Archive for November 20th, 2008

2008.11.20

Observations from Paris about Paris

I’ve been here a while and I’ve… Notice things. Things that are so noticeable even I noticed them. That’s notable.

The context: it’s mid-November, the skies have been overcast and it’s mildly chilly, perhaps in the high 40s or low 50s.

Parisians are bundled up like the it’s an ice age. I’ve never seen so many scarves and hats. But the scarves and hats are of the highest designer fashion. In fact almost all of the clothing I’ve seen looks like the person bought it that morning at some boutique store and put it on for the day and will throw it away that night. Outside of Paris fashion diminishes. People there look like they might have worn their clothes for more than one day.

Cars lack bumper stickers here. As opposed to America where you can often tell a person’s political affiliation, the causes they subscribe to, and the kind of humor they espouse (or blatantly lack) here you can’t tell anything by the back of their car.

The French have more bookstores than in America. I don’t know if they read more because I haven’t actually seen a single person reading a book yet, but they definitely devote more shelf space to books. The book section in Carrefour, France’s equivalent to WalMart, is larger than most bookstores in America. Quite shocking.

Also shocking, at least it would be to many Americans, is the fact that there is a huge appreciation for comic books and that comics featuring nudity are placed low enough for children to reach for them. I don’t think they are placed that way to entice children, but I was rather surprised to see boobs at about the level of my knees.

The French also seem to love Japanese manga. I hardly saw any American comics, and of that even less of the superhero genre.

There seems to be less casual humor around here. I sat outside for about 20 minutes the other day watching people pass on the street. I saw a grand total of four people out of the hundreds going by that had a smile, either walking on their own or talking in groups. People’s eyes are far from dead, but I can’t imagine what is going on behind them. If they were happy I couldn’t tell, even by their body language. It’s kinda weird.

No pictures yet (as I mentioned I wanted to do in my last post). Apologies for that…