This article was originally published on Medium on May 13, 2023.
You probably know the sour grapes analogy. It comes from Aesop’s fable The Fox and the Grapes. The fox cannot reach the grapes bursting with juice on a vine, so she declares them sour grapes.
I think a lot of that happens with people going to Paris. They complain, for instance, that it’s dirty. Okay, it may be, but it’s a huge city, and huge cities tend to have a problem with cleanliness in some areas; also with poverty. Paris also receives dozens of millions of tourists every year: 44 million in 2022, and that is well below the pandemic number. Not all of these tourists treat their temporary home as they should.
Regardless of that, Paris is like a beautiful old woman, someone who charms with the glint in her eyes, the lace on her blouse, the rouge on her lips, and the wit and bounty of life and glamour in her stories.
She offers grand museums of all kinds, from the Louvre to Musée d’Orsay, Centre Pompidou and science museums; and memorable churches like Notre-Dame (now closed for renovation), Sainte-Chapelle, and, at the top of the Montmartre hill, Sacré–Cœur.
She presents buildings as old as the 12th and 13th centuries, starting with the first stones at Notre-Dame and a 14th-century building in the Marais district, now home to the restaurant Auberge Nicolas Flamel; and the beautiful Gothic edifice La Conciergerie — a courthouse and prison that grew from the much older Palais de la Cité, where Philip II of France (1180 –1190 King of the Franks, 1190 –1223 King of France) moved the royal archives and appointed a custodian (a concierge) to administer the king’s residence.
When part of La Conciergerie became a prison in the 14th century, it housed the commoners in dismal conditions (humid straw beds, rats, and so forth — much of it due to the fact that La Conciergerie borders the Seine), the bourgeois in slightly better accommodations, so to speak, and the nobles up in the towers, where they could bring their own furniture.
It was at La Conciergerie that Marie-Antoinette, too, was kept 76 days before being sent off to the guillotine.
Of course, Paris is home to the world-famous Tour Eiffel, offering a large view over the Parc du Champ-de-Mars, and l’Arc de Triomphe, with its famous star of avenues, including Champs-Élysées (French for the Elysian Fields).
Then there are the many parks and gardens in the city: Jardin des Tuileries, on whose grounds you can also find the Musée de l’Orangerie, with Monet’s famous water lilies, Jardin du Luxembourg, Parc Monceau, a little-known spot dating back to the 17th century, and Parc floral de Paris, among many others.
The French capital also boasts many restaurants and bistros, not to mention a myriad streets worth exploring.
As a result, one is tempted, so very tempted to go to Paris time and time again. And, as it’s very common these days, people go to a certain website to book their hotel.
My mother and I did just that when we tried to look for a hotel for her and my brother’s upcoming trip to Paris. Only when I looked at the lists of hotels for 4 nights in Paris, her favorite choice had no double rooms available anymore — only triple rooms, at a higher price, of course.
What to do? I tried the hotel’s website. No luck there either: only triple rooms were available.
So I decided to call the hotel, speaking French, trying to find the words in the recesses of my mind, where French was lying undisturbed for . . . centuries. Well, not quite: only thirty years — except for a brief interlude when I took a class at the French Institute to brush up on my high-school French (and another one when I used French briefly in university).
Truth be told, however, I do watch French films now and then, so I do get a chance to work, even if passively, on my French. And every few months I spend a day reading through lists of sentences with Word of the Day. And many years ago I spent some time on Babbel.
Moving on back to the story, the lady at reception there gave us a deal of 455 Euros for four nights, down 135 Euros from the price we’d found on that large website.
Now, while I was speaking (French), my mother was nudging me to speak English. But I didn’t want to speak English: French people are very much pleased when tourists converse with them in French. I was pleased with our conversation too — listening to the responses of the receptionist was honey to my ears, because I love this language.
Apparently the receptionist appreciated my efforts: either that, or there’s this huge discrepancy between their prices online.
Either way, it gave me such a spring in my step to speak French with a native and hear her responses, and next time I go to Paris myself (I haven’t been there since I was 14), I will remember to book my hotel the same way, choosing a hotel I really like and calling their contact number if their website doesn’t list all their free doubles, for instance.
Now over to you, where you may be considering what’s in it for you. I’m here to say that if you love French and Paris and France, you too can speak fluent French in no time.
Among the web resources, I recommend the Word of the Day and accompanying sentences at Transparent Language, and the courses at Babbel (where you get discounts in the mail if you make an account with them and try them out for one lesson). Of course, there are many other resources out there, but these three are very useful. Some old-fashioned teach-yourself-French textbooks wouldn’t hurt either.
However, these more modern resources are truly wonderful.
I imagine that if you call hotels to reserve rooms in whatever their local language may be, you may be in for some nice surprises as well!
Here’s to enjoying travels and brushing up on old knowledge of foreign languages!
What language resources for French have you found useful?
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To a happier, healthier life,
🙂 Mira
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