July 11, 2007
Pave: France: A Place To Go To™ IV
Whew! It's getting warm. Rainy weather is cooling Paris today, but once the sky clears, the summer heat will steam off the wet. [Sniff.] Whoa! Mon ami ! That's a mighty niff!
EVERYWHERE IS DOWNWIND IN FRANCE
If You Can Walk The Streets, You Won't Mind The Sewers
The side text reads: FRANCE — celebrated for its noxious sewers, with cities that smell like the fish stalls of Araby, where incontinent dogs run free, and whose citizens are renowned for defective personal hygiene, well, not to worry about a disapproving second sniff here.
PARISIANS ARE 'RUDE AND SMELLY' -
SAY THEIR OWN TOURIST CHIEFS
July 9, 2007 (Daily Mail) - Parisians have been told they are rude* AND smelly - by their own tourism chiefs.
As if this was news (and here).
Tourist officials in Paris have told the city's notoriously grumpy waiters, shopkeepers and taxi drivers that their bad manners and poor personal hygiene are driving visitors away.
BE NICE TO TOURISTS, PARISIANS URGED
PARIS July 9, 2007 (Australian/Times) - "We have been trying very hard for a number of years to improve the welcome that Parisians offer to visitors," Jean-Claude Lesourd, the chairman of the Paris Tourist Office, told The Times.... He said that officials had made particular efforts with the city’s notoriously rude taxi drivers, laying on workshops to teach them subjects that ranged from English to hygiene and how to smile.
"We train them to try to be more friendly and I think big progress has been made," he said. "A lot of them can say a few words in English now, and they are cleaner, too."
Examples of Parisian charm and pong can be seen here.
FRENCH ASKED TO BE POLITE TO TOURISTS FOR 24 HOURS
PARIS July 10, 2007 (news.com.au/Times) - Yesterday marked the launch of the first Paris Tourist Day, when residents of the French capital are encouraged to be polite, welcoming and helpful for 24 hours.... In a recent international opinion poll, Paris was ranked as the world's third-most attractive city behind Sydney and London. Respondents praised its architecture, monuments and glamour. But it came 52nd out of 60 for friendliness.
[Hat tip: Hervé]
Yes, yes. We mock France. It is what we do. But some days the French do a better job of it themselves.
Other posters in this series can be found here, here, here, and here.
------------------------------------
* Of course rudeness is, well, rude. But French rudeness can be deleterious (op. cit.):
Japanese psychologists have identified what they call "Paris Syndrome" [and here], when polite Japanese tourists suffer mental breakdown at the shock of being treated rudely by Parisian locals.On average, up to 12 Japanese tourists a year fall victim to it, mainly women in their 30s whose high expectations of their first dream trip abroad are shattered by Parisien arrogance. The Japanese embassy has a 24-hour hotline for those suffering from severe culture shock, and provides hospital treatment for anyone in need.
PFFT (What is this?): "A Place To Go To™" 4½ | Rayonnement français ½
Posted by Damian at July 11, 2007 01:30 AM
