PARIS No.1 ~ Every stereotype I found out doesn't apply in Paris ~ and a few that do

[Side note to begin: I wrote this the day after I got back from London]

I'm currently back at home after two weeks of pretty much non stop travelling, literally staring at the pouring rain outside and wondering if the last 10 days even really happened they felt like such a dream.

To put it in perspective, I hadn't left the UK for four years before this summer and although out of Paris, Oxford and London two of those are still in the UK, I honestly feel like I've been in a different world. Not that I'm not happy to be home don't get me wrong. I'm very happy to be in bed with a cuppa and to have the freedom of almost no plans for the next month and a half of my life...but at the same time part of me would happily fly out to Paris right now and never come back again. I'd never been before and was thinking, okay, this will basically be a prettier version of London. In some ways I was right because, wow, it's gorgeous EVERYWHERE but I was also very wrong about some things *holding my hands up here*.

No.1 - PARIS ISN'T SAFE IF YOU LEAVE THE TOURIST PATH (and deffo not for a single girl who's a bit tipsy)

We did all the tourist things yes. We went on a boat and saw the Notre Dame, Musee Dorsay, saw all the gorgeous apartment blocks further South along the Siene and the different skylines and sunsets you find in every different part. But there's something a bit different about Paris as a city in that it doesn't matter which part you go to, it's always beautiful. And safe!! For two women travelling together, walking around late at night, in a city, would usually be a major red flag but, in Paris, it's not. It's lively all the time and there are single women and men walking everywhere. We went for a late night walk one night with absolutely no clue where we were and instead of getting a funny look or an intimidating glance we were greeted with "Bonsoir madamoiselle" or a smile. Or in one case a guy about my age strolled past and simply shouted "Vive le France!" with the biggest grin on his face before brushing a french flag over my head and supposedly seeing what my reaction would be (guessing he could tell we were English, mainly for the fact we didn't have French flags painted all over our faces...they had just won the world cup that evening). So if I can go for a walk around some apartments by myself at any time of day I'd safely say you can ignore No.1.

No.2 - THE PEOPLE OF PARIS ARE COLD AND RUDE WITH TOURISTS, ESPECIALLY WAITERS

There's another thing. They just accept you into their culture. This whole stereotype about French people being cold and rude is the biggest load of BS I have ever heard because they're so, so lovely. If the whole world cup scenario doesn't prove this then I dont know what will. England = kicked out by Croatia. My mum = WE'RE SCOTTISH NOT ENGLISH. (Cue me winding her up for the week with an awful Scottish accent, don't mind if I do.)

Cutting to it, we then end up sitting in Le Brebant, a local's favourite restaurant, for about 5 hours. Right in the middle of a million French fans, not a tourist in sight, they were smiling at us and laughing with us and they could tell we weren't French but honestly they didn't care? I mean I won't lie, two bottles of wine also helped the situation and after a while "Allez les bleues" seemed like a phrase I'd been shouting since birth but I actually can't even describe the atmosphere in words. We were sat there from 2pm till 7pm and I can hands down say I am now a football fan (sort of). Three massive screens. Firecrackers going off down the street from 3 in the afternoon. Red and blue flares covering the street. Flags everywhere you look. People climbing on top of bus stops and hanging off signs. Chanting every time a tourist bus went past. Singing with strangers. It's not like football in Britain because that can be god damn scary ~ there is a reason you don't see a lot of girls there ~ but here there were, if anything, more groups of girls than guys and massive mixed groups everyone just merged together, my mum and I included.

French people as well, everyone just gets along a whole lot easier. I remember going down to the one tiny ladies in Le Brebant about 10 minutes before half time ~ I would say I was avoiding the rush but at this point I'd had about 3 beers and half a bottle of wine so... ~ and as I queued up we suddenly heard it getting noisy upstairs and I'm not joking me and all these French women made eye contact for a second and the same thought was running through our heads. Although she said something to me in French I will never understand, I knew exactly what she was saying and she knew I understood her to. It was one of the nicest moments I think of the whole holiday. I was just like, we have nothing in common not even a language yet we're here joking about missing a goal because we've drank too much and need to break the seal like hun I get you and we laughed about it without saying a word (in English anyway). I romanticise it so much; from an outside perspective it probably just looked like a couple of women laughing a little awkwardly but I loved it.

No.3 - EVERYONE IN PARIS SMOKES

Yes. This one's true but it's not like British smoking? It's sort of like that idea that a heatwave abroad is amazing and perfect tanning weather whereas in England you just burn, sweat and pretend iced coffee will solve everything. It doesn't. Same idea, in France, they seem to make smoking elegant, like casual to the point that it becomes an accessory. Bag, check. Sunglasses, check. Cocktail, check. Cigarette, check. They're classy about it. You won't find fag ends on the courtyards or pavements. It's spotless everywhere you go.

No.4 - ALL FRENCH* BOYS ARE BEAUTIFUL

One last stereotype to convince you to go to Paris (apologies to all straight men reading this it's not for you). Actually this is true. Fact. At least all *PARISIAN men anyway, who knows about the rest of the country. They all wear fitted white shirts and blue skinny jeans (but not too skinny) and travel around on bikes or mopeds looking extremely attractive. Also, I have a theory that all French guys wear the same aftershave. This theory only extends to the very lovely waiter we saw multiple times ~ he didn't speak a lot of English but he kept topping up my wine so he's a new fave ~ a couple of guys I passed on the street who were wearing the exact same one and then another waiter from a different part of Paris also wearing this mystery aftershave...I'm sorry but either I'm going mad or something's going on here. Not that I'm complaining because whatever it is, it's seriously good. Maybe I had French boys on my mind who knows??

XXX

#Paris #blog #travel