How to act in Paris - My Five Gentle Suggestionis

To get the most out of your amazing trip to Paris - be it the first time or the 50th time, here are five gentle suggestions on how to behave:

1. Be polite. Greet people with Bonjour [bo shur] daily, often, and almost everywhere you go. When I'm in Paris I approach my entire trip with wonder and appreciation and first and foremost, politeness.  I do mean everywhere and everyone.  Including the taxi driver, the barista, the cafe staff, the tour bus drivers, the Metro man at the ticket window - you get the picture. When I was in Paris I made the daily mistake of saying Bonjour [which means good morning/or hello up until around early evening] so much and so often that I would always forget the evening term, which is Bonsoir [bone swah].  My brain always thought hat Bonsoir meant goodbye and not good evening.  Therefore, I'd walk into a restuarant or store and say Bonjour and would get Bonsoir - which immediately made me think the other person was saying Au Revoir [are weh vo ah] which means good bye.  Many a french person would explain to me DAILY that they were saying good evening.  Silly me! Nevertheless, I was always greeted well and felt that the French still liked me, regardless of my frowns to their Bonsoir. Lol.

2. Try your best French - every bit and/or attempt helps.  Living Language had a great list of daily words you will probably use in France.  WRITE these down and say them at home a million times before your trip - believe me, it helps!:

 1. Oui (“wee”) / Non (“nonh”) – Yes/ No

2. Bonjour (“boh(n)-zhoor”) – Hello

3. Au revoir (“oh ruh-VWAHR”) – Good-bye

4. Merci (“merr-SEE”) – Thank you

5. Pardon (“pahr-DON”) / Excusez-moi (“ehk-SKEW-zay MWAH”) – Excuse-me

6. Parlez-vous anglais? (“par-lay VOO zahng-LEH?”) – Do you speak English?

7. S’il vous plaît (“seel voo PLEH”) – Please

8. Je voudrais (“zhuh voo-DREH”) – I would like (use along with ‘Please’)

9. Combien ça coûte? (kom-BYAN sah koot?”) – How much does it/this cost?

10. Où sont les toilettes? (“OOH sohn leh twah-LET?”) – Where are the restrooms? (use with ‘Please’)

3. Dare to make friends and test out your Rosetta Stone skills. I dared my travel mates to make friends with a stranger in clubs in Montmartre [YES!  I'm still friends with that guy from a club near Moulin Rouge on Facebook], another guy wrote me a great list of tips on the airplane from London to Paris [basically all local business peeps], on the Metro [ok, ok, so my girlfriend almost married some Italian guy we met from the Metro at 5am on a Sunday morning after the long night in Montmartre en route back to our apartment in Tour Eiffel... Yet another story for another article!], and the locals! [including the young Serbian cab driver who wanted to be my boyfriend, the older cab driver who gave great tips on the Catacombs and why we should NOT have gone to Clignacourt, and let's not forget the cute frenchman newspaper guy outside the Louvre who wanted to marry me - lol!]

4. Follow the Golden Rule - Treat other as you would like to be treated. Don’t automatically expect that ALL the locals will be rude.  How terrible it must feel to always be told, "the French are so rude!"  Ummm... I would be rude too if I ALWAYS had rude American's saying things like, 'why isn't this menu in English?!' or 'You call this a 'good baguette/ or you call this 'good wine?!' or my favorite, 'Because of MY country's money, France EXISTS!' Eeew, to all of this. Again, treat others as you would like to be treated.  Oh and yes.  I heard these comments first hand from others.  Hence the food poisoning! And no!  The comments were NOT from me!

5. Make a mini bucket list and complete it! Each time I have been to France I have asked myself and my travel mates, "what is it that thing you MUST see or do in Paris, before we return to the States?" Plan for this thing and get it done!  You will feel very bad if you don't eat that crepe, walk the stairs up to Sacre Coehr, drink out of a green water fountain in Montmartre, see Eiffel twinkle up close, buy an Eiffel Tower keychain or two or five...  Take that silly jumping picture in front of the Louvre pyramids or dance with one cute guy in a random club! Take that group jumping picture in front of Tour Eiffel and Trocadero - besides, no on knows you! Whatever it is, make plans to see or do it and make your dream a reality.  You only live once.  So take my advise and make your dream come true, or as my Oakland travel mates would say: DO IT!