Quelle politesse

Something I must confess is that I like France and the French much, much more than I had anticipated. I guess my problem was that I was confusing the French with Parisians -- a grievous error of the sort that would equate Londoners with all the folk in the UK, or New Yorkers with Americans. Great cities all, but cities have attitude that stems from gut-level survival instincts.

Among my observations include the fact that the people of the Grenoble area are very polite compared to what we North Amrericans are used to. Polite and gracious. My God, how civilized. "Bonjour Madam, or Monsieur" whenever one goes into a shop is the order of the day. The customer is expected to respond in kind, and generally does. It's nice. Polite and graceful, but never pushy, never overtly familiar, and the suggestion is to not get overly chatty with somebody to whom one has not been introduced. Don't be throwing a big bear-hug on somebody you've just met. You will cause much discomfiture and confusion.

The other thing I've noticed is the quiet. Nobody is noisy. No raucous laughter. No hooting or yelling anywhere at any time, even in the hour when the bars let out. Just imagine standing on a busy city street and not hearing the 'thump-thump' of a , vehicular boombox from three blocks away, long before the youthful driver is actually abreast. In fact, I haven't heard any loud speakers -- either human or electronic, period. It's heavenly. so
The people here are quite dark of both complexion and hair, and much more Italianate in appearance than are northern Europeans. The females, especially the young females tend to look like sisters in the same family, so similar are their appearances. Dark hair, lean faces, slim and -- ahem -- ample bosomed. I only made such observations in the name of social science, you understand, not for any salacious reason.

I walked past a grade school today, and on the street side of the school is a fabulous cartoonish mural of various aspects of school days, beautifully and whimsically painted. And, get this, not one tiny scrap of graffiti defacing it. I marvelled. This is not to say that there aren't smatterings of graffiti around, but the mural is obviously sacrosanct.

Anyway, dear friends, that is about where I am on day 6 of this sojourn, so I thought I would fill you in.