Bonjour a la Paris!

[fr8dog]

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most likely because we are a much overweight society than the french people are - how they do it with all the pastries and cheeses is BEYOND me - but it's just a fact that you see very few overweight folks and the only ones we did see were inside of the mcdonalds over there (yes, we went into one just to see what they had on the menu that was different from over here in the US).

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you gave the answer yourself earlier....think of feet hurting....

You noticed people over there don't take the bronco to drive the half block to pick up a triple decker (w/ cheese) and diet coke !!!!!
As for Mc donald (O shame) did you try it ?? If not try next time (just for fun after a wild night - 6 am please....standard in France- ). It's a lot better than here !! I Think it's the only reason McD is still aflloat.....overseas sales !
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only other thing i noticed that was a big time difference - no pill popping commercials... they dont even have tylenol commercials, my bet - if we slowed down some and didn't take things so forgranted, we probably wouldnt have "society drugs" or "depression drugs" because maybe people wouldn't be quite so disatisfied with their lives!

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Yep ! Since healthcare is free, and doctors don't overcharge insurance firms.....
Though the free healthcare part is not totally true...let's just say way cheaper and available ! France do have one of the top healthcare system in the world and the fact that french people bitch all the time is beyond me !!

 

[Minuteman]

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but it's just a fact that you see very few overweight folks and the only ones we did see were inside of the mcdonalds over there (yes, we went into one just to see what they had on the menu that was different from over here in the US).

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So was there really a Royale w/ Cheese?

 

[Hootie]

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Another one that is different: the Menu is a compliation of set meals that typicall are four courses. The carte is the menu

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That is true.. you get the best value by going with the "formulae" or fixed price (prix) menu. usually you'll get an entree du jour (appetizer of the day), plat du jour (entree of the day), desert du jour... or another way around...but yes, you do own that piece of real estate and don't expect to get up from that chair for a good 2 hrs or so...

Big H - I learned french by reading the book - French at a glance - on the way over... the only words i knew were bonjour and merci. I learned most everything by talking to the people, looking at the book and memorizing what i needed to say to get my point across... and just going with the flow!

As far as dress goes - Girls wear skirts (with tennis shoes, flip flops, pumps, heels - you name it) or pants or jeans (on the weekends)... most of the guys wore jeans or pants.. not too many wear shorts and if i'm correct, i don't think they even sell shorts over there cuz it surprised me a lot that no girls wore shorts when it was hot out.. so the guys that i saw in shorts might have been tourists - haha!!

next time, i'm gonna remmeber to pack a skirt and get some better walking shoes cuz my feet were killing even though i had hiking socks and shoes on most of the time (go fig!)...

the restaurats have only 1 bathroom and usually only 1 toilet (unfortunately, they're not very cleanly people when it comes to restrooms).. they don't normally appreciate someone coming in off the street to use their restrooms either.. so get used to holding it or buying a lot of food/coffee/drinks...

oh - another thing about paris that will probably freak you out - or elate you - will be that sexuality is no big thing over there... there's posters of perfumes (advertising) that have bare breasts on them and they have skinemax on late night (around midnight) on public television (yes, for real!)... and it's pretty neat to watch spongebob in french! hahaha

you'll have a blast!! just make sure you try to talk to the people in french.. even if you butcher what your trying to say, they will most likely understand what your saying and help you correct your pronunciations...

hope this helps!! anything else?

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Thanks Kristie! I hopefully will be able to pick that book up at my local barnes and noble because I do not have enough time to order it off of amazon. I am sooo glad to hear that It is possible to get by at least from a crash course on the plane ride over. I'll make sure to have some comfortable sneakers for walking all day and I will make sure not to just barge into a shop to use the bathroom (which I would have done for sure if you had not said something). Spongebob in French? Thats as good as 2 hour meals, I cant wait! Thanks.