Paris Shopping Paradise!!

Paris sketches (daily life)

Who are the Parisians? Are they the prostitutes in leather mini skirts on rue St.Denis, the“clochard” sleeping off a bottle of red wine in the Metro, the society hostess in Chanel, the yuppie stockbroker weaving home from the Bourse on his scooter, the children from the Opera Ballet school affectionately know as “les petits rats”, the au pairs hiding from their mothers in the city’s American bars, the Algerian greengrocer or the Portuguese concierge, the stately African chief from Sierra Leone, the law student from La Sorbonne  and the old lady in the in her bedroom slippers feeding the pigeons. People are what lend any city its vibrancy and Paris is no exception. Stripped of its human population, Paris would be no more than a collection of buildings and monuments, architecturally beautiful maybe, but a sad, cold place nonetheless.
John Steinbeck once wrote: “No other city in the world has been better loved or more celebrated. Scarcely has the traveller arrived that he feels himself in the grip of this city, which is more than a city. A great part of the allure of Paris lies with the Parisians themselves, with their charm, their individualism, their diversity.”
For the 23 millions who visit it each year, Paris is a grand seductress, a mistress or a lover. Hundreds of thousands of people are carrying on an illicit affair with her. Some manage a quick fling, others the love affair endures a lifetime. But some visitors and Parisians have their favourite stereotypical types whom they love to hate, from the haughty, patronising shop assistant too busy adjusting her lipstick to give the customers the time of day, who refuses to let you enter his cab because are not heading in “his” direction, and to the indifferent bureaucrat who keeps you waiting for three hours only to inform you that you lack a vital document (usually your electricity bill :-)) without which he is unable to help you. But this happens in all major cities all over the world.
Recent campaigns in the French press exhorted Parisians to good behaviour and deplored the sometimes-unfriendly welcome, which is become rather rare lately. Parisians are no longer under any illusions. Only 38 percent consider themselves kind, while almost unanimous 92 percent admit they are under stress. 82 percent also own up, with more than a touch of Gallic pride, to being “individualistes”, a description which anyone who has had more than a passing acquaintance with the city may suspect of doubling as a convenient excuse for a multitude of sins of the “me first” variety.
And yet, the American author Arthur Miller, who spent many years in the capital and was better placed than most to make and objective judgment, stated that he had more respect for the French “than any other nationality on the face of the earth.” While conceding that “the French may not be the jolliest, happiest or the easiest people to get along with, a Frenchman makes the best kind of friend. Though he may be difficult to get to know, once he lets you into his life he’ll be your friend forever.”

Parisians in Paris

Paris-Parisians-Les Parisiens

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