A Bum Under a Floodlit Cathedral

A magazine recently asked me a few questions to get an American’s take on France. I thought my responses might be blog-worthy:

Tell me about your first visit to France.
My first memories were as a 14-year-old schoolboy: gazing up at the Arc de Triomphe, thinking it looks old but isn’t; discovering the wonders of a crêpe with sugar and butter; venturing into a subway system for the first time, then emerging to turn the corner and see the Eiffel Tower…and thinking, “I love to travel.”

What aspect of the French culture do you like the most?
The way smart people do things differently than we do, with no apologies. The way proud people are not bullied by American ethnocentrism. I was raised thinking cheese is orange and the shape of the bread. I am humbled to find people evangelical about fine cheese. I am inspired by French people who find their niche in life (whether it be doctor, lawyer, baker, or tour guide) and fill it with pride and panache.

How good is your French?
My French is terrible. I quit French in high school when I couldn’t remember the many variations of the sound “uhn” in French. I am tone-deaf to French (unlike Italian or German, which I find much easier).

What is your favourite French museum?
France is filled with great museums. These few come to mind: The Marc Chagall Museum (actually designed by the artist) in Nice; Unterlinden Museum (with the Isenheim Altarpiece) in Colmar; and Paris’ newly renovated Orangerie (with Monet’s Water Lilies and much more) are all great. The Jacquemart-André Museum in Paris offers an intimate peek into the domestic world of 19th-century aristocratic France. The Caen Memorial Museum is great for WWII.

What or where, in your opinion, is France’s best-kept secret?
I can be in Lyon and enjoy an elegant French urban scene with no hint of crass tourism.

Many Americans choose to visit Paris. Where can you recommend that is off the beaten track?
See Paris as a collection of villages. Find a village street and — as a temporary local — shop, taste, and browse your way down it with all the Parisians. Some of my favorite moments in Paris (and I can’t vouch for the safety) have come when walking around late at night. Jardin du Palais Royal, Place des Vosges, Ile St. Louis, Ile de la Cité…delightful just before bedtime.

Tell me about a memorable meal you’ve had in France?
(Given the state of our dollar, I’ll use a humble meal.) I was munching a baguette with Emmentaler cheese and sipping my box of juice on a bench in front of the floodlit Chartres cathedral. The bum on the next bench leaned over. We both acknowledged how life is good, and this Gothic church — glowing against a starry night sky — was gorgeous. And he reached his hand out with a plastic bottle to offer me a sip of red wine.

Comments

26 Replies to “A Bum Under a Floodlit Cathedral”

  1. Rick……….I finally after 10 years of trips got beyond Paris …….well I went to Nice after 6 …………but the place that I found magical was Arles. ……small, quiet, peaceful,,,,,looked out over Rhone where VG painted Starry Starry Night at the spot with the plaque…..found a great friendly small pizzeria by Coloseum one night…..loved “downtown” Arles by the traffic circle….so quiet after Paris…..of course love Rue Cler in Paris also…………

  2. Rick I just don’t understand the ultra left’s romantic love of an idealized Europe when Europeans have one on one the same flaws as Americans. Frankly I am offended that you indicate the French are smarter than Americans. No longer are they the masters of the art universe, we have some pretty great artists and we outpace all of Europe put together in science and technology. We have never tried to bully the french EVER only help them and let me just say three little words The Marshall Plan. Had it not been for us helping to reconstruct France after the war europe dragging us into and then have to win the french over to our side when they were clearly leading toward going with communism after the war there would be no EU today. I don’t know how you grew up but I grew up with round and square cheese, cheese with holes and soft or hard. And I think we are all pretty proud that we have found our niche in life after putting ourselves through college and beyond more so than Europeans who leave school usually at 16 and resent your implication that the french are happier in their lives than us. Our medical technology sprints past europeans as do our computers and communication tecnnology.I proud to be a lawyer my ex a cardiologist my son an IT geek and my best friend an artist. why would you think they are any more proud than us- we have found our niche but always strive for more? I love the French and enjoy France but I also love my American life that allows me to enjoy and appreciate the French and their way of life which is so different yet the same as ours. One thing you never want to do is be arrested in France believe me their legal system would leave you reeling and begging to go home.

  3. France is a unique situation. I am so tired of trying to defend what a wonderful country I think France is. Everyone who asks my husband and I what is our favorite country so far, we usually say Italy, but France ranks really high and I would fly to Paris in a monent if I could. Who really cares about how liberal one country may be and how religeous another may or may not be. If everyone else based America on what is happening right now, they would think we are all crazy, but that will change and be forgotten down the road. I really don’t know where all these myths about France have come from over the years, you hear the same complaints about that conuntry from people who have never been there! Judy

  4. Viva La France!! I have been to France and had a fantastic time. This is going to sound weird but the best pizza I ever had was in the 19th Arrondissement we were at a family owned place and my French is terrible, so I gave Spanish a whirl. I was so enthusiastic about my meal I ended up connecting with the owners and we shared a nice bottle of rose’. It was locals only and everyone had a wonderful time.

  5. I love to travel but am always happy to get home again. It’s not that one country is better than another it’s just that they are so different. I’ve been to France 3 times and am making plans for trip #4. Last October I did the Rick Steves “Paris in 7 days”. I went by myself and had a great time. Can’t tell you how happy I am to find that I can travel solo (with 23 other people)! I love Paris – I’m so impressed with its beauty, culture, history and romance. Nothing can compare to a twinkling Eiffel Tower. I speak minimal French but found that everyone (except one crabby guy that I ran into twice) was polite and willing to help. After a week of everyone smiling and saying “bonjour” and “au revoir”, the culture shock was returning home to deal with all the crabby people here!

  6. KathyM, tisk-tisk: The statement “The way smart people do things differently than we do” = “The way smart people in France (as opposed to the not-so-posh-or-fashionable people, in France) do things differently than Americans do.” I think you’re reading something between the lines….that just isn’t there Also, as you know, “smart” doesn’t just mean “intelligent”. It also means posh, fashionable, sophisticated, etc., and I think that’s the meaning Steve was conveying. Incidentally, having lived close to Paris for 7 months (several years ago, mind you), Steve’s imagery of some of the haunts in Paris is like “nostalgic comfort food” for me right now. :)

  7. Please don’t consider this a brag, but over the 25 years from 1970 to 1995, we spent at least one night, always in our RV, never in a hotel, in each of the cities and villages listed here. We really enjoyed visiting France, for nearly 160 nights. Aigues-Mortes, Angers, Arles, Arras, Auxerre, Avignon, Baggersee, Bar le Duc, Bayeux, Bonifacio, Corsica, Cahors, Calais, Cannes, Carcassone, Châlons, Chamonix, Champniers, Chartres, Chaumont , Colmar, Connantre , Corte, Corsica , Cour Cheverny, Creon, Dax, Dina , Dossen, Epone, Fecamp, Fougéres, Freland, Grasse, Honfleur, Horbourg, Kaysersberg, La Coquille, Langres, Les Myonds, Limoges , Locronan, Lourdes, Maisons Laffitte, Mazillac, Mentone, Molsheim, Monet, Mont St. Michel, Montivilliers, Morancez, Moret, Mortague, Mulhouse, Nancy, Nantes, Nice, Nievroz, Nimes, Nouanle Fuzelier, Obernai, On the Tarn, Oradour, Orleans, Paris, Pau, Peille, Perigueux, Perols, Phalbourg, Pont du Gard, Quimper, Rheims, Ribeauville, Rocamadour, Rosheim, Rouen, Sarlat, Saumur, Selestat , St. Jean Murienne, St. Martin, St. Menehould, St. Lew Dessest, Ste. Mere Egilse, Strasbourg, Tours, Trébes, Verneuil, Versailles, Villars-Brandis.

  8. My first trip to Paris is still vividly in my memory, even though it was so many years ago. I arrived to the Gare de Nord and I still feel the culture shock. Coming from Northern Europe it was shocking for me. I was young just 19 and it was 1982. I fell in love with Paris. During the 80’s I spent at least a year all together in Paris. Now it has been almost 18 years since I have been to Paris and I miss it so much. Just recently I found out that it was a Frenchman that invented the metric system. That does not surprise me. It was a great invention. I wonder why it has not made it’s way over here. I find the customary units still ridiculous and pointless. American way is not the only way in the world and is not always the best way of doing things. Not all great inventions are American. Americans just have been brain washed to think so. I love the wonderful French cheeses also. I did have a hard time initially with American food because it is more about quantity than quality but fortunately nowdays there are more chices and imported foods. I managed the basics with my high school French. Have always loved the sound of that language. I loved walking all over Paris and just enjoying the feeling of being there with so much great history and all that great fashion and shoes. I miss Galerie Lafayette! I always bought a great outfit and a great pair of shoes there. I still have a few of them. I treasure them. There used to be a Restaurant in St. Germain de Pres called Le Drugstore. They had the best meal called Hamburger au poivre avec frittes. It was a hamburger patty cooked medium with great pepper sauce and the best ever fries. I salivate just thinking about it. My dream is to go back to Paris. I am going to Finland for two months again but the dollar being as weak as it is, I do not think that I can make it but I am still dreaming about it. It was part of my youth when I still thought I would be young forever. I will never forget it.

  9. There is something special about France. I try and travel to Paris and the South of France for a month or two every year. It is a little strange that in all the trips it is still a little difficult to describe what it is that so attracts me there. Some of it is the simple things, like having a pastis in the same bar where Métis sat and painted, walking in the steps of the Romans and Cathars, and trekking up to the patisserie for a chocolate croissant for my breakfast. But it is more than that. It is connecting with people who once you are a friend you are friends for life with them, with their friends, and with their family. It is a choice to appreciate life and living more than accumulating things and work. There is a saying about every strike in France only being about time off work. It is an attitude that says why would anyone want to buy fast food when you could sit and talk for 2 hours with a friend. And, although the French staunchly hold onto their language and culture they do often look to the west as a comparison. The comparison is not made with other European Countries, but always with the U.S. In the 80’s this had a feel of appreciation for much of what came out of the U.S., in the 90’s there was more of a tone of confusion about why all of the fighting was happening in the government, and on the last few trips it has become more and more dislike of U.S. government foreign policies in almost every area from nuclear disarmament and the war in Iraq to the environment and more offensive use of NATO to place U.S. missiles. I hope the government relationship will improve in the future. I know that my relationship with the people of France has been very rewarding for me and I hope for the French also.

  10. Rick since I desparately do not want the beatings to begin again I am going to stay within the posted guidelines and your personal request that we not address each other and that we only post two posts per blog. I feel everyone here is highly intelligent and open to learning whether it be through interactions with people or reading to gain the knowledge. In my European Union Studies Culture and Economics course we had to read two books that totally revolutionized and readjusted my understanding of europe. At the end of the books when I closed the books and had to write a 50 page report on each book it was one of those AH HA moments and I would like to share those books with the bloggers – ^^^^^Philip Thody, Europe since 1945, Routledge, 2000; and Richard Pells, Not Like Us: How Europeans Have Loved, Hated, and Transformed American Culture Since World War II, New York: Basic Books, 1997^^^^- both blockbusters in academia. I now see Europe’s culture, political agenda and way of life through a completely different lens and I am more forgiving of my own countrymen misunderstanding of the French in particular and can understand but can look past some blatent anti European sentiments especially those who lived through WWII.

  11. Rick, I’m quite surprised and dismayed to see you utilize the word “bum” for a homeless or transient person. That word, filled with dehumanizing connotations, went out with the word “negro” many moons ago. Language is power, and words such as “bum,” laden with stereotypes and prejudices about the homeless that unfairly tarnish the poor and down-and-out among us, reinforce ideas and notions, even subtly, that I know you do not endorse.

  12. I loved my trip to Paris last fall as part of the RS London-Paris tour…I had 4 years of French in high school and college, admired Impressionist paintings in museums all over the US, learned to make crepes yet did not get the opportunity to visit France until well into my 50’s…ooh la la!! I am going back this fall. One of my favs..the Unicorn Tapistry at the Cluny mystifies and intrigues my imagination. Our walk thru Montmartre ending with a wine and food festival at the foot of Sacre Coeur. The great people in our tour group. The courtyard of the Louvre, early morning as the sun was rising. The French..their quirky sense of humor, their dogs, their pride….loved them!

  13. I have to give my 2 cents about Rick’s comment on Lyon. My family and I spent three lovely, relaxing days there on a whim during our trip this summer. We found the city beautiful and full of interesting things to do. My favorite memory is of the major park in Lyon on Sunday afternoon. All the stores we found were closed, all the families were at the park. We could definitely take some cues from that line of thinking:)

  14. And my $.02 on Lyon – Last summer was my first time visiting the city, and I was truly enchanted by it. I spent a few days there wandering through the streets, people-watching, admiring simple things like lamppost swirls and birds joining me for my petit dejeuner, cutting through hidden passages called traboules,getting caught in the rain in the massive Parque Tete d’Or and then finding refuge with locals under a gazebo as we ate our picnic lunches, lounging the afternoon away in a tucked-away cafe or spending a delightfully delicious evening at a great bouchon. Even at the height of summer, Lyon did not feel touristy, and I felt serenely at home.

  15. In reference to Donna’s post, I was in Europe for 2 weeks last summer and was not happy to get back home. Definitely would have like to stay longer. How long do you have to be there before you’re ready to go home?

  16. My longest trip was 6 weeks. For me far too short………..I cover a lot of ground and can’t see and do enough……including relaxing and doing nothing in particular………….special word today is “drizzling”……..very appropriate given the weather for the last two days……….and tonight………

  17. Rick: I liked your comment about the safety after dark of certain parts of Paris. My husband & I were visiting and a lovely lady at our hotel in Monmartre advised us against the Moulan Rouge district after dark. Well…we went for a walk and ended up a bit lost. We started noticing very interesting window displays consisting of leather, and chains, looked up and realized were were right across the street from the Moulan Rouge itself along with the interesting people that frequent it’s area. Needless to say we made fairly fast tracks out of there annd happily found a street name we recognized. However, it has become one of our favorite memories of Paris. We saw the “real” Paris and not the one that “cleaned up” the city for the tourists. Keep on Travelin Rick! We intend to.

  18. Rick, thanks for stating that you are “tone deaf” to French. So am I, but I haven’t yet met anyone else who admits it. You lifted a load of guilt (that I didn’t know I had!) when you confessed that. As far as everything else,” Viva la difference”!

  19. A note on the vernacular of “bum”. Back in the Great Depression, when folks in the US were hard pressed to find a square meal, much less a regular job, there were those who were forced to make do as best they could. The terms “hobo”, “tramp”, and “bum” came from this period. A hobo rode the trains, stopping to work at odd jobs (sweeping sidewalks, cutting firewood) in exchange for a meal. A tramp also worked as best he could for a meal generously provided by a temporary benefactor. The difference between a hobo and a tramp was that a tramp “tramped” – hoofed it – from town to town, where a hobo rode the rails. The third entity, the bum, is the guy caricatured in cartoons as standing on the street corner with a tin cup. This is based on reality, as the bum did just that – bummed his living – from passersby on the street, in railroad and bus stations, etc. The guy Rick encountered might not have needed to bum for his wine (perhaps he had a retirement pension), and I would have been more inclined to call him a man of total leisure, though in the back of my mind characterize him as a wino. Yet the picture Rick sketched for us drew the guy perfectly; I saw the guy Rick saw as clearly as though I’d seen him with my own eyes.

  20. I recently read an article about a crisis of sorts in the French workforce. From an HR prospective, apparently there was a situation where numerous employees failed to turn in their superiors for scandals and money embezzeling. When researched it was found that this is a a problem that exists in many companies. The problem lies with employees not feeling engaged with their work. And I guess it ties back to WW2 and the stigma of being a snitch. Now they are in the mist of trying to solve the issue. To what end…I do not know yet. But an interesting bit of culture none the less.

  21. Oh and sorry, regarding bums in France…I had a run in with that too. First day in Paris, we had a picnic on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower. A bum, man of leisure, retired gentleman, whatever, he was very keen to talk to us. We didn’t have a clue what he wanted or what he was saying, but he wanted to talk to us bad! What we THINK he was trying to tell us was that we were suppose to eat the rind of our cheese. That we were wasting it by tossing it. (just imagine a lot of hand motions, becuase it took us a long time to get there). To his credit, I am sure he was right – but we gave him our rinds anyway and he seemed to be pleased. But not before he left spilling his beer on my legs as he wobbeled away. It was a bit odd, but give the guy some credit…even in his state – he was sending some cheese culture back to the states :)

  22. To All Fellow Francophiles and Others: French culture vs. American culture! I am so grateful to a French friend of mine who figured out how interested I was in this subject because he heard me pondering it out loud time after time after time. He very kindly gave me his copy of what he said is the best book he’s ever seen written on the subject. It is just full of insights about the differences and similarities in our two cultures and it helps explain the history and background of why those differences exist. I just loved the book–reading it was the fastest route I could ever have imagined to a basic understanding of the French and their fascinating country. My French friend’s high praise for the accuracy of this book’s insights carried a lot of weight with me. (although he did say that in a couple of places the authors slightly overstated a thing or two.) If nothing else comes of this blog, I hope that just one other person will be motivated to get ahold of this book and read it! It’s guaranteed to make for some real “aha’s!” –especially the first few chapters. The title of the book is, “Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t be Wrong,” by Barlow and Nadeau. Enjoy! And ponder!

  23. I heard a great quote in the movie “Sicko” (during the entertainment rich JFK-Dubai flight on Emirates Airlines en route to Tanzania)–it went something like this: “In the U.S., people are afraid of the government. In France, the government is afraid of the people.” Granted, not everyone’s going to agree with Michael Moore–but it is true–the French are (at least in today’s world) much more willing to protest, strike, etc. in order to get what they need from their system (in this case, obviously, the focus was on affordable comprehensive health care). And, in many cases, they’re successful. However, there have been many times in American history when the populace demanded much more from its leaders (both governmental and business)–and acted upon it–successfully. It’s just that this past decade hasn’t been one of them.

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