Monday, March 13, 2023

Paris 2023-some final thoughts

 I recently spent 12 days in Paris the first two weeks in March.


Some last observations about the trip:


I’ll never travel again without photographing the exterior and contents of my suitcase, somehow the brand/make of the luggage is a big deal to airlines when looking for it beyond “hard shell gray suitcase”

Always consider your bag internationally may get misplaced, what s your worst case  for clothes, gear etc. I will also never travel again without an Apple Air Tag tracker in my bag.

People smoke a lot in Paris and not only old people, a surprisedly large number of young people. It seems the younger generation did not get the whole cancer memo.

It seems everyone, including “street people “ have smart phones, and are generally on them ALL THE TIME.

Lots of self cleaning public toilets in Paris (and I do not mean Porta potties)  and they are free, what a concept to keep people from having to piss in the bushes in the park. NOLA could take a lesson there in particular.

The weather for the entire 12 days was generally overcast and gray, and rarely got above 50° and it seemed like it was also a damp cold too, the fashion tradition of wearing a scarf for men as well as women was great for me as well as my vest and cap I wore just about every day.

The photo “body count” was a bit over 3,000 digital files, works out to 300 photos of day every day for the 10 days of shooting, a pretty solid inventory of raw material. Paris is a like NYC a great place to do street photography and I was always looking for ironic juxtapositions which seems to have made up 90% of the images of shot. I never found a camera store open so I just shot one roll of film with the Nikon 28Tii I took along.

The food was the biggest disappointment, it was not bad, and generally I could describe it as good but I was expecting great. The pastries and bread where again good but the bread although cheap (a Euro for one baguette ) was no better than what you might find at Whole Foods and the pastries were no better by any degree than when you might find in New Orleans-IMHO.

People were for the most part very nice to us, the trope of the snotty Frenchman was rarely found and when encountered it was someone in their late 50 and 60.
Interestingly, most of the food service people we met were from other counties, Morocco, Spain etc. Lots of people when what I call French-African background and they seem to fit into the culture pretty well. I spoke nearly no French beyond the basic greetings and thanks but most folks where understanding and good with it.

Where as Italy is a very Italian place-food culture etc Paris is a very international place, lots of mixing and interesting blending of things. I guess NYC is a little like that too.

The general strike initially was not an issue for us-aside from the METRO being closed down, but the garbage men were on strike too and it was piling up as we were leaving. Lots of rumors about air traffic also going on strike that had us a little worried too. The only time it was a real issue was on the last day I got tickets to see the catacombs and they were that day also on strike.

There is a lot to be said culturally for a big city with an extensive METRO or mass transit system that takes you just about anywhere. The Parisians where for the most part a pretty fit people who seem to do a lot of walking, biking and keeping fit. Unlike the people you might find in any given Walmart in the USA. It’s a sign of my life that young people on the Paris METRO often would get up and offer me their seat. Is that awareness of my worn out condition or politeness? I’m not sure that is a common practice in the USA.

It’s fun to travel but its nice to be home, and we’re home for a while, Mardi Gras and Paris printing to be done and I’ll start spring cleaning at the studio soon in prep for the 2023 studio portrait season out there at the Tyson studio. We’re done with international travel for a while I think, it is just so physically hard. We did pretty well with money, I budgeted 100€ per person per day and it ended up being closer to 45€ each. Food at restaurants is reasonable by USA standards.

I think that’s all the high points from the trip, I hope you have enjoyed my travel musings and photos, of course I’ve ben posting a lot on my @fakestanstrembicki instagram too.

Au Revoir

Stan