Quote:
Originally Posted by Kybosh
There is also the wafting scent of urine in many parts of Paris.
|
Yep. In France, the world is your urinal. Have to relieve yourself and there's no bathroom around? (in France they call them WC's, but it's pronounced "VC" - go figure) No problem. It's very common to see a guy just taking a leak on the side of a building and nobody thinks twice about it.
Also, the temptation will be to rubberneck at all the amazing buildings & architecture you will see as you're walking down the street. This will change real quick. You'll notice that almost all the natives walk with their head down. This is because tons of people own dogs, and either there is no law that requires you to clean up after them, or it's simply not adhered to. Those sidewalks are a minefield. It will happen at least once - you'll be walking somewhere and raise your head to take in a magnificent sight, and then you'll take another step and your foot will just slide. If it's a bad one, it's just like stepping in grease and you might even fall in it. Then the smell follows you around until you find somewhere to wash your shoe off.
I lived over there for 2 1/2 years, and was surprised at some of the stuff I saw on a pretty regular basis. Dozens of tied off condoms on the sidewalk on Saturday mornings - they just throw them out the window when they're done. Urine and animal (at least I hope it was all animal) excrement everywhere, and even some open sewer systems in some small towns dating back to the dark ages. Imagine raw sewage gushing down a trench in a back alley and that's pretty much it. You'd think there would be pollution controls against that sort of thing in this day & age, but apparently not. Some of the Paris ghettos were 3rd world conditions. I remember walking into an apartment building and seeing urine literally cascading down the stairs.
France is a breathtakingly beautiful country, but some of its urban areas are incredibly filthy.