Our BetterMost Community > Chez Tremblay
An American Girl in Paris
delalluvia:
--- Quote from: Ellemeno on June 23, 2007, 01:41:28 pm ---Delalluvia, he has a great website, full of good info. Remember that packing list for women that people were posting about, pre-BBQ? It was from his website. http://www.ricksteves.com/
--- End quote ---
Thanks, I went to go look. Take/buy pants whose lower legs zip off and become shorts?!?! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I love Rick Steves, I tape all his shows and watch them religiously, I buy his books, but he always looks and dresses like a tourist. He never blends in and all my books say to try to blend in with the denizens of Paris and never never wear shorts or sneakers.
I am going to pick some silk under clothes to wear, they do layer great and the weather in Paris I think is going to be similar to London, chilly at night and warm-ish during the day with constant chance of rain.
He had good advice on the shoes, though. Yes, they are very worth the money, your feet feel wonderful after a day in them. I know, I used to buy them for work. But I found in London that buying cushioned athletic insoles and putting them in my regular shoes worked just fine too and were much cheaper.
MaineWriter:
Rick Steves is good. I also really really like the Lonely Planet series of guidebooks. I have found more interesting, out of the way places to see using those books..."The Industrial Knitting Museum" outside Bergen; the Leprosy Museum in Oslo; the pass where the Japanese planes flew through as they came in for their attack on Pearl Harbor. Everyone goes to the Pearl Harbor Memorial, no one goes up the mountain to the pass, which actually has a very interesting history and memorial.
And I am very frugal...I have a black, microfiber healthy back bag which cost $59 new. I use it every single day and have for four years now, and the thing still looks brand new.
L
opinionista:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on June 23, 2007, 02:04:13 pm ---opinionista
Thanks, for all the advice. We're going to be mostly eating in cafes where it's cheap-er, so I was just wondering whether we wait to be seated or just sit down and who/where to pay.
As for the cops, I was just worried some plainclothes security guy or cop at a checkpoint - do they have those? - would ask for my ID and I wouldn't know who he was. OK, despite the terrorist bombing in London the year we went, there wasn't a lot of fear in the city, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed about Paris. I hope Paris is a open minded in the big city as was London, but it was in Madrid and Germany that my brother got nasty looks from people, so one never knows.
--- End quote ---
You're welcome. I live in Madrid, and I've never gotten any nasty look from the locals or the cops because of my looks or skin color. But it doesn't surprise me. In Madrid cops are nasty with men in general, but they tend to leave women alone. If they find you pretty, some will blatantly flirt with you. I'm not sure if in Paris the situation is the same. But in any case if a plainclothes stops you, which I seriously doubt, the first thing they do is show their badge. At least in Spain plainclothes rarely interact with the people, unless they see you doing something illegal. I don't think they can afford to start asking for IDs because everyone will soon know they're cops. They don't even get involved when they see a fight or something, they call a uniform. (I saw it once, I knew it as a plainclothes because he showed his badge to the uniform) Plainclothes in Spain mostly to keep an eye on the ones who sell pirate Cd's and stuff like that. I guess in France the situation is the same.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: delalluvia on June 23, 2007, 02:22:54 pm ---I am going to pick some silk under clothes to wear, they do layer great and the weather in Paris I think is going to be similar to London, chilly at night and warm-ish during the day with constant chance of rain.
--- End quote ---
This is a great idea. I took silk underclothes to Italy -- a long-sleeved shirt, a tank top and even long pants -- from Winter Silks http://www.wintersilks.com/products.aspx?BRANCH=1~. It was end of March/early April, so the days were usually 60ish and the nights were cooler. I could probably have lived without the pants, but the shirts were invaluable -- I still wear them frequently to this day. They're good for layering because they're slippery, they look good under something lower cut, they add considerable warmth, and they take up next to no space and weigh next to nothing. I think I probably wore them at the BBQ, as a matter of fact.
--- Quote from: MaineWriter on June 23, 2007, 02:30:26 pm ---And I am very frugal...I have a black, microfiber healthy back bag which cost $59 new. I use it every single day and have for four years now, and the thing still looks brand new.
--- End quote ---
I bought my first microfiber purse maybe 10 or 12 years ago and vowed never to get a leather one again. So far haven't broken the vow (though it has gotten harder -- microfiber was more in style at that time than it is now). Microfiber is MUCH lighter than leather, it wears well, and as a bonus it wins the approval of my vegetarian son.
delalluvia:
OK, now I feel really really bad. :(
For some reason, my sister always leaves it up to me to book airline reservations.
I wish she wouldn't. I'm terrified of flying and so am extremely superstitious about that sort of thing and want to leave it up to the Fates to put me in a seat and on a particular flight. Instead she makes me take an active part in my own destiny. :o
She has the credit card. Don't know why she makes me do this. (hmmm, maybe she's superstitious, too ???) Anyway, another bad reason to let me make reservations is that due to my fear of flying, I don't fly if I can't help it, so I don't know my way around reading the screens about flights and all the dinky little details about how to reserve seats make me nervous and anxious.
Anyway, yesterday I found a non-stop, food included, direct from Texas to Paris, flight at an amazing price roundtrip of $582 (without taxes). I called my sister and she said go ahead and book it. However, I only had enough immediate funds to pay for one ticket, so I bought mine and then transferred funds from one bank account to another so I could afford to buy her ticket. But that's an overnight transaction. I told her this.
Again, I'm nervous, unfamiliar with the screens, the small print is like a wall that my eyes glaze over and I just buy my ticket.
Today, my sister drops off the cash so I can book her a ticket, and when I go to the website, the price has gone up nearly $300 for the same flight one way. Needless to say, my sister's upset and can no longer afford the same flight. I had to book her on another flight that has a 1.5 hour layover, that's more expensive but she still arrives in Paris before I do.
Downside is we have to travel separately and our departure times are hours apart, so we either have to go to the airport separately or we arrive at the airport together and one of us has to hang around for about 3 hours.
Upside is that we're traveling separately.
WORSE part is...as I was buying her ticket today, I realized that the small print at the bottom of the screen told me I could have reserved a seat at the price quoted without paying for it for 24 hours. She's going to end up paying $200 more than me because I was too rattled yesterday to notice this. :( :( :-\ I feel really really bad...
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