Don’t Feed the Rats and Don’t Eat the Fish!

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson.

This is a true quote. My mother and I will discuss how aside from the language barrier, we do not feel like we are in a different country, only a big city that we have not visited before. However there are always those small things that remind us that we are foreigners here, not necessarily in a bad way, and defiantly not in big ways, but just enough that you remember you are an American in France.

Wanting to not stick out or offend, Anna and I had been researching French etiquette that is not observed in America. After realizing the importance of our observation of these manners, we shared them with the members of our family. They have all been being very polite, even to their own detriment. For example, when Josh and Melissa ordered fried cheese at a cafe, our kind waiter did not understand exactly what Josh had said and had miss-seen Josh’s pointing finger on the menu. When what was supposed to have been fried cheese arrived and was defiantly NOT fried cheese, Josh was determined not to offend and decided he must clean off his plate.

I will never forget the determined and very disgusted face of my brother as he ate every last tiny dry fish on his despised plate.

Anna and I ate a few to try and lighten the load, but they were nasty.

For the most part, our trips to the local cafes have been a great success! Anna and I have been able to use our limited French to speak to our waiters and have shared our French knowledge with our family members so that they too have been able to try out a bit of French. More so then our waiters, Anna and I are able to converse with our cab drivers in French. It is apparently a sure sign of an American to want to dialogue with a stranger, so we have been keeping our cab conversations to the general, “What is that?” and “Where is this?” and so on, but all in French. I always feel very accomplished after a Parisian understands me and responds with a comprehendible answer. I aim to maintain a cool exterior but I have a mini party inside.

Riding in cabs has been a new experience for us. the road that encircles the Arch de triumph is absolutely crazy. I don’t know if there are rules or if it’s just that nobody follows them, but cars plunge into traffic from one of the the six converging roads, and poke and speed about without any lanes. I find it terribly entertaining but I think others in my party more frightened than amused.

The arch is less than a block to from our house, so anytime we ride in a cab anywhere, we pass through the circle. About half the time we have been able to walk to our destinations which has been positively delightful. Wether we search for a breakfast cafe or place to relax and have some late night drinks, or even walking to the Eiffel Tower, there is always so much to see (and photograph)!

WARNING: this next section of our blog will be filled with photos of amazing artifacts and naked Greek woman statues.

They know that this is a statue of the goddess Athena because of the garland of snakes around her neck and the face of Medusa on her chest. Anna and I said that we wonder if they got the idea of creepy clowns from the face of madoosa.

I was fascinated by this statue. it is a Marine Centaur, a half man half horse with an aquatic tail. He is carrying a Silenus.

My favorite part of the museum was the ancient eqyptian artifacts. They were unmoved by my affections.

if you are ever planning a trip to a country that doesn’t speak your language, you must get the Google translate app. When reading French signs, I just had to hold my phone over them and it translated it to English.

The Louvre is filled with history, but it is a piece of history in itself. When it was built in the 1200’s, it was meant as a fortress to protect growing France. In the 1500’s Charles III converted it to a residence for the monarchy until king Louis the 14th changed the government seat to Versailles. Now the Louvre is just home to some of the most iconic historical artifacts in human history. The museum is so large that we spent four and a half hours looking around and only saw maybe a third of the exhibits and we didn’t see the gardens at all.

The Louvre is probably most well known for housing the Mona Lisa, but unfortunately we did not get to meet Miss Lisa. Due to renovation, she had been moved to her own small exhibit which you had to wait in a long line to see, and when I say long I mean like at least three hours long so we decided to save our introduction with the famous lady for next time.

So, until next time my friends. Au Revoir from Paris! ~Emily

Post script- favorite quotes

Mom at the Eiffel Tower. “Aww what a cute little…… that was weird, that chipmunk looked like a rat!” Emily- “Considering there is a sign that says don’t feed rats, I’m going to guess that that chipmunk was a rat.”

Mom after coming home from the market this morning “Oh I forgot I had ham fat in my pocket.”

What funny quotes have you heard while in new places doing new things? Share with all of us in the comments