Oddball

This page is dedicated to the kind of wacky and weird stuff that inevitably happens on an international trip.

I am America!

On Saturday, January 12, we wanted to avoid the yellow vest protest marches, so we took the Metro to the Musée de la Musique, in the Parc de la Villette, which is well away from the center of town. While we were on the train, I had my first opportunity to converse with a Parisian in French. We were jammed like sardines in a subway car, and the gentleman standing next to me said something to me which seemed to be a joke. I wanted to tell him that I was an American and didn’t speak much French, so I started out with “Je suis Amerique,” which means “I am America.” I should have said “Je suis Americain” (“I am American”). I followed up with my carefully rehearsed spiel about not speaking much French and understanding even less, and he seemed to get it. Stephanie and I had a good laugh about that.

Your goose is cooked

A few days after we arrived, I was sitting in a jazz club waiting for the music to start, and I got into a conversation (in English) with a local guy sitting next to me. I noticed that he was wearing a coat with the patch shown here on the left arm.

 

I wasn’t concentrating too hard on his coat, and I just picked up on words “Canada” and “Arctic Program.” I thought, “Cool, maybe this guy is a climate scientist doing arctic research.” The next day, I saw several more people wearing these coats and I thought, “There sure are a lot of climate scientists in Paris right now, maybe there is a convention.”

As the days went by, I saw more and more of these coats, which prompted me to do an Internet search. That is how I learned about Canada Goose coats, which can cost over $1,000 and are worn by many people all over Paris. The “Arctic Program” is just a branding slogan. Well, I felt pretty foolish about the whole thing. After this snafu, I have to say (with apologies to Louis IV): “La goose, c’est moi!”

Little cars

On previous trips to Europe, we saw a lot of charming little cars, and we took a series of pictures of Stephanie with the little cars. For photos of Stephanie and the little cars in Italy see the Little Cars page from our Italy Unguided Tour.

Although there a many narrow streets in Paris, the trend seems to be towards mid-sized sedans, and there weren’t many ultra-small cars to be seen. Nevertheless, we did find two newer models to add to the collection.

Even with a tiny car, parking can be really tight!