- They do not pick up dog poop in Paris. Even if the dog is really big.
- The lights in your apartment building do not go on automatically, nor do they stay on 24 hours. This you may have seen in a French movie. Be sure to look for where the switch is located before you come home in the dark. I had to go up one landing in the dark until I spotted the switch on the second landing. It would have been a long, dark walk to the fifth floor.
- Crazy people in France talk to themselves loudly in the Metro. However, cell phone service works fine in the Metro as well. So, it is much more difficult to tell the crazies from the blue-tooth users in Paris, especially since it is all in French. In the NYC subway, cellphones do not work consistently, so crazy is the default setting.
- Some doors, like the front door to my apt. building, have a button to release the lock (or you can use your key). This is a lot less fire-safe than a crash bar. Although it is possible that it has some sort of fire fail-safe that I don’t know about. The release button is not necessarily obvious to find, so find it before you need it. See light switch, above.
- Soda costs .88 euro in a boulangerie/grocery/supermarket. It costs 3.80 euro in a cafe. Same as beer. So save the cafe for when you can sit and relax and get the benefit of people-watching (especially on a parade day). Oh, and a boulangerie is a bakery for (mostly) bread. You can often get a cheap sandwich to take away there.
- If you want tap water, ask for “verre d’eau” a glass of water. Otherwise, some cafes will stick you with bottled water. If you have ordered another drink, say a coffee, or a beer, but you want water as well, ask for “verre d’eau.” Last year, Mom and I tried out “eau de Paris” “eau gratis” “eau sans bouteille” until an amused waitress told us to ask for “verre d’eau.” If I am buying something else, give me some free sink water. It will come without ice cubes most likely. If you are two people, it might come in a carafe.
- At the fruit store, don’t touch the fruit. Don’t worry, I caught on before making this mistake. Try to go when the store is quiet, or look up the vocabulary before you go. I could not decide between strawberries and raspberries, so I said the word I knew (framboises) and got raspberries. It’s all part of the adventure. I managed “trois bananes” also. But, if I had wanted veggies, I would have had to settle for spinach (epinard) and onions (onion). If the store was quiet, I could go up and down pointing. Friday night right after work is not quiet. PS: best raspberries I ever ate. Really. In my life.
OK, seven things is good for now. More as I think of them.
