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 At
Calais, we caught another train for the short journey to Paris. Our
companions in the compartment were a young lady and two young men
escorting her, a trio returning from a shopping trip to London.
London has always been cheaper than Europe, so many Continentals shop
regularly across the Channel. Usually, the French do not like to
speak in English and pretend not to know it. This should be seen
against the background of almost a thousand years of hostility
between the two nations and the numerous battles that have often been
fought between Catholic France and Protestant England. Both Dover and
Calais have been scenes of battles over the centuries.
They fought to control the trade in the English channel and they
competed for new colonies. They also fought in the Indian Ocean, the
Bay of Bengal, the Arabian sea, the Pacific Ocean and probably in
others seas too. In India, three Anglo-French wars were fought, with
battles at Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Wandiwash, Chandranagore and many
other places. Despite these numerous conflicts, many measures of
reconciliation have also been attempted, mainly through marriage ties.
Shakespeare, in hilarious passages of 'Henry the Fourth', shows an
English governess trying to teach her language to a beautiful,
innocent French princess, whose marriage to the King of England is
part of a peace proposal (for return of French territory taken by the
English). A marriage proposal on behalf of a not-so-worthy heir to the
throne of France was also received by Queen Elizabeth I.
So the French want visitors to speak to them in French and not in
English and usually do not like to reply if spoken to in English. They
do not feel happy with the reality that more people in the world have
taken to learning English than French. In their subconscious, they
would still like to snub the English and the English language. This
causes a real problem for visitors who do not know French. Luckily,
our train companions knew a smattering of English so we were able to
ask them how best to utilise our limited time and money in Paris. They
turned out to be real angels and but for their guidance, we could not
have made as much as we did of our little vacation.
First, they advised us to buy a pack of Metro (Paris underground
train) tickets at Paris station. A pack of ten tickets cost 20 francs,
each ticket valid for a journey to any destination around the town. We
were delighted to know that the Metro covered the Louvre, the Eiffel
Tower, the Seine River, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Champs Elyses, the
Pompidou Centre, the Samaritans, in fact almost anywhere a visitor
would like to go. We used the Metro throughout our stay, hailing a
taxi only once when we wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant in the
middle of town. They told us what to eat, where the get good crepes,
which deli sold the best blue cheese, where to buy fruits cheap and
fresh and which bakery would give the best French loaf, date and fruit
loaf, coffee and raisin loaf and garlic bread. They advised us to
stock these in our room the first thing on arrival, so we didn't have
to eat out all the time. This was an excellent tip which helped us
enjoy the best of local food at a very little cost.
I am very fond of Chinese food (though, according to my husband, it is
shame to go to Paris and want to eat a Chinese meal instead of
sampling the famous French cuisine). They told us where to find a
cheap and good Chinese restaurant, where to get inexpensive but good
French food and which cafes to visit on the Champs Elyses. We were
advised to buy French sausages from the hawkers below the Eiffel Tower
and to visit the Latin Quarter and dine at a particular Greek
restaurant, ordering dishes they specified. Thus braced with ample
information, we parted from our French companions amidst much laughter
and shaking of hands, at Paris. At the station itself, we purchased
two packs of tickets and took our first ride in the Metro to reach our
hostel. Of course, we had to lug our baggage a fair distance to the
hostel, but that hardly mattered in the fresh morning air of Paris.
Part 1
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