Yes, the French can be gracious
 

This morning, my buddy and I were on Stevens Canyon Road headed for Redwood Gulch Road to Highway 9 and Skyline, when we were passed by two cyclists. As we were climbing, one of them turned back and said in a French accent, "This is a nice road. We are visiting from France. Congratulations on Floyd Landis!" We said thank you and wished him a good ride as he zoomed away on his Time.

You should anwered in spanglish "I was rooting for Oscar Pereiro, you fool.", lol

JK, nice story...

lol

I have a feeling that the France will be more friendly to Landis than Armstrong.

Gee, I wonder why:rolleyes:

When I've been in France I've found the people to be friendly and helpful. But, maybe that has as much to do with me as it does with them.

I don't understand the poor rep the French get. Sure, Parisians, maybe, but it's outright racism, IMO, to French-bash the way so many Americans do. Anyhow, even the Parisians are OK if you speak French well enough, IME. :D

Anyhow, I think the French, who in their history of cycling fandom, laud great suffering will appreciate Landis' hip story and how he won this Tour.

If he hadn't bonked and then had a comeback, I think there would have been grousing that the win was missing something. I suspect that's what fans like to see - someone come out and face adversity and then come back and blow away the competition.

Lance used to dominate too, but he never had a bad day quite like Floyd. He dehydrated on one time trial I recall, but didn't lose anywhere nearly as much time.

When we first arrived in Paris, my wife misprounced an address to a cab driver in French. He then tossed our luggage out of his trunk (and I mean tossed, not placed) screamed at my wife and left. If I wasn't so stunned at what just happened I would have cleaned his clock.

That was really the only bad experience I had in France, except for a McDonalds clerk screaming at me for taking a picture of thier menu (you know, 'Royale with Cheese') but it did leave a bad impression.

WTF were you doing at a McD's in France, fer Cris'sake?!?!? Just going to McDonald's is enough of a bad experience... even in the States.

The only time I go into a McDs is to use the toilet. I then walk out without buying anything.:D

They were friendly when he won his first. He was a hero.

Ah, how time changes things....

Maybe your wife accidentally called his wife a wh0re or something.


If Paris taxi drivers are like everywhere else they're probably not French anyway.

Algerian?

Who knows. I've never caught a cab in Paris, but all the cab drivers in Den Haag were Afghans, and in most other cities I've visited the taxi drivers have been fairly recent immigrants (London Black cabs are an exception).

The rudest person I've ever met in Paris was an American.

Az

I've met some pretty rude people (of which I can be one), but Americans only stand out because they talk so loudly.

I'd always heard Parisiens were rude, but I was a tad more sympathetic to them after I went there and discovered every second person is a tourist and they're all constantly asking for directions in English. I'm sure it's easy to occasionally forget they are spending money keeping the city solvent, and lose it when you're asked the 30th time where the Eiffel Tower is (hint: you can see it from everywhere in the city)

I have traveled through Europe and have noticed this everywhere.

Never lived in Paris... did live in Montpellier and Strasbourg for several years. The French were no more nor less rude than the residents of other places where I've lived. There were cultural differences of course, but it wasn't about rudeness. When Americans go to France, they see, for the most part, urban folks, who live a faster paced life with the same stressers that you'd find in a large American city. Folks in large American cities also sometimes get a rap for being rude.

It is even more enlightening when you look at a French book on language and see so many familiar words and realize that often we are simply throwing their language back at them, only very badly pronounced. The word "direction" for instance is exactly the same but pronouned differently. Symmpathetic is similar but with a "que" at the end. "sympathique" Solvent is close... "dissolvant."

Of course the arrangement of the sentences is a bit different also... as are the use of words with male and female roots... thus la and le can be quite confusing.

I spent three weeks in Paris last year, and the only experience I had that even approached rude behavior was when a businessman wouldn't tell my friends and I what time it was. Everybody else was extraordinarily kind and warm-hearted, in a very honest and genuine way - and I don't even speak French, except for a few phrases.

They are:

Bonjour, madame.
Bonjour, monsieur.
Un ______, sil vous plait.
Merci beaucoup.
Je ne parlais pas Francais.
Parlez vous Anglais?

That is literally all I knew, and all anybody needs to know. Most Parisians speak some English, and even though they don't like using it, they will if they like you.

And they like people who make an effort. Americans heads would explode if people started talking to them in foreign languages.

Tend to agree with you. I spend two weeks in the south of France last year and had a great time. I was courteous and always made a point to greet the shopkeepers. My french is very poor, but I do speak a bit.

I found the food, wine, cheese and bread worth the trip alone. We drove from Paris to Bandol and even quite enjoyed the drive, the roads being well built and well marked. I was rather surprised how much of the countryside is devoted to agriculture. I was also quite pleased at the great mid day meals we had everwhere... Anyone chosing McD's over French food should get their taste buds examined. (although admittedly we do prepare "french fries" far far better... )

And the women... quelle vue. Cherchez les femmes!

I ignore Americans who pass off nasty comments about the French.At first I asked when were you there? Without fail the reply was oh, We would never go there, the french like us only for the money we bring and spend, or we have friends who went and didn't enjoy for this or that reason, stupid responses from stupid people

I went, my first ever long bike trip in '04, the 60th anniversery of the D-Day invasions, the French gov't invited and paid the expenses of hundreds of the old old survivors of that day, plus their families,to see those old gentlemen proudly showing children and grandkids what they had to do, was something I will never forget. And to see many, many French old people AND the young walking and talking with the Aericans was great. Time after time I was stopped and asked if my father was among the troops those months, he wasn't but they all, WITHOU FAIL thanked me as an American for the help AMERICA has so generously given over 2 wars to help them

The French were our first international allies, without the help, miliary and financial we may not have our independence to day

Every French person I spoke with that year was hoping Armstrong would win that year and when he did there were no drerogatory remarks that I ever heard
On this forum the jealousy seems to be endless and petty
Wonder how many of the detractors have in thier lives ever achieved ANYTHING similar to his accomplishments...I rather doubt it

And the best French fries are in Belguim and ketchup is never used there........mayo only

Yeah, like how Tcheky Karyo helped Mel Gibson in The Patriot!

Carole Bouquet and Catherine Deneuve are classic French beauties.

http://independentsources.com/wp-con...s/melissa1.jpg

Melissa Theuriau is a reason to watch French newscasts.

Well said! I have often said many of these same things to my friends who have never been outside of the US. I have not yet been to France but would surely love to go someday. I find it appalling so many Americans are so quick to deride other countries and cultures, yet are so ready to fight when the same is done to us. I love how so many people I know pick on foreigners who have trouble with English, yet can't even differentiate simple English grammatical terms as your and you're, would of and would have, then and than...I could go on and on. I won't even get into the deplorable way so many of us speak the language ourselves.

Cheers,

Brian

And those fries and mayo kick a$$!!!

Pomme frites.

Yes Indeed!!! and I had them in Germany...and they KICKED A$$!!!!
I wasn't quite sure I remembered how to spell them...and I didn't:D .

In the states, I despise French Fries. Here we crave them . They are actually cut from real potatos.
What slays me. They see so much US media. They know the US media is full of crap. But, they also know about the stories such as the 'freedom fries' incidents. And the dumping of French wine.
You'd think they would resent us. Not our experience. They have been nothing but welcoming and helpful. Ever single one .
We tell them . What's the difference. Maybe the wine was wasted, but those fools still paid for it's importation.
I just credit such foolishness to a media that causes such irrational behavior. They seem to understand.

In-N-Out cuts fries from real potatoes. The average IQ and ability to understand English of an In-N-Out employee is also a lot higher than at other fast food chains - a big reason I go there since my order won't get screwed up.

Back in 1990, I rode the Masters World Cup in St. Johann, Austria. I screwed up the final kilomeers and finished around 33rd or so, so I just coasted past the finish line and kept rolling beyond St. Johann, warming down for about five kilometers to the next town, Kitzbuhel. There I stopped at the McD's, leaned the bike against the rail, went in and bought a beer, and came back out to relax in the warm sun.

I really wish North Americans were cultured enough that they could sell beer at any McD's...

Another story: Here in Canada, the two official languages are English & French. Since BC is 99% English, the public school system offers French Immersion all the way thru elementary school, and most Canadian-born parents are anxious to get their kids in, because the alternative is a classroom where most of the kids are from immigrant families and the teacher is spending lots of time teaching them just to speak English. But I digress. My daughter went thru French immersion, so her French is quite good, and she loves to travel. She went with a group on a European tour, and they happened to stop at the McD's on the Champs d'Elysees. So she chatted up the server, who was very polite and friendly, and then after giving her order, she turned to her friend and told her just to say "moi aussi" (me too). So the server cheerfully got them their orders and as they were leaving, the next person in line tried to give his order in English, and the server instantly became rude and arrogant.

- L.