I have returned from Paris, in one piece, in good spirits and have to say I
had a great time. I was ( and I know some poeple will be disappointed at this)
not spat upon, not cursed and no one threw rocks at me. I found Paris in the
Spring time to be as perfect as always. People were friendly and helpful, the
flowers were blooming , it was wonderful...l as I figured it would be.

I stayed in some wo nderful hotels, one in Switzerland calle the Grand Regina
in Grin dlewald was wonderful. I*n Italy stayed in Fuirenze at the Villa de
Medici, the best hotel I have ever seen. If any one wants more info , let me
know. Tried some great Restaurants too. Will be glad to share any info that I
have.

Shopping was great, good sight seeing and there were few Americans so the lines
were short.

Rosie
\

Following up to Rosie Miller

    >not spat upon, not cursed and no one threw rocks at me.

So all those threads are lies!
--
Mike Reid
Spanish regional cooking at
"http://www.fell-walker.co.uk/espania.htm"

"Rosie Miller" schreef in bericht
news:[email protected]...
there were few Americans so the lines
    > were short.

I have been to places where there were *no* Americans and the lines were
still long. :-)

Glad to read that you had a good time.

Sjoerd

In my experience the French are polite, helpful & charming. The secret for
an English speaker though is to make the effort to learn at least a few
basic phrases in French - it really makes a difference.

"Rosie Miller" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I have returned from Paris, in one piece, in good spirits and have to say
I
    > had a great time. I was ( and I know some poeple will be disappointed at
this)
    > not spat upon, not cursed and no one threw rocks at me. I found Paris in
the
    > Spring time to be as perfect as always. People were friendly and helpful,
the
    > flowers were blooming , it was wonderful...l as I figured it would be.
    > I stayed in some wo nderful hotels, one in Switzerland calle the Grand
Regina
    > in Grin dlewald was wonderful. I*n Italy stayed in Fuirenze at the Villa
de
    > Medici, the best hotel I have ever seen. If any one wants more info , let
me
    > know. Tried some great Restaurants too. Will be glad to share any info
that I
    > have.
    > Shopping was great, good sight seeing and there were few Americans so the
lines
    > were short.
    > Rosie
    > \

On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 21:29:26 +0100, "Big Al"
wrote:


    >In my experience the French are polite, helpful & charming. The secret for
    >an English speaker though is to make the effort to learn at least a few
    >basic phrases in French - it really makes a difference.

Absolutely. When you start your conversation with "Bonjour,
Madame. Parlez-vous Anglaise?" _anyone_ will be more inclined to give
you the benefit-of-the-doubt. And if you're an American, they seem to
be able to spot the accent regardless which part you're from, and will
gladly slip into English to prevent further damage to the lingua
franca :-)

[email protected] (Rosie Miller) wrote:

    >I have returned from Paris, in one piece, in good spirits and have to say I
    >had a great time. I was ( and I know some poeple will be disappointed at this)
    >not spat upon, not cursed and no one threw rocks at me. I found Paris in the
    >Spring time to be as perfect as always. People were friendly and helpful, the
    >flowers were blooming , it was wonderful...l as I figured it would be.

Yep. I was there the first week of April and had the same experience as you.
Any and all concerns proved to be completely unfounded. Paris was absolutely
gorgeous.... hope to return again in the autumn. And the people were great...
helpful and courteous everywhere we went.

MW

Frank Clarke wrote:
    >
    > On Mon, 14 Apr 2003 21:29:26 +0100, "Big Al"
    > wrote:
    >
    >
    > >In my experience the French are polite, helpful & charming. The secret for
    > >an English speaker though is to make the effort to learn at least a few
    > >basic phrases in French - it really makes a difference.
    >
    > Absolutely. When you start your conversation with "Bonjour,
    > Madame. Parlez-vous Anglaise?" _anyone_ will be more inclined to give
    > you the benefit-of-the-doubt. And if you're an American, they seem to
    > be able to spot the accent regardless which part you're from, and will
    > gladly slip into English to prevent further damage to the lingua
    > franca :-)

Sometimes a problem, if you'd like to practice your French.

David Gascon wrote in message news:...
    > Frank Clarke wrote:
[snip]
    > > Absolutely. When you start your conversation with "Bonjour,
    > > Madame. Parlez-vous Anglaise?" _anyone_ will be more inclined to give
    > > you the benefit-of-the-doubt. And if you're an American, they seem to
    > > be able to spot the accent regardless which part you're from, and will
    > > gladly slip into English to prevent further damage to the lingua
    > > franca :-)
    >
    > Sometimes a problem, if you'd like to practice your French.


Actually, as one bilingual french native tour guide explained to
me, being your french tutor is one of the few requirements NOT
included in her job description.

i.e. if your french is so bad that she'd prefer to speak in
english with you, she was gonna whether you liked it or not.
You wanna practice your french, hire a tutor.

We've found too that learning some of the language is a good thing. We've done
that in other countries but in France my wife speaks fluent French so that's
been great.....A short story.....
On our last trip there we were in Arles and bought something in a shop. Didn't
have exact change so of course I handed the clerk a Euro note that would require
here to give me back just a Euro or two (it was not a lot). The guy behind us
said something in French and the clerk said something back. Upon leaving my wife
said the guy behind me said "Americans never have exact change" and the clerk
replied "They never do". Even now I'm mad my wife did not reply in perfect
French.

Doug Burke

Big Al wrote:

    > In my experience the French are polite, helpful & charming. The secret for
    > an English speaker though is to make the effort to learn at least a few
    > basic phrases in French - it really makes a difference.
    > "Rosie Miller" wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > I have returned from Paris, in one piece, in good spirits and have to say
    > I
    > > had a great time. I was ( and I know some poeple will be disappointed at
    > this)
    > > not spat upon, not cursed and no one threw rocks at me. I found Paris in
    > the
    > > Spring time to be as perfect as always. People were friendly and helpful,
    > the
    > > flowers were blooming , it was wonderful...l as I figured it would be.
    > >
    > > I stayed in some wo nderful hotels, one in Switzerland calle the Grand
    > Regina
    > > in Grin dlewald was wonderful. I*n Italy stayed in Fuirenze at the Villa
    > de
    > > Medici, the best hotel I have ever seen. If any one wants more info , let
    > me
    > > know. Tried some great Restaurants too. Will be glad to share any info
    > that I
    > > have.
    > >
    > > Shopping was great, good sight seeing and there were few Americans so the
    > lines
    > > were short.
    > >
    > > Rosie
    > > \
    > >

"Doug Burke" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > ... "Americans never have exact change" ...

I think there's a grain of truth in this. If you substitute "non-Eurozone
tourists" for "Americans" (and they are close to being the same thing). For
the first week using a foreign currency I tend to spend just the notes in
shops because I don't want to hold up the line while I squint at each coin
trying to figure out it's value. I use the coins up at restaurants where I
can take my own sweet time and there is nobody behind me to be
inconvenienced.

From the shopkeeper's POV, it probably does seem that Americans never have
the right change. Waiters probably have a different opinion...

Terry.

In article , Doug Burke
writes
    > On our last trip there we were in Arles and bought something in a shop. Didn't
    >have exact change so of course I handed the clerk a Euro note that would require
    >here to give me back just a Euro or two (it was not a lot). The guy behind us
    >said something in French and the clerk said something back. Upon leaving my wife
    >said the guy behind me said "Americans never have exact change" and the clerk
    >replied "They never do". Even now I'm mad my wife did not reply in perfect
    >French.

Why didn't she?

I have had great fun doing just that!

--
Marie Lewis

Good point. Also maybe Americans are used to getting change back anyway because
we have this stupid proceedure of the shop keeper adding on the state sales tax
(which most states have) therefore making that $1.00 purchase a $1.04 (at least
that's the number in my state). I'm sure some European places tax sales too but
it's probably part of the merchants overhead already integrated into the price
instead of an add on.
Doug Burke

Terry Richards wrote:

    > "Doug Burke" wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    > > ... "Americans never have exact change" ...
    > I think there's a grain of truth in this. If you substitute "non-Eurozone
    > tourists" for "Americans" (and they are close to being the same thing). For
    > the first week using a foreign currency I tend to spend just the notes in
    > shops because I don't want to hold up the line while I squint at each coin
    > trying to figure out it's value. I use the coins up at restaurants where I
    > can take my own sweet time and there is nobody behind me to be
    > inconvenienced.
    > From the shopkeeper's POV, it probably does seem that Americans never have
    > the right change. Waiters probably have a different opinion...
    > Terry.

Oh, she's just not that kind of person. But I'm like you, I would have loved to see
the look on their faces upon hearing a reply in fluent French from an American.
Doug Burke

Marie Lewis wrote:

    > In article , Doug Burke
    > writes
    > > On our last trip there we were in Arles and bought something in a shop. Didn't
    > >have exact change so of course I handed the clerk a Euro note that would require
    > >here to give me back just a Euro or two (it was not a lot). The guy behind us
    > >said something in French and the clerk said something back. Upon leaving my wife
    > >said the guy behind me said "Americans never have exact change" and the clerk
    > >replied "They never do". Even now I'm mad my wife did not reply in perfect
    > >French.
    > Why didn't she?
    > I have had great fun doing just that!
    > --
    > Marie Lewis

Huh? the coins were easy to learn quickly. they are based on size.
just like good ole american currency...

the most expensive ones, the 1 and 2 euro have a center piece. and the
others go down in size...



On Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:17:40 GMT, "Terry Richards"
wrote:

    >"Doug Burke" wrote in message
    >news:[email protected]...
    >> ... "Americans never have exact change" ...
    >I think there's a grain of truth in this. If you substitute "non-Eurozone
    >tourists" for "Americans" (and they are close to being the same thing). For
    >the first week using a foreign currency I tend to spend just the notes in
    >shops because I don't want to hold up the line while I squint at each coin
    >trying to figure out it's value. I use the coins up at restaurants where I
    >can take my own sweet time and there is nobody behind me to be
    >inconvenienced.
    >From the shopkeeper's POV, it probably does seem that Americans never have
    >the right change. Waiters probably have a different opinion...
    >Terry.

me wrote:
    >
    > David Gascon wrote in message news:...
    > > Frank Clarke wrote:
    > [snip]
    > > > Absolutely. When you start your conversation with "Bonjour,
    > > > Madame. Parlez-vous Anglaise?" _anyone_ will be more inclined to give
    > > > you the benefit-of-the-doubt. And if you're an American, they seem to
    > > > be able to spot the accent regardless which part you're from, and will
    > > > gladly slip into English to prevent further damage to the lingua
    > > > franca :-)
    > >
    > > Sometimes a problem, if you'd like to practice your French.
    >
    > Actually, as one bilingual french native tour guide explained to
    > me, being your french tutor is one of the few requirements NOT
    > included in her job description.
    >
    > i.e. if your french is so bad that she'd prefer to speak in
    > english with you, she was gonna whether you liked it or not.
    > You wanna practice your french, hire a tutor.

My French isn't that bad, unless you're in a big hurry. {;-)