The idiosyncratic French and free museums!

The French have these ideas, cultural no doubt, that always crack me up. For one thing, they do not like to make any more change than necessary. For example, if the total of your purchase is something like 10,30 and you give the cashier 15 euros, the cashier will always ask "Avez vous un euro?" (Do you have a euro?)  God forbid you buy something cheap and hand over a 20! Last night as I was gathering up my purchases, the couple in back of me bought a box of cookies that were less than two euros and they handed the guy a 20 and you would have thought the couple had tried to pay with small stones! The cashier shook his head and waved his hands around and pursed his lips the way only the French can do and said something in French that was probably "This is too much, I cannot make this kind of change for such a small purchase, no, no you must give me something smaller, this cannot happen." The customer was American (but of course) and simply stood  there with the 20 in his hand until the cashier finally took it and disgustingly made change, obviously ruining his entire day.

You feel like you have insulted their entire cultural heritage when something like that happens. I have gotten that look when I order a glass of wine because I point to the price of a large glass and say "un grand verre du vin blanc, s'il vous plat." Ah, no, what? A large glass? What, how can this be?  That's the look I get. Now, mind you that a large glass is probably 10 ounces, it's not like a bucket of wine, and the regular size is tiny. Maybe 4 ounces, hardly even worth drinking, it is a mere mouthful! But they bring me my wine and I think they secretly think I won't be able to finish it! Ha! And this is a culture that drinks wine with every meal.... go figure.

The French are very serious about queueing up, waiting in line is serious business and they would never push to the front of the line. Other cultures do not have this stoicism, of course, and will not so subtly inch up to the front of the queue, displacing the French along the way but getting away with it because the French will make the insulted face but will say or do nothing to stop the intrusion. Italians and Spanish are the best at this stealthy move. It takes an American to step in the way of the pushy person and block their forward progress. ( I have done it often, quietly but firmly and it always works.) Germans just pretend they don't know where the end of the line is and they simply walk past everyone to the front. This works for them because no European wants to bully a German, too much history there. But it is amusing to watch this cultural dance, makes waiting in line so much more fun.

On another note, many museums are free the first Sunday of the month, as are many national monuments so I visited a few today. I also finally made it to the 10th arrondisment and got to see the St Martin canal at work. A small boat was coming through and the locks had to work to drain water from one level and add water to the lock so the boat could continue on. It was a treat to see it all happen and it made me so happy that I found a little cafe with outdoor seating where I had an order of foie gras and a large vin blanc for lunch!

Tomorrow I leave Paris, taking the train to Lyon for three days. It's a city I know very little about so I am looking forward to a new experience.

"Bon nuit" I say as you are all waking up.