I just spent a week in Paris, France not Texas. It was an amazing trip. I'm broke now (not an update) but it was worth it. There are so many incredible sights in this city and it's pretty easy to get around.
Here are the differences between Paris and New York City. Yes, this is definitive.
-The Subway system is incredible in Paris. NYC Subway is good but doesn't hold a candle to Paris. Here's why:
In Paris, the train comes every 4 minutes. Literally. Every line, always. Every 4 minutes.
In NYC, it's easy to get uptown/downtown but getting east/west is often a pain in the an-us. In Paris, the system is like a spiderweb with stations constantly intersecting.
-Everything is older in Paris. You can walk by a neighborhood church, poke your head in, and see that it was built in 1648. Pretty neat.
-They show American shows in Paris and their original tv programming is atrocious. For episodes of Law & also Order, the add stuff like this: "How do you say...le.....BUM BUM". Note: this is not true.
-The reputation for Parisians being rude is largely unfounded. However, there are some times when you are astounded. Examples:
1) We went to sit down and have a coffee. There were 14 tables open. We sat at one. The waitress eventually comes over and asked us: "Etes-vous ici pour les dejeuner?" Which means: 'Are you here for lunch?'
We said (in broken French): 'non. soulement pour cafe.' Which is : 'no. Only for coffee'
The waitress then went on a tirade which we eventually realized was about the fact that we were not allowed to sit where we were sitting, with 13 other open tables, if we were only going to drink coffee. We were made to move 6 feet to a different table that was not differently marked in any way. There were no signs indicating this policy and no way of knowing which tables would cause someone to chastise paying customers because of their seating choices.
2) We were looking for a train station called the RER. We asked a local: 'Ou est le RER station?' He looked puzzled. We each took turns trying to say: 'RER' with our best fraccent. He continued to not understand. Then finally, he shook his finger at us and said: 'oh...RER (in a fake American doing French accent)...non...'
Then he over-exaggerated the Frenounciation: 'est. EH-RRR-AAA-EH-RRR'. He then pointed across the street no more than 150 feet from where we were standing. Really dude?
Still, phenomenal trip.
I'm still really pissed at the bailout. The thing I think that not enough people are saying (not enough people that can influence the decision anyway) is that the reason this call is being made is because our leaders are scared to tell Americans that we have to change the way we live. From the top down, over the last 30 years, we've been living over our means. We've borrowed and spent and borrowed some more. This isn't just Wall Street, it's everyone. It's the developers that continued to throw up McMansions, it's banks that frivolously lending, and people borrowing more than they could pay back, it's universities inflating tuition forcing people to borrow some more, it's US car companies refusing to plan for a future, but most of all, it's a lack of willingness to change our life styles. God forbid anyone (meaning a politician) points the finger at us and says: 'you are living irresponsibly. And it's time for a change. We'll all be better off in the long run if you make a few sacrifices now.'
This can't happen in today's climate. One thing liberals and conservatives have in common these days is a place to put blame. Each side has a boogeyman it can point to and say: 'Here's why we're fooked'. Gone are the days of 'ask not what your country can do for you.' We'll sit here now as this enormous band aid gets syphoned out of our pockets and pat ourselves on the head and tell ourselves that everything is OK now. Well it isn't. In years past, liberals would always want to blame the system for the failings of individuals and conservatives would always choose to blame the individuals, well, right now both sides would be right.
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