Cairo (12/28-29, 1/3-4)

We visited Cairo both at the beginning and end of our Egypt trip. While the Pyramids and King Tut's tomb at the museum were both fascinating, the poverty and chaos of the city were really shocking.

Daniel

For photos, click here.

Cairo

Cairo is the largest city in Africa with around 16 million inhabitants. Driving in from the airport was a great way to see how huge and populous this metropolis is. Sadly, this is also one of the most polluted cities/areas in Africa. We basically did Cairo in two trips, which acted as the bookends to our overall Egypt trip.

During our first stay we visited Memphis the site of Djoser's Step Pyramid in (an hour drive south of Cairo). Djoser, a powerful Pharaoh around 2600 BC, initiated the Ancient Egyptian obsession with the Pyramid. Memphis also had a few interesting relics. Not surprisingly, one of the ancient temple sites has a Ramses II statue on display. The statue (one of three) is made of alabaster and stands almost 15 ft tall. Like I said earlier this guy left his mark on Egypt.

Later we drove to Giza for the Great Pyramids. They absolutely dwarf Djoser's Pyramid but owe all their grandeur & genius to his initial works. To be honest, they are hard to really appreciate in person. The scale is so enormous that they just seem like geometric mountains poking out of the dessert. Standing at the base of one of the Pyramid corner stones - I couldn't imagine how these stones were so tightly stacked in an effort to reach to the sun. It's interesting that even today there are numerous theories on how the Egyptians most likely constructed the Pyramids.

While at Giza we climbed into the heart of the Great Pyramid and scrambled up the narrow and stuffy chambers only to arrive to a small and stuffy inner chamber that is believed to be a false treasure room. We also took a short camel ride on the Pyramid grounds - it was pretty corny but made for some great photos! Click here for a video of Kim attempting to dismount her camel...but it didn't want her to get off!

The highlight of our day in Giza was the Solar Boat. We didn't even know about this amazing archaeological find before we arrived at the more well-known Pyramids and Sphinx. The Solarboat Museum at the base of the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt contains the actual, reconstructed boat that was used in the funerary ceremonies of the Pharaoh Cheops. It was amazing to imagine the construction of this ceremonial boat in ~2500 BC! And to think that it has lasted 4000 years and is still perfectly preserved! (The boat wasn't discovered until after WWII.)

Finally, there was the Sphinx. What I remember most about the Sphinx, sadly, is staring at KFC and Pizza Hut that were built only 100ft from the site. The sole path leading up to a closer view of the Sphinx is packed with locals trying to sell kitchy souvenirs etc. It feels like Giza and Cairo are slowly creeping into and over the ancient sites.


On our return trip to Cairo we visited the newly built Cairo Museum, which holds a ton of cool artifacts. The highlights are definitely Tutankhamun's treasure and many, many mummies. The riches of Tutankhamun's burial chamber are amazing. Most famous is the funerary mask that absolutely glows - pure gold and mostly inlaid with lapis lazuli. Also, there was another entire wing dedicated to the various artifacts found inside the burial chamber ranging from model ships, chariots, to small figurines representing all the labourers/servants involved in the construction of his tomb.

We spent time wandering the lesser known Coptic area in Cairo. This neighborhood is dominated by Coptic Churches. The Coptic Church split with Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches, which were still joined. It was interesting to see how much a region/culture can influences the traditions of the church. In a number of the churches the current Coptic Pope was prominently pictured. If I wasn't sure about being in a church I would have mistaken him for a Imam or Islamic religious leader.

Finally, we spent quite a bit of time at the Cairo Bazaar - highly recommended as one of the "must see" things in Cairo. There was something about the stench and large amounts of garbage that made us wonder what the "bad" parts of Cairo were like. While in the Bazaar we often had to tip toe through passageways covered with layers of garbage and mud. Although the smell and pollution were in our face - we did find some great Egyptian food at one of the restaurants buried in the maze of alleys within the Bazaar. Click here for a video of the evening call to prayer in the heart of Islamic Cairo.

Cairo was great to visit for a day or two, but you don't need to spend more time here. Time in Egypt is much more well spent along the Nile and near Luxor. The ancient sites are more impressive and less overrun with urban sprawl.

Abu Simbel (1/2)

If you want to know more about Ramses II this is a great place to start…the two temples make a statement like no other about how Ramses II displayed his might. The site is also famous as it had to be literally cut apart and reassembled to escape the rising level of the Nile after the construction of the Aswan Dam.

Daniel

For photos, click here.

Abu Simbel

So there are two main reasons why this Ramses II shrine is so impressive. The first has to do with its clear theme – don’t mess with Ramses II. The cave-like temple was carved into a rock (rather than constructed) and is fronted with enormous replicas of the man himself (actually more like a god since pharaohs were considered to be). You would probably get to about ankle height standing next to one of them. Inside offers another view into how important hieroglyphics were. Every surface, walls, columns ceilings are carved with stories about Ramses II and his mostly successful war mongering.

So the second thing is more of a modern twist. Since Egypt built the newer High Aswan Dam, the location where Abu Simbel was originally built fell below the waterline. So in the 1960s the government and UNESCO turned the temple into one of the biggest stone jigsaw puzzles. Remember that this was a carved temple, unlike the others in Egypt that were constructed with blocks or pillars. So that meant that the Egyptians had to actually cut apart the entire temple into 1423 blocks, move it 200m to higher ground, and reassemble the entire monument.

In order to see the site we had to take a puddle jumper airplane from Luxor to Abu Simbel. I forgot to mention there is nothing near Abu Simbel except the monument, the airport built to bring tourists in, and the masses of tour buses shuttling people back and forth. Even so, the short flight over is very dramatic. You can see the already wide Nile explode over the desert into a giant reservoir (known as Lake Nassar) surrounded by nothing but sandy rock. Depending on how you view it, the proximity of the airport is either a good or bad thing. Our plane flew directly over the temple for a great aerial shot, but those planes fly in and out every 30 minutes so when you are actually at the site it gets old pretty quick.

Nile Cruise (12/30-1/1)

Three days and nights on a luxurious boat cruising along the Nile River...what a way to spend my birthday and New Year’s! Along the way, we stopped at several temples, viewing even more incredibly preserved and impressive architecture and art from ancient Egypt. The best part though was probably just sitting on the deck of the boat, watching Egyptian scenery: the farmers tending to their fields, the animals grazing on the banks, the minarets of mosques appearing every so often, the vibrant green of the fertile Nile contrasting with the brown of the arid desert.

Daniel

For pictures, click here.

Nile Cruise

One of the best parts of our trip was staying on a small but very well equipped A&K cruise boat. It had a full service restaurant, lounge, outdoor terrace, and sun deck. The rooms were great with one of the nicest showers I have ever taken while on a ship/boat. We even had Molton & Brown soaps/shampoos – I’d never heard of it before but Kim told me it was amazing stuff, and yes it was so we of course lugged whatever was left back to Paris. Having such comfy amenities made it easy to soak in the ancient sites as we meandered down the Nile.

My other favorite thing about our cruise was the food. Most of the meals were buffet style, which was great since we could try all the tasty delights. The chef was proud of his work and was good at it too. Luckily, we were able to attend a cooking class on one of the afternoons back on the boat. He walked us through three great recipes, that we got to keep and took us through the kitchen to see all the behind the scenes action.

One of our stops was in Edfu where we made a short visit to the Temple of Horus. It’s yet another mighty temple, not as grand as Karnak, but it has been preserved very well. The inner sanctuary was stunning, with its polished granite shrine that once contained the gold cult statue of Horus.

In the evening just after sunset we made a visit to the Temple of Kom Ombo otherwise known as the “crocodile temple.” The temple is actually a joint temple of both Sobek, the local god represented by a crocodile, and Horus, the main Egyptian god that is represented by a falcon. Clearly the crocodile was revered in this town on the Nile, the mummified crocs found on site as well as a clear theme of crocodiles in the relief carvings were proof of that. There was also a deep well that was used by the ancients to measure the height of the Nile. The Egyptians lived or died by the Nile, so it makes sense that they went to great lengths to understand their sometimes unpredictable water source.

Further south we finally disembarked from our luxurious Nile cruise in the town of Aswan – home to the Low & High Aswan Dams. Our minibus stopped on top of the High Dam for a look. There were heavily armed guards every 30ft protecting this precarious spot. If the dam were seriously damaged or destroyed it would wipe out the city of Aswan within minutes along with everything in its path on the way to the Mediterranean Sea—giving residents of Cairo only hours to evacuate. Even though it is one of the largest dams in the world that provides critical irrigation and hydroelectric power to Egypt, there isn’t much to see on top of the dam. Just nearby the dam is an old Obelisk Quarry home to the largest existing Obelisk. The Obelisk still lies within the quarry on its side where it was hewn from the rock. At some point it cracked and the project was abandoned. Had it been finished it would have been 42 meters tall and weighed 1168 tons.

The Temple of Philae was our last stop before we flew off to see the Abu Simbel temple south of Lake Nassar. Located on an island in reservoir created by the building of the Dam, this was another victim of the rising waters of Lake Nasser, due to the dam. The Egyptians actually had to disassemble the temple and move it from its original location to a new island. In addition, the temple has another piece of interesting history: it was “conserved” by the French who arrived in the 1900s and made their own addition, carving a decree about Napolean’s rule etc. There is even some ancient and French graffiti on some of the walls.

Since my birthday falls on December 30, I enjoyed one of the most enthusiastic Happy Birthday songs performed by the wait staff (and the head chef we later learned) during dinner. Pounding drums, one gyrating waiter, and many slightly off-tune singers belting out the song at the top of their lungs made it a memorable treat. Click here for a video.

The other entertaining event on the boat was a Egyptian Galabeya party, where the guests were invited to wear traditional Galabeyas (for sale only of course). The whole Haimsohn family and I got into the spirit. Kim insisted I put on some black eyeliner to make my costume as authentic as possible. We also celebrated New Year’s on the boat cruise. The party was fun, but the true highlight was watching one of the staff (the same gyrating waiter) burn a hole in the dance floor with his moves during a pop dance beat. He even worked some pole moves into his solo dance before the song sadly came to an end.

Luxor (12/30)

It’s way more than just a fancy casino in Las Vegas. Actually there aren’t any pyramids to be found in Luxor, which was the new ancient capital of Thebes, located much farther south of the famous pyramids at Giza/Cairo. Far more impressive than the Pyramids, Luxor was the highlight of our trip in Egypt. There were three thousand year old temples, with its walls and pillars completely covered in carvings and even still showing the colors of paints. There were the amazingly preserved tombs of the Pharos of the Valley of the Kings, and there was the Nile—a true green oasis in the middle of an extremely arid desert.

Daniel

For pictures, click here

Luxor and Valley of the Kings

Luxor gave us a true sense of the magnitude and affluence during the Egyptian Kingdoms. An early morning flight from chaotic Cairo carried us away from modern times into the heart of ancient Egypt. Honestly, we didn’t really know what to expect. We knew there were a few sites located here – after all they named a major casino/hotel after it. But we were absolutely amazed at what we saw.

First, the rural or small town setting amid enormous temples and palaces simply added to the impact. This was a huge difference from the Sphinx and the Pyramids at Giza. The KFC and Pizza Hut (just across the street) really take away from the mystique that has surrounded Giza. However, Luxor has not become overrun (yet) and the temples we visited were especially memorable. Each site was in amazing condition. Almost all the surfaces were covered with intricately carved reliefs – as sharp as if they had been completed a few years ago. Even more amazing is that when these temples were active thousands of years ago they were decorated with bright colors (mostly precious metals and brilliant natural blues, reds, and yellows). To this day, the few remaining ceiling panels of the Karnak Temple still retain most of their color.

Temples of Karnak:
These were the most impressive just based on their magnitude. The Karnak area was sacred during the New Kingdom, and each Pharaoh tried to leave his mark on the complex by adding additional pylons or temples over 500 years. It was here that we were introduced to the major cast of characters that we would hear about over and over again: Amenhotep III, Seti I, Hatshepsut (the female pharoh), Ramses II, Ramses III.

The Luxor Temple:
This was the second major site we toured – another colossal monument with towering obelisks and a massive colonnade. It is an interesting place especially because it has been built over in the past 2300 years. In one part of the complex is a working mosque that was built and still remains part of the temple. Another part has a temple where the walls were plastered over and painted with Christian frescoes by the Romans. One other fun thing about the place: the obelisk we have become familiar with in Paris (it stands today at Place de Concorde) was originally from this temple.

The Valley of the Kings:
Although the landscape here was about as desolate as you can get, the tombs below were extremely colorful. We visited four tombs on our visit, each slightly different—but with the general principle of a highly decorated passageway leading to several small rooms. The main chamber is where the mummified body was placed, in a beautiful jeweled sarcophagus. The other rooms were used as store houses for all the Pharaohs’ necessities in the afterlife. The theory was that after the tomb was sealed, the entire place would “come alive” and the Pharaoh could use whatever he had “brought” with him in his afterlife. Most of the tombs have been raided over the thousands of years since their creation, but one was rediscovered by archeologists in its entirety: the tomb of Tutankhamun (King Tut). What makes King Tut’s tomb so famous is not that he was a particularly important Pharaoh or that the tomb was especially large or special. It really is just that it is the only tomb to be discovered with all its goodies still inside. Compared to the other tombs his was tiny…only two chambers and no carvings. Historians, think that this usually meant that the Pharaoh died unexpectedly. According to tradition they must be buried in XXX days. So King Tut’s tomb was actually a rush job! The Cairo museum now exhibits all the riches and valuable found in Tut’s tomb.

Deir-el-Medina
This is the remains of the town where the artisans lived who worked to build and decorate the Pharos’ tombs in the Valley of the Kings. A rarely visited site, it was quite a treat to visit the tombs here. They were in incredible condition, with extremely vivid colors from the XX thousand year old paints carefully applied by the masters of this trade.

Temple of Hatshepsut (Deir al-Bahri)
Thiswas another desert sanctuary most famous because the Pharaoh behind its construction was not a man. Hatshepsut ruled as Pharaoh for 15 years after her husband died and their son was not yet old enough to rule – making her reagent. The temple is striking and can be seen clearly from the Nile like an entrance to a massive desert fortress. Interestingly, Hatshepsut masculinized herself, wearing the Pharaonic beard and masculine clothes—likely to increase her acceptance and legitimacy as Pharaoh. After her death, her successors took many efforts at literally erasing her from the history books—going as far as rubbing out her name at many of the temples across the kingdom.

Petra (12/25-26)

So for those of you who have never heard of Petra or have never seen pictures BUT are movie buffs, think ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ and the lost city where Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, and the Nazis go in search of the Holy Grail....that’s Petra. It’s no film set, it's for real and it’s even more spectacular in person than on the big screen.

Kimberly

For pictures, click here.

Petra

They call Petra the “Rose City” for a lot of the stone and rock in the city is a light rose color. The reality is they should have called it the “Rose, blueberry, curry, slate, and chocolate city” as there are many other natural colors there…all of which are equally beautiful. What makes this city so remarkable isn’t just it’s obscure location and that it is hidden in a network of siqs and canyons, nor the fact that the city is huge and has an incredible variety of different tombs and buildings, nor how well some of the tombs and monuments are preserved, nor their massiveness, nor the fact that the builders created a complex network of damns and water channels to bring water into the city - what really makes it so incredible is that almost the entire city was carved out of the canyon and siq walls by hand….now that fact combined with all previously mentioned should impress the pants off of anyone.

To be honest, it is really hard to describe in words the splendor that is Petra. It is simply one of the most amazing things I have ever seen anywhere in the world. It is incredible to think that these huge structures were carved directly into the cliffs of this beautiful canyon thousands of years ago. Many of them show the erosion of time, wind, and sand. But others are preserved like they were built yesterday.

After walking a mile through the narrow siq with its 200 meter high ways,
stumbling upon "The Treasury" must have been quite an experience for the first explorers. Even we were speechless at first sight of this incredible wonder, and we knew what we were going to find at the end of our walk! We did not realize, however, that The Treasury is just one of many of these carved Nabatean tombs that survive in this valley. Our other favorite monument was "The Monastery," which we reached after a tiring 45 minute hike up the cliffs of the canyon (Merrill ended up taking a donkey, but only after long negotiations!).

Really, the whole sight is simply spectacular. I cannot describe it any better. You just have to visit to see for yourself! (Or take a look at our pictures in the meanwhile!)

Jordan: Jerash & Kings' Highway (12/24-25)

We arrived in Jordan and first visited the most amazing Roman ruins we have ever seen...not what you expect for the Middle East, right?! Then we spent Christmas day driving through the Kings' Highway in Jordan. With local castles, intact Roman sites, and Mt. Nebo (site where Moses is preseumed to have seen Jerusalem.

Daniel

For photos, click here:

Jordan: Jerash & Kings' Highway

I'll be perfectly honest, when we started planning a trip to Jordan and Egypt - I was not especially interested or comfortable with the idea. I might as well go have a picnic in some gang infested inner-city neighborhood, right? Sadly, our media does a very good job of almost training us to feel uncomfortable, nervous about a country or region that we know so little about. So, with that said, our visit to Jordan was eye opening and a breath of fresh air.

Of course, it helped that our guide in Jordan, Sufian Twassi (aka Abu Gazi), was phenomenal in all respects. In Jordan tradtion, it is more respectful to call Sufian, "Father of Gazi" his first born son than by his own first name. The same tradition applies to the women, so Umm Gazi or "Mother of Gazi". Abu Gazi made us feel unbelievebly welcome in his home, shared his family stories, and really added color to our experience way beyond any lifeless monument or relic could do. (And Robert and Merrill became Abu James and Umm James...)

Our first day we made a few day trips to sites outside of Amman. Unfortunately, Amman is more of a modern working city (although we had some fantastic Lebanese/Jordanian food, there isn't much to see, historically in the city itself). So, we spent most of our first day near Ajloun (site of an ancient castle) and Jerash (a former Roman stronghold).

Ajloun was the site of many crusade battles where Europeans and Ottomans waged some serious war. The castle site was more or less barren, but it had some great viewpoints of the surrounding valley. Also, we got a decent workout scrambling up and down some pretty steep steps.

The Roman ruins in Jerash were defintely the most impressive that we have ever seen. Our Jerash visit was defined by standing next to a 100ft tall column, watching it sway in the wind, and thinking this was built 1700 years ago! These last few standing columns were enormous in every aspect and really gave a sense for how immense Roman architecture had become.

The theatre was also a fun visit. It is very well preserved and functional to boot. We took turns testing out the keystone, located just in front of the main stage. While speaking to an invisible audience in the stands, one just walks until they are standing on the keystone. All of a sudden it's like a microphone was switched on - really amazing that it still works. I even tried standing at the very last row at the top of the stadium steps, while Bob was talking at the keystone - he may have well been sitting next to me. Just the accoustics made this a fascinating visit.

The next day we set out for Petra (THE highlight of Jordan). During the 3+ hour drive to and from Petra, we paid a visit to Mt. Nebo (famous Moses site), Madaba (a live Christian city), and Karak Castle (prime example of vaulted Islamic architecture).

Mt Nebo, was historically/religiously an intersting visit. We basically stood where Moses is believed to have looked across the Red Sea and gazed upon Jerusalem. Next we visited Madaba, a strongly Christian town with numerous examples of Roman tile work - as well as a Byzantine mosaics of the known world (back then of course).

During our visit at Karak, Abu Gazi explained the significance of headscarves, who chose to wear them, and why. He also taught us about basic traditions such as marriage in Jordan. We learned that their culture it strongly tied to the extended family unit, respect for elders, and helping those less fortunate. Almost, every major tradition at some point involves a feast. Whenever a lamb or sheep is killed for such an event, the extra (there always is) is given to those in the family who need some help or other members of the community who are in need. I wondered, when was the last time I enjoyed a feast with family and shared that very blessing with others in need? Fortunately, I can improve on that...


Petra? read on...

Paris Holidays (12/01-31)

December in Paris gave us the opportunity to reflect on the cultural differences between the U.S. and France--since we were able to take a quick trip back home. Ny parents also came to visit for a second time, and we enjoyed the holiday festivities together.

For photos, click here.

Paris Holidays

Kimberly

After having spent almost three months in France, we had the opportunity to make a quick trip back to the States. The company I am going to work for next year, Bain & Co., was having a weekend meeting for all the “offerees” in next year’s class…and they offered to fly me and Dan back to San Francisco for it. Needless to say, we jumped on the opportunity to visit family and friends, and even worked in a stopover in Chicago.

What surprised me most about the trip, though, were the little things that I was completely in awe of, the little things we take for granted in the U.S., the little things I did not even realize I had missed.

I found myself way too excited and content to be in a Walgreens. Mind you, one that I had never set foot in before in San Francisco. Wandering around the aisles, I realized that I could easily find anything I needed. This concept of logical organization and standardization between stores is a completely foreign concept in France—and something so common we don’t even notice in the U.S. And, if I couldn’t find what I was looking for, a friendly Walgreens employee would be happy to help. Try that in a store in Paris, you will be lucky if you can find anyone…and if you do, you’ll most likely just get a shrug of the shoulders and puff of the lips as your response.

But at the end of the long weekend, I found myself quite happy to be returning to Paris, with its inefficiencies and indifference—but also with its joie de vivre, slow pace of life, and incomparable cheese.

After we returned, we had to prepare for my parents’ second visit to our new home. While they were here, we visited all the parts of the city that had been illuminated and decorated for the holiday season. We saw a special projection show at Notre Dame, a concert at Eglise Trinité, the lights on the Champs Elysées, and the amazing displays at Galaries Lafayette and Printemps. We were leaving together in a few days for our Christmas/New Year’s trip to Jordan and Egypt. So we prepared by attending an amazing exhibition at the Grand Palais of the underwater archaeological expedition the French carried out in the Mediterranean Sea just north of Alexandria. It certainly whet our appetite!

As we continued the uphill battle of dealing with French Bureaucracy, we had plenty of opportunities to observe the differences between the American and French attitudes towards working. (At this point in the paperwork saga, someone had apparently lost both of our Autorisations du Travail (work permits), and now we were jumping through an innumerable amount of hoops to try to get at least a copy of them.)

So when our internet stopped working, I was horrified when the nice man at France Telecom told me that I had no choice but to call Customer Service to have them resolve the issue. If you think you speak another language, it really is another test altogether when you are trying to explain an internet problem and understand instructions from a tech support guy over the phone. I now know that debrancher means to unplug. And clignotait means blinking (which the light on our internet box was not). After several times of debrancher and brancher and checking for la lumière clignotait, the tech support man told me that I had to make a rendez-vous for someone to come to our apartment to see exactly what the problem was.

Random aside: in the U.S. we have this incredible skill of romanticizing everyday French words and phrases. In the U.S. a soirée is a fun night out, usually involving doing something swanky. In France, it just means evening. My favorite one by far is rendez-vous. Literally, it translates as “return yourself”. In the U.S. we have decided it means a special, romantic meeting, often somewhat illicit—and definitely something that you would eagerly anticipate. In France, it just means appointment, often something painful and bureaucratic—and usually just some additional step in the bureaucratic nightmare that you are dreading.

So when the date of our rendez-vous finally came, I was not looking forward to waiting around all day for a grumpy French cable guy to show up and tell me that he could not solve our problem, shrug his shoulders, and leave. Boy was I surprised when he arrived on time and with a smile on his face. He proceeded to quickly ascertain that France Telecom had signed us up for an Internet connection that was too fast and too much data for our old phone-line to handle. And while he was solving our problem, he started to ask me what the differences were between the U.S. and France. What did I miss from home?

Having just returned from the U.S., I knew what my answer was to that question: customer service. I explained that in the U.S., it was unthinkable for the supermarket to close fifteen minutes early because the manager just felt like going home. That when you walk into a store, people come over to help you—rather than ignore your presence entirely. The fact that you have to pay extra to call customer service numbers is even more proof of the difference. In the U.S., you call a 1-800 number for customer service, meaning that it is completely free, not even the price of a local call. In France, it is also an 800 number, but that means the opposite: like a 900 number back home, it means you pay extra, sometimes several Euros a minute, to talk with someone to resolve a problem that you don’t want to have anyway. The cable-guy agreed this seemed like a funny approach, and even commented that it might create the incentive for French companies to make more problems so they could make money through their customer service hotline!

He asked me why I thought the difference was so strong. It’s a complicated answer, of course. The cultural differences cannot be denied, for sure. And there is the notion that America is “the land of opportunity” where anyone can work hard and become a millionaire—whereas France’s rigid class system still reeks of nobility. But I explained that I think a lot of it has to do with incentives.

In France, the employment laws are so strict, that you cannot terminate an employee without jumping through numerous hoops and paying a very pricey severance package. And that is if you can fire him at all—often you simply cannot. In the U.S., if you aren’t doing a good job, you could show up tomorrow and find out you have been let go. And in many jobs, your pay is a function of how well you do—especially in sales or retail where things are commission based. The French choose a career, usually at the age of sixteen when they select their specialty for the baccalaureat, they get certified for the career, and once they start in it, they rarely change. Why change when your employment is essentially guaranteed? And if you don’t inherently love your work, why try?

Before I continue with the French bashing, let me say that there is something truly refreshing about the lack of commercialism over here. Yes, often you meet employees who could care less if you wanted to buy something. Yes, I agree that most French people would not even understand the statement “The customer is always right.” But you also often meet employees who chose this job or opened this store because they truly love their work and helping customers. What you NEVER meet are employees who are trying to upsell you into a product you don’t need because their livelihood depends all on commission. So, if you can’t get help in this France Telecom office, try going to another. Surely after several visits, you will eventually find one of the smiling representatives who when you gush, “Thank you so much. You have been the most helpful person throughout this entire process.” They respond incredulously, “Mais bien-sûr! Cést mon métier!” (“But of course, it’s my job!”)

After an extra half-hour of chit chat and dissection of our cultures, politics, and economic systems, the cable-guy left and wished me a bon journée (good day). It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I found the following passage in Adam Gopnick’s “Paris to the Moon” that so perfectly sums up the differences in attitude that we had been trying to articulate.

"The Eiffel Tower incident of the summer of ’97 illustrates a temperamental and even intellectual difference between the two cultures. Most Americans draw their identities from the things they buy, while the French draw theirs from the jobs they do. What we think of as “French rudeness,” and what they think of as “American arrogance,” arise from this difference…. For us, an elevator operator is only a tourist’s way of getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower. For the French, a tourist is only an elevator operator’s opportunity to practice his métier [profession] in a suitably impressive setting.

The French ideal of a world in which everyone has a métier but no customers to trouble him is more practical than it might seem. It has been achieved, for instance, by the diplomats inside the quai d’Orsay, who create foreign policy of enormous subtlety and refinement which has absolutely no effect on anyone outside the building….

The elevator operator dreams of going to the top of the tower alone in his elevator, while the Anglo-Saxon tourist, in her heart of hearts (and he knows this; it’s what terrifies him the most), dreams of an automatic elevator. When the two ideals—of absolute professionalism unfettered by customers and of absolute tourism unaffected by locals—collide, trouble happens, pain is caused. Americans long for a closed society in which everything can be bought, where laborers are either hidden away or dressed up as nonhumans, as not to be disconcerting. This place is called Disney World. The French dream of a place where everyone can practice his métier in self-enclosed perfection, with the people to be served only on sufferance, as extras, to be knocked down the moment they act up. This place, come to think of it, is called Paris in July.

More favorite restaurants:

Le Comptoir du Relais
9 Carrefour de l'Odéon - 75006, Paris - 01 44 27 07 97
(One of the hottest places in Paris these days, run by the guy who really started this movement towards high quality "bistro food"...Senderens and Robuchon have since decided this is a good idea, blowing off Michelin and "downgrading" their fancy restaurants. The food is amazing-and very afforable for the quality of cuisine. Book a table a month in advance for dinner during the week (the 40 prix fixe is supposed to be amazing) or take your chances on the weekend...or come for lunch, like we did!)

La Bastide Odeon
http://www.bastide-odeon.com/
7 rue Corneille - 75006, Paris - 01 43 26 03 65
(A great taste of Provence in the heart of Paris. The food was of exceptional quality and presentation. A refreshing meal out different from your typical Paris Bistro.)

The following three places are great for some sweet snacks during your stay:

Ladurée
http://www.laduree.fr
16 rue Royale - 75008, Paris - 01 42 60 21 79
75 avenue des Champs Elysées - 75008 Paris - 01.40.75.08.75
21 rue Bonaparte - 75006 Paris - 01.44.07.64.87
(World famous macaroons..and no, not like the Jewish cookie. Imagine a chewy French meringue with tasty fillings like chocolate, coffee, raspberry, or vanilla)

Gérard Mulot
http://www.gerard-mulot.com/
76 Rue du Seine - 75006, Paris - 01 43 26 85 77
93 Rue de la Glacière - 75013, Paris - 01 45 81 39 09
(One of the best boulangeries and patiserries in Paris. Come here for the makings of an exquisite picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens. Also have salads, sandwiches, quiches, and other prepared dishes.)

Angelina
226 rue de Rivoli - 75001, Paris - 01-42-60-82-00
(The place in Paris for hot cholocate...no, not Swiss Miss style, more like a melted bar of chocolate in a cup!)