WARNING TO PEDESTRIANS and other Paris, France Warning Or Danger Tips

This last period that I spent in Paris, I noticed for the first time that the drivers often do not observe the lights. So be very careful when crossing the streets. Just because you have the green doesn't mean that the drivers will observe their red.

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I made a big mistake tonight. I found a very cute Hungarian restaurant while I was out walking. The fomule was reasonable so I went in and sat down. The server was very pleasant. I ordered the poulet which was on the formule. After dinner I ordered the same dessert that was included in the formule. I also ordered the quartre pitchet of wine for 3.50. When my bill was brought to me, I was shocked to see that the dessert was not included with my poulet. Not only was it not included, but it was 10€ for two small stuffed crepes. I could have stopped at the crepe stand on the way home and gotten a large and very delicious crepe for 4€. Had I known these crepes were going to cost me 10, I would have passed on them. Okay they were stuffed with nuts and raisins, but I really would have been just as happy with the one with nutella at less than half the price.

The moral of the story is to make sure you use the word FORMULE and say which one, or you could be in for a shock.

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This is another mistake I made. Two other friends and I were having drinks at a popular café that has a daily happy hour. I had finished my drink and was thirsty so I ordered a bottle of Badoit. I had thought that I would receive a small bottle, but she came with a big opened bottle. Dumb me, I didn't think to tell her a small bottle. So she brought a bottle for the table. Of course she didn't also bother to ask me if I wanted a small or large so as far as I am concerned we are both at fault. But I ended up paying. So who cares who is at fault.

So when ordering water you must specify: caraffe d'eau for fawcett water, petite bouteille d'eau, or grande. And say it twice for good measure.

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UPDATE MARCH 12, 2007: I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH. Today 4 men got on the bus and checked our tickets. Fortunately I had mine in my hand. Do not throw your ticket away until after you have exited the metro station or the bus. Periodically, in the passageways of the metro, you will find metro police checking your ticket to see if it is current. They will also board the bus to do the same and there is no sneaking off. Once they board they do not let anyone off.

UPDATE APRIL 23, 2007: Since the last update I have been stopped several more times. Please take this seriously.

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Be very careful about whom you ask to take your picture or who asks you if you would take his picture.

I was taking a picture of the Eiffel Tower from a side street when a young man came up to me and asked me if I would like him to take my picture. I was just about to say yes, when I remembered the story my landlady told me. It was about a man with a laptop. A "tourist" asked him to take his picture and he said yes. He put his laptop down on the ground next to him and was about to take the camera when the so called tourist reached down and grabbed the laptop and took off.

As I was about to give my camera to this stranger that story flashed through my mind, I thought maybe that would be the last time I would ever see that camera again. So I said no.

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If you have any digestive problems, especially IBS-D, DO NOT DRINK THE WATER. It has a lot of magnesium in it and you might just as well take a laxative. That means no coffee, tea or beverages with water that you may order in a cafe. Buy your water and read the label for the mineral content. MOUNT ROUSCOUS, which you can buy in Monoprix grocery department and some small markets, is one that tastes delicious and has the lowest and most tolerable magnesium count.

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Though the metro and bus system in Paris are excellent, I find that I have one very big complaint. Unlike New York and Washington, DC, you cannot transfer from bus to metro or metro to bus. But you can transfer from bus to bus or bus to tram within 90 minutes and you can only do this one time.

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This isn't really a danger unless you are dying for bread. Three times a day, before meals, you will find long lines outside any boulangerie. So if you want to eat bread go during the off hours.

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After I fell down and hurt my knee in Paris, which, as I write three months later, is still hurting, I realized how unaccessable the bathrooms are to people with physical disabilities. I would include extreme overweight in that catergory in this case too. Bathrooms are often down in the bowels of the resto where you must use either a spiral or very steep staircase. The spiral staircases are so narrow that if you are in the obese catergory you might have a problem also.

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Never have I been anywhere where beggars, and I include those who are asking for money for an organization, have been so aggressive and annoying, than Paris.

It is easy to know where the money goes if the other hand is holding a bottle of wine. But where does the money that the kids collect for their so called charitable organization go. And why don't they have real jobs. They look well dressed and well educated. Is it a cult they are collecting for. How would one really know.

Even if I could be sure that at least 90% is going to the people who need it, their harassing manner discourages me from giving them a sous.

I also find quite annoying all the people who are taking surveys and trying to get you to sign something. Probably the worst place for both groups is near the Monoprix at Denfert Rochereau.

Another annoyance are those beggars who kneel. I think that is just idiotic and I certainly wouldn't want to encourage that kind of behavior by giving them something. I often wonder who they are working for anyway. They seem to be all over Europe. Are they from the same group?

Recently while on the Champs Elysee near the Arc de Triomphe, I saw some people actually giving money to the young girl with the brown skirt and blue top. This girl was traveling with a group of young women, I won't name the group since I believe it would now be considered politically incorrect, who make their living begging for money in every major tourist city in Europe. I thought every traveller knew about this group of beggars, but I overheard the man (French) say to a woman with whom he was walking that the girl told him she waspoor and needed money to feed her children.

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