What she order, fish fillet?

The more astute of you will have picked up from the title that I am blogging from Paris.

Paris, the city of romance, beauty, art, fashion, French, and incredible rudeness.

To be sure, it is a nice city (no idea why I'm coming over all Irish and stuff). It's beautiful, in fact. Well, the good parts are anyway.

But it's like kind of like a gorgeous girl who knows she's gorgeous, and acts accordingly. Externally, architecturally, and artistically, it is probably close to being without compare. It has a kind of beauty that cannot be matched by anything made by modern man. The level of care, meticulous attention to detail, and scale of many things in this city are amazing.

For this reason, it would be one of the greatest cities ever. However, there's one thing that severely, severely lets it down.

Yes, the people. I know, I know, people say it's exaggerated, and they're not that bad.

From what I have seen and experienced, it is that bad.

First day I got there, I ordered a fillet o fish at Maccas. The attitude of the guy, who knew very clearly that I was speaking English, was one of "Oh my god, this guy speaks English. Why do people have to speak English?". He sighed, and proceeded to speak in French with sign language. He was about 16 or 17 years of age. Surely he knows rudimentary English?

The next day, at the Eiffel Tower, the security dude started speaking to me in Chinese. Bad Chinese, because he wasn't actually Chinese. Not that I would have understood. Which is my point exactly.

However, although it was unnecessary, as the question I was being asked was not being asked of anyone else there, it was sort of understandable, so we'll let that one slide.

Other stuff happened in between, but I've forgotten now. Anyway, that night, we went to buy something at the supermarket. Assistant was all friendly and chummy with her French mate, then threw our stuff on the counter and got us to bag it ourselves. The difference is quite startling.

Today, I tried to put credit on my phone. The woman could speak English, knew full well that I spoke English, and still spoke very angry and frustrated French with me.

A bit later, I got laughed at the bakery because I spoke English. Once again, they knew I spoke English, and still insisted on speaking French with me.

I hate to stereotype, but most of the positive experiences with French customer service has come from black people. The taxi driver who drove us on the first day, very well spoken and very happy. The guy in the phone store today, who explained things to me in English after ascertaining that I didn't speak French. Another phone store guy today, who after not understanding me initially, got me to speak slower, and gave me directions.

The worst seem to be guys and middle-aged women. Most of them act as though you go into their store asking for money or something.

Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a Paris hate-fest. Again, it is a very nice city. While public transport is quite old and in need of sprucing up, it is very efficient and convenient.

While we did the Eiffel Tower, the Musee D'Orsay, the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame yesterday, I enjoyed today much more. We went to the Louvre and the Luxembourg Gardens, and I went to Sacre-Coeur by myself today.

The Louvre has been my favourite so far. Absolutely amazing place. The building itself is a work of art comparable to the masterpieces that it contains. While waiting in line for an hour (because we got there at 8 in the morning), we started talking to these Canadians who were quite cool and nice. In hindsight, a good start to the day, and pretty much set the tone.

The Luxembourg Gardens come a close second. Beautifully natural, and lacking in massive crowds.


The Sacre-Coeur also had no lines. While inside, there was this moment that I would've loved to have captured on camera, but was forbidden by the no photography signs. Well, I could've, but disrespect and all that.


Anyway, it was the sun streaming in from the windows at the top, and it looked like sunlight that filters through a gap in the clouds sometimes. Beautiful. 


Speaking of lines, they're ridiculous. Everywhere. Which is also another annoying aspect. 


Backtracking a bit to London and England. 


People over there were more or less quite friendly and nice. Although quite a few of them started speaking Chinese and Japanese to me, or speaking English to me as if I were a three-year-old, it's not entirely unexpected when most of the Asians I saw (which were few and far between) were international students or tourists. 


The first day we got there, we pretty much only went to Emirate Stadium.

What an amazing stadium. Aesthetically beautiful, and so grand.

The coolest thing happened there as well. We were trying to get in an do the stadium tour, when the guy was like, "Sorry, the Legends Tour is about to start, so you'll have to come back at 1:30."

Charlie George, the legendary Charlie George, stood up for us, being all like "Oh, let them through." Then started conversing with us about where we came from, and how the football there was progressing. Apparently he'd played at some now-defunct Melbourne football club. Amazing.

What also amazed me was that the girl who sold me the Arsenal jersey actually knew about football. It's a feature that I've found with sales assistants in England. They're usually quite approachable and know what they're on about.

That night, I decided to go for a wander to London Bridge, because I thought it was the Millenium Bridge, because an alternate universe operates in my brain. Anyway, I got there, and was slightly disappointed, because there is essentially nothing there. It barely even resembles a bridge. However, it did give one a rather nice view of Tower Bridge (the good bridge). After taking some photos for a Swedish couple, I got them to do the same for me, and everyone was happy and stuff. (I later pulled this stunt off again at the Sacre-Coeur). Whilst there, I also saw the Monument, which is essentially a pole in the ground. And because London public transport is also quite efficient, I just jumped on the tube and went home.

So the next day, we went on a tour to Windsor Castle (cancelled because it was closed or something) Hampton Court Palace (because that's what they do when Windsor is closed), Bath (as distinct from bathing) and Stonehenge. Hampton Court Palace was massive and quite pretty inside and outside. Bath was stunning. The town planning restrictions - only limestone allowed in buildings - is pure genius. Stonehenge was what it is - a pile of rocks. It was absolutely freezing there too. While London was rainy, it wasn't as cold. Great tour.

We visited Buckingham Palace after the tour. Yeah, cool story.

The next day, Kenny and Cloris took us around London and efficiently and effectively took us to visit all the main London attractions. (We also visited the actual Millenium Bridge). We spent an inordinate, but very enjoyable, amount of time at Harrods, which is pretty much a museum of cool and expensive stuff.

I think Kenny worked it out to be roughly 6000 quid a pop. That's British Pounds. Not dollars. Not that 6000 dollars is exactly cheap.

Lol Harrods Wine.

A fun 'game', where we sniff different bottles (nothing suss), try and guess what we're smelling, and confirm our suspicions. Fun times.

Afterwards, Kenny and I headed to a bar to watch the football and catch up on various goings on. Overall, an awesome day. It was great having very amicable and knowledgable tour guides taking us around London town.

Tomorrow, we head to Versailles for a bit of opulent, decadent sightseeing. Should be good. 


Word of the Day: Paris