![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hey, guess who's sick again? That's right, me! Tired and low energy, then dribbling nose, then sore throat today. So I haven't done much besides explore the neighborhood on foot, somewhat. Still, I've got some stories.
Two days ago, I wake up. "It's dark. Crap, I haven't slept enough. Hmm, it's 7am. Crap, the sun went out. Wait."
Actually, despite being roughly due south of England, France and most of Spain are crammed into the same time zone as Germany. So it was really 6am in normal people time -- or 5am without DST -- which is a perfectly fine time to be dark at this latitude in October, when the equinox has passed and the days are probably getting rapidly shorter.
The Other White People
If you know your US history the way I do, you may be able to think of the major European migrations to the US and even roughly date them. English, Scots/Scots-Irish, Germans, a probably swamped sprinkling of Dutch in New Amsterdam, Scandinavians, actual Irish, Poles and Italians, Russians, Jews.
Notably missing: French or Spanish. Spanish people of course got here first, but mostly to the south, and mostly well mixed with the natives. French went to Quebec and New Orleans, with maybe some spillover into New Hampshire, but you generally don't find French neighborhoods in our cities. So, I figure the US conception of what white people look like, derived mostly from looking at ourselves, has a big hole in it. I'd heard of "Gallic faces" before, and knew a girl at IU who was rather distinctive, and here in Paris... yeah. Oh, plus that Belgian restaurant I mentioned seeing in King's Cross a couple months ago.
Montmartre
So there's this neighborhood. I haven't read much about it, but I could tell it was big from the airbnb postings bragging about being in it. Or near it. My hostess marked it on a map. So yesterday I trudged over. In short, lots of restaurants and art galleries, on top of a hill, next to the basilica of the sacred heart which has perpetual prayers. Also, tiny blocks and windy streets. Basically your super-pedestrian artsy neighborhood, I guess.
But that came later. I first ran into the Square Louise Michel, a small park at the foot of steep steps going up to what turned out to be the basilica, and I checked it out... to be immediately accosted by an African grabbing my hand and twining colored string around my fingers. He had what seemed like good English, but he did not use it on "Please" or "May I" or answering my "what are you doing?" but on "Don't worry", "African tradition", and "where are you from". My traditions involve not being manhandled by strangers, and despite his strong grip I managed to break free and escape, somewhat freaked out. Then it happened again on the other side, and I fled the square.
I wondered if there was some real tradition I was breaking, but the one mention I found online later was http://filharmonica.com/?p=63
sidestepping the French African youths who’ve cornered the market of peddling hand woven thread bracelets to tourists by looping the exposed fingers of the unwitting as they pass, and holding them hostage until the bracelet is completed and the mark feels obligated to pay for it. After our last experience in Paris, when one these guys came just shy of chest bumping Phil and using threatening body language to cow us into submission (it didn’t work), we knew enough to make use of alternate routes and withering stares.
Seems my instincts were good.
Food
Restaurant prices seemed high to me, though I just learned that they include not just sales tax but a 15% mandatory service charge, so they're complete prices unlike the UK or US. Still, I've been eating in, and probably will eat in a lot. I've seen a few of Super Marche, supermarkets, but only one has been close to a US/UK one; another seemed like a hole in the wall convenience store, lined with liquor bottles and bananas, like I kept seeing in the UK. The bread and cheese selections weren't that great; then again, boulangeries, or bakeries, are nigh-ubiquitous, so I guess you go to those. Cheese shops would make sense too but I haven't noticed one. Even the best market selection I saw though... there *are* a bunch of varieties, but they're brands of Camembert, or blue, or washed-rind soft cheeses. I've seen one instance of hard cheese, parmesan, and none of cheddar.
I did get Tropicana OJ. "Maxi Size!" at 3 liters, about the same as 64 ounces. Largest I saw in the UK was 1.5 L.
Two days ago, I wake up. "It's dark. Crap, I haven't slept enough. Hmm, it's 7am. Crap, the sun went out. Wait."
Actually, despite being roughly due south of England, France and most of Spain are crammed into the same time zone as Germany. So it was really 6am in normal people time -- or 5am without DST -- which is a perfectly fine time to be dark at this latitude in October, when the equinox has passed and the days are probably getting rapidly shorter.
The Other White People
If you know your US history the way I do, you may be able to think of the major European migrations to the US and even roughly date them. English, Scots/Scots-Irish, Germans, a probably swamped sprinkling of Dutch in New Amsterdam, Scandinavians, actual Irish, Poles and Italians, Russians, Jews.
Notably missing: French or Spanish. Spanish people of course got here first, but mostly to the south, and mostly well mixed with the natives. French went to Quebec and New Orleans, with maybe some spillover into New Hampshire, but you generally don't find French neighborhoods in our cities. So, I figure the US conception of what white people look like, derived mostly from looking at ourselves, has a big hole in it. I'd heard of "Gallic faces" before, and knew a girl at IU who was rather distinctive, and here in Paris... yeah. Oh, plus that Belgian restaurant I mentioned seeing in King's Cross a couple months ago.
Montmartre
So there's this neighborhood. I haven't read much about it, but I could tell it was big from the airbnb postings bragging about being in it. Or near it. My hostess marked it on a map. So yesterday I trudged over. In short, lots of restaurants and art galleries, on top of a hill, next to the basilica of the sacred heart which has perpetual prayers. Also, tiny blocks and windy streets. Basically your super-pedestrian artsy neighborhood, I guess.
But that came later. I first ran into the Square Louise Michel, a small park at the foot of steep steps going up to what turned out to be the basilica, and I checked it out... to be immediately accosted by an African grabbing my hand and twining colored string around my fingers. He had what seemed like good English, but he did not use it on "Please" or "May I" or answering my "what are you doing?" but on "Don't worry", "African tradition", and "where are you from". My traditions involve not being manhandled by strangers, and despite his strong grip I managed to break free and escape, somewhat freaked out. Then it happened again on the other side, and I fled the square.
I wondered if there was some real tradition I was breaking, but the one mention I found online later was http://filharmonica.com/?p=63
sidestepping the French African youths who’ve cornered the market of peddling hand woven thread bracelets to tourists by looping the exposed fingers of the unwitting as they pass, and holding them hostage until the bracelet is completed and the mark feels obligated to pay for it. After our last experience in Paris, when one these guys came just shy of chest bumping Phil and using threatening body language to cow us into submission (it didn’t work), we knew enough to make use of alternate routes and withering stares.
Seems my instincts were good.
Food
Restaurant prices seemed high to me, though I just learned that they include not just sales tax but a 15% mandatory service charge, so they're complete prices unlike the UK or US. Still, I've been eating in, and probably will eat in a lot. I've seen a few of Super Marche, supermarkets, but only one has been close to a US/UK one; another seemed like a hole in the wall convenience store, lined with liquor bottles and bananas, like I kept seeing in the UK. The bread and cheese selections weren't that great; then again, boulangeries, or bakeries, are nigh-ubiquitous, so I guess you go to those. Cheese shops would make sense too but I haven't noticed one. Even the best market selection I saw though... there *are* a bunch of varieties, but they're brands of Camembert, or blue, or washed-rind soft cheeses. I've seen one instance of hard cheese, parmesan, and none of cheddar.
I did get Tropicana OJ. "Maxi Size!" at 3 liters, about the same as 64 ounces. Largest I saw in the UK was 1.5 L.