In our adventures around Paris and France in general, I’ve discovered a number of different and unusual things that you won’t find anywhere in Toronto!  I wish I could post pictures and refer to them (but we forgot the cord and the computers restrict us from uploading, atleast in our current hostel!)

Direction Arrows

The direction signs here are really odd, when it points down it means to keep walking.  Luckily on the flight here from Toronto to Paris, the flight attendant told us to keep on walking!  I don’t understand the logic behind the arrows… a really pecuilar thing I must say!  It’s funny to watch tourists though because they are confused about the signs too, sometimes some of them just standing there thinking that the bus will pick them up from where the arrow points down! haha

“No Holding Hands” Sign

There are signs that don’t make sense and the funniest one is what is referred to as the “No Holding Hands Sign”.  Picture this, a square shaped sign that is blue with a male stick figure (like the washroom sign ones) holding the hand of the young female child with a red line diagonally across it.  What do you think the sign means? (It doesnt actually mean no holding hands, so please leave your guesses.  If you get it right and you haven’t been to France you get a prize from Europe!)

The Metro

The subway seating here is structured different from the TTC.  First of all, the seats face front and back compared to how the seats are lined up facing the inside of the cart. Secondly the seats fold up and you can pull them down to sit on them when there arent a lot of people.  Another interesting difference is the fact that you either have to push a button or pull a handle upwards to open the door; both when you want to get into or out of the Metro.  There have been several times when I struggled to open the door, and I would be that annoying person holding up the jungle behind me! Im such a tourist.

The Big Plastics are 1,5L

I noticed today that all the plastic bottled drinks are either  50cL (which looks like your average sized water bottles) or 1,5L, not our big sized bottles that are 2L.  I wonder why that is… nonetheless its still an unusual thing.  On the topic of drinks, I love the different Fanta flavours that they have and other interesting one called Orangina that tastes like The Khurram which is orange juice mixed with Sprite! ha ha. And of course the wine is amazing too! In fact Belle and I downed a bottle of sweet white Bordeaux wine yesterday at our hostel.

On a side note, the beaches in Nice France are extravagant!  Sorry it has taken a long time to blog and Im even slower with this french keyboard!  Anyways I will keep you updated with Italy when we get there on Sunday evening!