Going through my travel journal I kept whist I was on holidays and I found more tips / observations when travelling to Paris. This post is in addition to some Paris tips I gave earlier.
Are the French really rude? ... Not generally. If you want to ask a question best to ask someone working in a retail store or restaurant. They're already in that "customer service" mind frame and are more accommodating to take the time to answer questions. Also if you had just eaten or purchased something from the store they're more inclined to assist as you had just paid for their services. Public servant workers such as train station attendants, post office workers we noticed were less helpful. I guess they're use to tourist asking questions and they know who are tourists so can be selective when they want to be helpful.
One things that annoyed me, cause Aussie's don't do this and admittedly its not just the French. Some locals will walk up to the front of the queue and just start asking their question to the person serving customers. No excuse me, just flat out start a conversation with the person at the front and they would entertain this person. .
At smaller establishments owners may dictate the level of service they want to provide. You could be standing in front of them, they have looked at you so they know you're there but they may want to finish their conversation with each other before they attend to you.
When asking "parlez vous anglais" (do you speak english?) they always say "only little". They don't want to give you the impression they will understand everything you will say especially with the various accents they come across.
Use the public bikes (Velib) available all over town. They're parked all over the city and very easy to use. How it work is you go online and register an account which issues you with an account number and password that you will need to unlock a bike from one of the various bike stations in the city. The bikes cost 1E a day to use however you can only use a bike for 1 hour intervals. So you can borrow a bike but must return it to any station within an hour and potentially borrow another bike straight away too. If you go past the 1 hour your credit card (which you entered at time of registration) will get deducted a lee fee amount.
In Paris dress nicely cause the locals do. What I mean is make an effort to put something nice together, you are in Paris and you want your photos of yourself to look as pretty as the city. Parisians must be born with a great fashion instincts cause the people in Paris dress so well, effortless, stylish and fashion forward.
Do you have any Paris tips?
