Petrol prices

You can see that things are changing and petrol is getting more expensive: on the taxi parking at O'Connell the drivers are pushing their cars forward, not switching on the engines!

French experience

So, this year looks very nice so far. It is only the third month and I've been already twice in France... Although have no further plans to go there, but who knows... this year is so surprising overall.

Anyway as long as I remember the funny, nice and interesting stuff I've discovered this time in this lovely and picturesque country I'll try to post it.

What image of French people do you have in your mind? I am not talking about Alain Delon or Gerard Depardieu, just in average. If you ask me, I was always thinking that they are not so tall and strong as guys from Northern countries like Sweden or Norway. Therefore it was surprisingly strange to discover that it is not easy to open doors, packages and all possible stuff in France, you really have to be strong enough to do it, put some pressure or use some more muscles! never ever was I expecting it, especially in the relaxing sun of Cote d'Azur.

And another thing, what is so wrong in admitting to the tourist that you don't know some information? We've got an impression that French people are terribly afraid of it. From time to time during these 5 days we were asking for some information like how to get to some place, when what is open and so on and in NONE of the cases were we given a proper answer!!! Com'on why is it like this??? Friend of mine told me that this could be easily the feature of Turkish people as well, but for me it is too strange, although of course even this inconvenience will not stop me from loving the country and wishing to go there again and again, just will have to keep in mind to have more maps and dig for more information on the web myself :)

A bientot!

Paris experience

Just wanted to mention some things that were new to me or newly discovered by me this time in Paris...

1. French women smoke, and smoke a lot. I was even wondering about comparison with the level of smoking habit in Russia. Also these nice cafes and restaurants have smoking and non-smoking sections, but it doesn't really work properly, cause in order to keep folks warm inside even if they are smoking, the terrace is surrounded by some kind of transparent blinds or windows, so all this "nice" smell stays inside. => when going to Paris for meetings in cold season bring two sets of clothes - actually for the meeting and for going to eat in the evening after :)

2. You can't bring Brie in your hand luggage on board cause it is considered as liquid!!!

3. Airport Charles de Gaulle is huge, this is not a big news, but somehow it is arranged in a way that you get this constant feeling of movement and there is nothing to catch your eye so actually by the time you get on the train to Paris you are not so much excited about going in the city of dreams, but so tired of this walk - bored... The only thing which is not monotone in the whole building are the bathrooms: there the doors are painted in colourful pictures and you kind of wake up :)

4. Life is wonderful in the way that more interesting people you know, more interesting people you get to know. Thanks to my colleague I've met a Dutch painter living in Paris. I have to say I was really excited to go for a drink and nice discussion in an artistic apartment... It turned out that the studios of artists are the same all over the world (it was not my first one to visit, so I had something to compare with). Somehow the atmosphere is the same. Of course it might be caused just by the fact that I am not an artist and cannot spot the difference, don't know.

This guy being based in Paris is actually working a lot for the Netherlands. I didn't know this before, but Dutch people really like to have portraits of their kids at home (I thought it was so 15-18 century, and now it is all about digital frames and so on, but no, they prefer this original style), don't know about any other countries in Europe having this tradition these days (maybe have to visit much more houses to find out).

The other trend that this artist is into, is to work with the paintings by Mondrian and add something new to them. When I asked him about the rights for the work and so on. He said he even would be happy if one day the question will be risen, cause it would be such a good ad.

5. I met a French friend of mine and discovered a strange thing, Saint Valentine day becomes less and less popular in France every year. Even though usually I am not into this fest, cause feel like it is more imposed by the shops, but I thought that was a strong tradition for the Eastern world. When had a discussion about it with colleagues of mine, we decided that since Paris is the place to go for all these romantic souls, a dream destination to celebrate St Valentine, and they just live there, so can enjoy this romantic atmosphere during the whole year, so why to concentrate only on one? totally agree by the way.

6. The hardest thing to do in the airport when leaving is to chose the champaign to buy. I think it was the longest I was thinking and deciding. and not because of the price, just because the plenty of choice!!! just a dream for a champagne lover as I am :))) got myself some nice one made of only one type of grapes, not three, so now wait for something good to happen in my life to celebrate it with this delicious drink!!!

Cheers!

useful links for travellers

Just recently got to know about 2 websites for flying tickets search.

Nice, unusual and very user-friendly result display - hipmunk.com

Usual results presentation, but still a good search - kayak.com