 |
  Paris Travel Diary Paris The French are Nice Folks Mark Twain commented that "the French talk funny, eat frogs, and don't bathe." Twain also noted that the streets were dirty and that you couldn't trust the water. Ernest Hemmingway described Paris as "a moveable feast." Okay. Our daughter speaks a little French. I've always thought it was a beautiful language. My background includes Latin, Biblical Greek, and a limited ability in Hebrew. These languages areall quite different from English and frankly not nearly as friendly sounding as French. Her ability to parley vous was extremely valuable on more than a dozen occasions. My observation was that Leslye's use of French immediately put the folks we met at ease. Whatever, they were very warm and hospitable. My wife and I are from Alabama. Where we come from folks eat frogs legs. They taste like chicken. When you fry them you have to pay attention so they don't jump out of the skillet. Bathing is another story. One you should hear. The day we arrived, the water was off because the hotel was replacing a boiler. They said it was only off for one day. I collapsed in the bed at midnight after a grueling 36-hour trip from New Orleans and much walking around Paris. When I got up the next morning at 9:30 am the water was off for the rest of the day. They were trying to finish installing the boiler. It was the night of our second day in Paris before I got a bath. Guess Twain was right about the "not bathing" part. Paris has clean and beautiful streets. They seem to pride themselves on keeping their city clean. We drank the water for eight days and suffered no ill effects. Paris, the City of Light, is a wonderful place for a family to visit. It is a moveable feast as Hemmingway noted. We found some good places to eat. The people were delightful. Twain was wrong. This is Mike Clay with "Word Pictures from Paris". A community service of Lifesongs. Checkout our website at www.virtualtravels.com.
|
