Man, nice to be back to a 'normal' keyboard!
It was a good trip. Parisians, totally against what I've been told over the past month, are actually extremely friendly and helpful. But you can't presume everyone speaks English. Learn a little French and the locals totally warm up to you, even as you butcher the language!
Stay away from the "Latin Quarter" -- everyone says the left bank is great for food, but it's nothing more than a "Made for Americans" mall food court-type place where about 1 in 10 people are actually from France. Besides, the food stinks in the area because it's been bastardized to appeal to the "we need a sippy cup with milk, chicken fingers, two hamburgers and a large diet coke"-crowd.
The Eiffel tower is way bigger than you think it is. WAAAAY bigger.
They like Americans, but we're probably not close to their "Top Ten" list of concerns on a daily basis despite what the 24 hour cable news channels lead you to believe. They did get a kick out of the over-coverage of the hurricane.
I felt no ill will towards me being an American. I doubt if they really cared.
They eat mayonnaise with their fries, but it's not mayo like "Kraft". It's a may that's mixed with dijon mustard, almost more of a dijonnaise, but a little more volume of mayo than what we purchase here. It's actually very tasty!
A cheap 'pitchet' of wine at a quaint al-fresco brasserie is far better than the best US wine, and far cheaper than ordering a can of coke. You can get a pitcher of wine to serve four glasses for about $4 to $6 whereas a can of coke is about $3.65.
The Arc de Triomphe is a lot bigger than the pictures lead you to believe.
The Parisians take abou 2 hours for lunch and about 3 hours for dinner so if you're used to the TGI Fridays/Chilis "Dine 'n Dash", might as well find a McDonalds. The food, away from the popular tourist traps, is kickass.
They're also very polite. Lots of "bonjour", "bonsoir" and "au revoir" entering and exiting shops and restaraunts. The waiters aren't ignoring you, they're just busy because there is probably one waiter serving ten to fifteen tables.
The post office was clean, pleasant and helped Kristie and I lick stamps for postcards. And this was during the morning rush.
Airport security, now get this, we went thru security at Charles De Gaulle international. I was able to leave my shoes on, leave my laptop in the case and went through just fine. Seven hours later, I get to JFK, I was
ordered to remove my belt, my shoes, my watch, my wallet take my laptop out of my backpack, put it into a seperate bin, have them all scanned and got yelled at, by the TSA, for holding up the line at the other end of the metal detector when I got redressed. What the F*$%$*#?