating at many of the cafés lining the road. I actually enjoyed taking part in this tradition because it felt very European to me. There is something about eating a crepe and drinking a coffee while people-watching that makes you realize you are in Paris. This also comes in handy on rainy days, which are quite common this time of year in Paris, seeing as it can give you a slight reprieve from the sometimes torrential downpour.
The main thing that I believe most people are warned about in Paris are the gypsies and their skill at pickpocketing. There are signs for it everywhere, and I even read an article while riding the metro in the Paris Newspaper about increased security because 500,000 Chinese Nationals had reported being pick-pocketed last year. Besides seeing one young American get her phone stolen I didn’t much notice the gypsies, perhaps because of the presence of armed patrols by the French military in tourist areas.
The problem is that Paris today is a modern city. The gypsies no longer look like what most people would hear about or think up in the states. The typical gypsy is billed as wearing the flowing clothing and head scarfs and large jewelry. I always imagined them as they are portrayed in the second Sherlock Holmes movie. In reality the gypsies today are mostly African immigrants trying to sell miniature Eiffel Towers literally everywhere, I arrived at Versailles only to be asked if I wanted 5 cheap trinkets for 1 euro, and women and children asking you to sign petitions as a distraction. As long as you just keep saying no and walking they don’t pose much of a threat.
Despite the amazing tourist sites and the interesting French culture I thought that we spent too much time in Paris and actually questioned why we were there at all. The Shoah museum and the memorial to those deported during the Jewish roundup were absolutely brilliant and heart wrenching. Besides that, however, there was really nothing relevant to WWII. The military museum is similar to any other WWII military museum, and the French resistance museum was disappointing.
There is predominant sense of denial in the French culture surrounding their collaboration in WWII. There is no denying that many in the government and even some in the resistance collaborated to save their own lives. However, the French Resistance museum glossed over this fact and actively promotes the De Gaulle myth that every Frenchman and woman was an active part if the resistance. This frustrated me, because they down played the role of the Americans and the rest of the allies in saving their country. To me it just seems to be an act of vanity and a refusal to admit that the French got their hands plenty filthy during the German occupation.
Overall French culture in Paris did not really surprise me, seeing as we had a soft introduction to French culture in Bayeux. It seemed as if Paris had all the typical trappings of a tourist city such as souvenir shops and citizens who are tired of dealing with the day-in-day out mental and physical struggle of putting up with hordes of tourists. I’d say I quite enjoyed Paris far more than I ever could have dreamed I would have. That being said, I was glad to put Paris in the rear view and set my sights on Germany and the true goal of both the allied war effort and our small band of modern day invaders, Berlin.