Travel Tips for visiting France (as given to my brother in 2006)

[I’ve been going through some old emails and notes and came across one sent to my brother Chris shortly before his first voyage to the old world.]

Here are a quick few general travelling things:

a) dont take anything irreplacable
b) travelling is expensive, but your time is even more.  Use it to the fullest.
c) dont take too much - europe is old and has lots of stairs.
d) take your very most comforatbable shoes - you will walk all day
e) europeans dont really wear jeans much and dress a bit up. Totally do as you want, but nice to know before hand youll stand out in a restaurant if wear jeans…but do it anyway - I often did.

Generally about Paris:

Undoubtedly the language barrier will catch you at some point. (Most people in germany will happily speak english but best to do the “Sprechen sie english?” thing too). Do the usual things: Louvre, Eiffel tour, Musee’ d’Orsay, l’arc du triumph, Notre Dame, but once the requesite stuff is done, I’d encourage you to just wander around…sit in a few cafes(watch out for the smoke)…check out everyday things as well as the momuments.

Tips about Paris:
a) tourists are a target for overpriced stuff wherever there are tourists…we just dont go to Pier 39 or a hotel everyday but you know how expensive it is. 

a2) get a money belt for your passport. Use a travel wallet(or empty your wallet before of all unncessary things) and keep in your front pocket.
a3) if you have BofA, BNP Parabus(sp?) will allow free ATM transaction in france and free deutchebank transactions in Deutcheland.  

b) its a sad fact, but quite a few expensive touristy things are worth doing - ie. going to the top of the Tour Eiffel for $13. Decide if its worth it, and then enjoy it, don’t hold back - get that $9 beer at the top too. Take photos. Remember the experience.

c) if you dont like paris, theres places right outside you can take the train to: Versaille, Fountainbleu.

d) Make sure you go to the latin quartier (in the 5th)
e) walk around a fair amount - its a pretty small city 
f) again, its France and even though youre paying good money to visit, you are still a visitor - dont assume they can speak english. Memorize “im sorry i do not speak french, do you know english?” “Pardon, je ne parle pas francais. Parlez-vous anglais?”. 

g) reply “bonjour” to anyone that says it to you. The French are more polite than Americans, if you actually understand what they are saying.

h) in the metro “correspondance” just means transfer.

i) try steak-frite (steak and french fries) - its a speciality of the french.

j) if the weather is nice, Jardin du Luxumbourg is quite nice (its a park).

k) at *least* one day, plan to do nothing but wandering around.

l) the second most useful french phrase is “je voudrai -”. (Voo-dray). “I would like”…

m) if you have to pay for something and you dont understand what they said the price was, just give them the biggest bill it might take. :) Works pretty well. (ie give the coffee guy a 5Euro, the museum person a 20, etc).

thats probably enough. Think of it as a game or a puzzle and youll have more fun.  I see youre going to beaune - guess you might see the bouchard pere et filles vinyard.

have a great trip.