The back of beyond and other Paris, France General Tips

Favorite Thing: For a country that serves up all that egalitarian stuff about Liberty Fraternity and Equality stemming from the 1789 revolution, it would be difficult to find a more innately snobbish city.

The "I live in a better arrondisment than you" is all very well, but all those who live beyond the peripherique (Paris' ring road) are considered by those 'in the loop' as barbarians who have recently fallen out of the trees. They drag their knuckles along the ground to the outer reaches of the Metro, complete their menial jobs in the city only to return home, hunt wild animals and make fires with two bits of flint.

Such prejudice is not uncommon in big cities, indeed in London anything North of Watford is a londoner's hazy idea of the rest of England - but would they really look down on someone who lived just the wrong side of the North Circular. The idea may seem more normal to a New Yorker - Manhattan is not just the centre of town, it is NY.

Fondest Memory: Using this prejudice to your own advantage. Find a hotel just beyond the peripherique and the prices drop right down, as to neighbourhood restaurants and shop prices. The only downside ? a few more stops in the morning on the Metro.

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Favorite Thing: I recently came across a wonderfull blog that ruminates on life in Paris.

The site also has a number of comments added to it, which are also very often hilariously funny and informative.

Find this site at : http://www.petiteanglaise.com/archives/2005/01/26/driving/


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Favorite Thing: Sourbugger is not exactly a great fan of Film Musicals, but this 2001 effort "Moulin Rouge", is a geat romp with Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman (in every man's fantasy outfits) and even little Kylie Minogue as a green fairy.

I far as I can work out, the filming was mostly done in Australia and never got within a mile of Paris, but the bohemian lifestyle and mindset of year 1900 is wonderfully portrayed.

It must also have been worth several million in free advertising to the oweners of the Moulin Rouge itself.

The Moulin Rouge itself is still therefore living off past glories...but hey..you can always dream of those naughty days and Nicole in a basque and suspenders.


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Favorite Thing: In comparison to cities like London, I always find Paris to be a very 'clean' place to be, with the possible exception of the piles of afternoon dog dirt.

In this article, published in NY the reason becomes clear :

"The biggest difference between New York and Paris is the fact that Paris is clean," David Garrard Lowe wrote in City Journal in 1996. Every morning, Parisian merchants hose sidewalks, and city machines spray streets and remove litter from under parked cars.

"The fact that Paris is clean gives Parisians a sense that things are not falling apart," said Lowe, "that society is not doomed, that there is order in the universe and municipal government."

Fondest Memory: One of life's finer things is to sit at an outdoor cafe in Paris, in the early morning, a cup of dark coffee in one hand a crossiant in the other and the water rippling down the street in front of you.

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Favorite Thing: There is a certain poster (see opp.) that adorns student walls all over the place. The great beauty of the picture is whether is has been caught 'candidly' or whether it was staged.

When the woman featured in Robert Doisneau's classic photograph of a couple kissing outside Paris city hall sold her original print at auction then we knew the answer - it was staged.

The picture in question , "Kiss by the Hotel de Ville", sold for 155,000 euros recently.

Francoise Bornet and her then boyfriend agreed to pose for the picture in 1950.

You too can recreate the scene outside the town hall (Hotel d'ville) by getting a load of photo equipment and getting a friend to set it up. Then find a long coat, pull your head through a hedge backwards, and finally approach a likely looking statuesque Freenchwoman for a surprised snatched kiss. It may work, and you can sell your work for a fortune or, alternatively you may end up in hospital with bruised shins and on a charge of sexual harrassment.


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