What I've noticed...

If the names of my eldest son and cats are anything to go by, I'm pretty sure you all know that I love the French language, France and all things French.  Of course visiting France makes up a large part of the amour.  This visit is the sixth time I've been here including a 12 month stint living with an amazing host family between finishing high school and starting university.

It's been 18 years since my first trip here (OMG!!?  How is that possible?  I can't believe I'm old enough say that!) and each time I notice how things have changed - sometime for the good and sometimes the not so good.  For example the last time we were here in 2007 it really struck me how globalisation had kicked in and homogenised some things had become, especially shopping.

Action Boy and Fanta Pants at the Eiffel Tour in 2007

This time around I've noticed a massive improvement in the cleanliness and availability of toilets!  It sounds silly but French public toilets used to be quite revolting.  This trip we haven't been caught short on toilet paper and there has always been hand soap available.  A decent loo is important when travelling with small children and you have a bladder the size of a pea!  (pardon the pun...).


Another noticeable evolution is the use of English - both written and spoken.  English is everywhere.  Products, shops and slogans are all in blatant English.  The Quebecois tongue troopers would be going bananas handing out infringements for violations!  For example for lunch today we had a wrap poulet from the daily monoprix (a little supermarket).  You can even watch TV programmes in English in prime time on the number one TV channel!  I'm sure this is a massive concern for the Academie Francaise who are the keepers of the French language here.  I guess an increase in the use of English goes hand in hand with the homogenisation of the shopping.


The French seem to be totally behind preservative and colour free food, especially in food targeted towards children.  Yippee!  Packages proudly display "no palm oil" and so much is organic.  Fingers crossed Canada will get on this bandwagon across the board soon!!


Finally I never cease to be impressed with how stylish Paris and Parisians are!  There is an effortless, natural style which is enviable...

xx