Paris, the City of People Watchers

Last week I visited one of my closest friends from Tampa who is living in Paris for a few months. It was a great visit - she worked during the Thursday and Friday that I was there while I walked the city and sight-saw, and during the night we went for delicious French dinners of fresh baguettes, duck, desserts and wine. The first night we saw the Eiffel Tower in all of its hourly sparkliness, and the second night we witnessed the moon hanging gently over the Louvre. Paris was beautiful, and lives up to the hype. However, it wasn't the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame Cathedral or the Mona Lisa that struck me the most about the city. The most striking and most "French" part of the Parisian scene were the cafe's that were on every corner. I knew going to the city that the French enjoyed their coffee and/or wine breaks and I'd heard stories of hourly chats in Parisian cafe's over a carafe of  wine or a cafe au lait, but I had never imagined that the people doing the chatting might not be facing each other. In fact, all of the cafes had tables and chairs squished together as close as possible, some with the chair around the table like what I'm used to, but most chairs facing out into the street instead of towards the other occupants of the table. The French, or at least those in Paris, are the ultimate people watchers, and they are not ashamed! As one sips their beverage of choice, they don't even have to turn their head to see the action and to comment on any and every passerby. I found it amazing that they have taken this very common and very human of activities that is usually done in secret, or at least with some discretion, and have placed it out in the open for all to enjoy. I wonder if this is why the French are considered more snobby than most other nationalities; it isn't that they are more judgmental, it's just that they don't hide it!