Strolling crestfallen along the Seine, a classic
THE GASTRONOMY
- The customer is not always right In Paris, the waiter/clerk/taxi driver is king.
- The tables on the terraces of the cafes are very close together and you sit next to your partner, not in front of him. In addition, both of you will look in the direction of the street to observe the panorama. The people watching , one of his favorite hobbies.
- Be careful with your level of French , the names of the crustaceans are confusing, it seems that on purpose; the crevette is the shrimp, the shrimp is the prawn and the langoustine is the Norway lobster.
**- When you order a wine **, you don't usually see the bottle, in general they bring it to your table but to compensate for "the atonement" they let you ask for a jug of water without forcing you to ask for a mineral one and you don't pay for the service .
Watch life go by from a cafe
- Forget the long list of tapas sung by heart at lightning speed by your Madrid waiter, Parisian bistros and brasseries offer a menu of about five dishes at most and are usually the same in all of them.
**- Everything is petit, (whether big or small)**. So an innocent petite salade (small salad) like the landaise, can be as forceful or more than a Madrid stew.
- Forget olive oil; cream and/or butter, are present in all recipes from morning to night. breakfast with a pain au chocolat , lunch with a veau blanquette , (veal in sauce made with crème fraîche) and mashed potatoes with butter or a “light dinner”, based on leek cream (with cream, bien sûr) .
- Bread deserves a whole ceremony ; you usually have to wait a long time at the boulangerie until your turn comes. And then you realize that what you had eaten so far was not a croissant but a simple bun in the shape of an antler.
The boulangerie as the epicenter in 'La baker de Monceau', by Éric Rohmer
- There is a curious salted butter caramel that is delicious spread on a crepe.
- The Parisian paella It is written with an umlaut Paella ” and they add a hint of chorizo that they pronounce something like “shorisso” or “corisso”.
- In the supermarket the packs are tiny, aimed at people who eat little, who live alone or as a couple. And the dairy area is heaven, You will never have seen such a variety of cheeses and yogurts in all their versions.
- The Parisian McDonald's is the Parisian sandwich (with ham and butter) or the neighborhood Japanese restaurant, in fact surprisingly France, a country known for its gastronomy, It is one of the countries in Europe where more sushi is consumed.
-The "French omelette" is their omelette nature and the potato omelette, for them it is the omelette.
- Lunch and dinner times have nothing to do with the Spanish, at noon the déjeuner is between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. and dinner around 8:00 p.m., as a result you can start drinking post-dinner wines at 9:30 p.m. instead of one in the morning.
Cheesemakers, this is real
PARTY
- They are organized even to go out for drinks; There is no equivalent of "Antonio, will you come down and have a beer?" spontaneity is not a parisian characteristic They are more about planning the agenda in the long term, in the very long term.
- On weekends the plans accumulate and you go from one soirée to another to make an appearance, with a stopwatch, as if it were a rally . Around 1:30 in the morning there is a first withdrawal of people, coinciding with the time at which the last metro passes.
-In trendy bars and clubs, forget about “real” ice , crushed ice is popular here, even if it waters down the cocktail; and the soft drink is not served in an individual bottle, but in a 2-liter or pressure bottle, the catastrophe!
- Parisians don't move their hips when they dance, only their shoulders , which creates a somewhat robotic effect; movement that you get used to after a while. On the other hand, many “good kids” dance to the rhythm of French rock like authentic spinning tops, even adding risky capers.
- They are fans of the music of the '60s and '70s. Certain themes are recurrent in almost all the “guateques”. At the end of the night there is always a song by Michael Jackson like Billie Jean, I Want you Back by the Jackson 5 and some legendary French songs from the '60s and '70s. does not fail Alexandrie, Alexandra or Magnolias Forever by Claude Francois.
Parties in Paris are never left to chance
THE JOB
- In the morning you must greet all your colleagues one by one with two kisses Likewise, if you go to another department, you must do the greetings tour.
- The emails are full of long phrases and well-studied formulas to transmit each message , as simple as it is and if you can put a lot of people in copy all the better.
- There is no intensive day on Fridays ; It's time to go out late like any other day and not go home before going to dinner so as not to settle down.
- The best invention, the wonderful days of **RTT (Réduction du temps travail) ** are vacation days that are achieved by having worked overtime, excellent!
- They always make jokes about the Spanish party and siesta, but they spend half their vacation time and the other half organizing it.
Holidays of those that are always remembered
- The whole world is about you, age does not matter, if you are in charge of an 18-year-old intern you will treat her equally as yourself; It is an unwritten law, even when "a badass" compliments you on the street.
- Your colleagues and clients consider that they speak English well, at least “in their style”; but we don't understand each other when we speak it. "Hot dog" is not said "jotdog" as in Spain but "_ottdo_g" idem with the Spanish-style "Jarrypoter" that they pronounce "aripoterr" or the happy hour "japiagüer" that they articulate "appi r"
- On the other hand, in their own language they don't let you pass one, you must pronounce perfectly so that they understand you, if you enter a bakery and you order a baguette and you don't say it with a perfect accent they don't get it, even though it's pretty obvious to you given where you are and the possible choices in their baskets.
Don't try it, you're not pronouncing it right
HOUSES
- When you are looking for a rental studio, the minimum legal area starts at 9m2, the equivalent of a matchbox, but all very well thought out with implausible cunning to take advantage of every centimeter (such as the bathtub serving as a table by placing a board on top; or that the bed comes down from the ceiling with an electronic system… unbelievable!) If you live alone and have a 40m2 apartment, your Parisian friends will almost congratulate you; in his own way, of course.
- In the portals there are no helpful "phones" , but a code and sometimes several to cross the different patios and landings. Blessed mobile that saves you when after all the journey you get to the door and you don't remember the magic numbers. During the day a button for postmen gives free access to the building.
- The street sweepers open the water faucet of the public sewers to clean the edge of the road and to channel it they place rolls of carpet.
- In the month of June the Fête des voisins , in which all the residents of a building, who have not exchanged a word during the year, meet on the stair landing, the patio or in the street with things to snack on, chat for a while and get to know each other in an authentic atmosphere town. Inconceivable any other day.
If your house is more than 9 square meters... HAVE A PARTY
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
- On the first Wednesday of each month, at twelve in the morning, the fire stations in all the neighborhoods activate the emergency siren, the first time you hear it without knowing what happens it is somewhat disturbing.
- In public transport people do not take the opportunity to stick the thread with the one next door; In fact, you try to cross your eyes as little as possible. Attention, the metro arrives from the left side, unlike Madrid.
- There are frequent strikes ; It is part of the first information you take into account at the beginning of the day in case it affects transport.
- By the way you find out about the weather in case you take the umbrella and the trench coat . The sky is covered all year round by a light veil that disappears between May and August and encore…
- The best of the parks are their classic green metal chairs, which were created in 1900, unlike our benches, they can be moved to enjoy the place as you please.
Enjoy a nap like this...
THE WEDDINGS
- At weddings, depending on your range of friendship with the couple, they can invite you to only part of the celebration; that is to say, it is possible that they propose you to go to the cocktail and the final party but not to the dinner; or just an aperitif... It is not uncommon to see someone in the first wine , that he go to dinner on her own and return to the dance. It is a very frequent custom and the guests take it with philosophy.
- The looks of the guests are more relaxed than in Spain, Sometimes they wear two different suits for the church and the celebration and some take the opportunity to dress in black.
- In the toast while saying "santé" you look into the eyes and do not cross the glasses.
- If the table is dressed in a classic way, the cutlery is placed facing downwards, a tradition that was born from wanting to show the family coats of arms engraved on the back.
-The bride loses her maiden name when she marries , so if you stop seeing your friend Anne Dupont for a season you may totally lose track of her if she got married in that time. I could work in the same building as your office under the name Anne Lombard and not even know it.
- During the invitation, the guests, especially the witnesses and relatives of the bride and groom, make millions of speeches, parodies, dances and theater... You have to be prepared for all kinds of surprises.
Parisian weddings are NOT as fancy as Spanish ones. Really.