Paris is a city filled with idealization, romance, beautiful architecture, and history. But no place can have it all, so here are a few weird things I noticed about this famous city.
1.Tourist traps everywhere!
Because the city is filled with tourists, some people will try to use that to their advantage.
Around the Eiffel Tower especially, there are people trying to sell you all sorts of things, like roses, water bottles (especially in the summer), mini replica Eiffel Towers, you name it. A man even tried to sell me and my then boyfriend a rose while we were walking along the Parc du Champ de Mars at sunset.
Another example is people waiting at the bottom of the Sacré-Coeur and weaving “friendship bracelets.” When I was there, a man approached me and started a conversation. He then quickly wrapped two strings around my pinky and started weaving a bracelet out of them. Despite my objections, he kept chatting to keep me distracted. When the bracelet was finally finished, he asked me to give him something for the trouble. For some reason, I gave him €20…somehow expecting fair change. He gave me €10 back. So I essentially paid €10 for a little bracelet made of string. At least I got a story out of it!
Tip: If someone asks you if you speak English, say “no” in any other language you can think of! Or better yet, say “non” and pretend you’re a local.
2. The air quality isn’t the best
One thing that struck me when I first arrived in Paris was how dense the air felt. There was just this heaviness and humidity in the air that was hard to miss. I think it’s mainly due to how dense the city itself is, there aren’t a lot of large open spaces and it’s very populated.
I also arrived in the summer, so that was probably a factor as well. Coming from Canada, I guess I’ve been pretty spoiled when it comes to air quality and open spaces haha.
3. The grass area around the Eiffel Tower
On one side of the Eiffel Tower, there’s a long grassy field called the Parc du Champ de Mars (as seen in the photo above). This is the park you see in those stereotypical Eiffel Tower picnic photos. However, certain sections of the park can be fenced off. This is in order to help regrow the grass, especially in the colder months.
4. Undercover Metro police
Sometimes, cops dressed in regular clothing hang around the Metro. One of the reasons is to catch people who might use a single ticket to get multiple people past the gates (this is surprisingly common). Sadly, I know this because I was actually stopped when trying to piggyback off of my friend’s gate ticket (not my proudest moment). We ended up having to pay a €60 fine; lesson learned.
5. Tips aren’t mandatory
A service charge is already included in your bill, so that’s technically the tip. A tip is still appreciated, but in France, people mainly tip if they think they’ve received great service. So tipping for mediocre service might just give you a confused look from your waiter. Also, there isn’t really an emphasis on customer service here. We’ve encountered a few waiters that really didn’t care, but in France, that’s not really required, it’s not a cultural expectation like it is in North America.