So as some of you may know from my TWITTER, you can tell that I have been in Europe for about a week now… I flew from Palm Springs into NYC on the 29th then on the 1st into Amsterdam where I am currently. But, seeing how close Paris is from Amsterdam we took a 3 hour train ride into France and spent the night in the city of love.
Paris fascinates me for a couple reasons… The people, the culture, the food, the architecture, just everything about Paris fascinates me. This is my second time there this year and to be honest I’d never even think I’d go there once, so having this opportunity has gave me such a better outtake on life. I’m very blessed for the life I’m able to be living. Anyways, I stayed in the Fashion District on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré … the neighborhood was beautiful and the people, well let’s talk about the people lol. I’ve come to learn from visiting twice that the French HATE tourists. They hate speaking English for us… I mean understood because living in NYC we reallyUNLESS you start the conversation in French. Yes, this is a trick for those of you that plan on visiting soon. If you simply start the conversation with ‘Bonjour, parlez-vous anglais?’ even if it’s not the best pronunciation, they will respect you for at least trying.
Believe it or not it’s not just the French you have to worry about while visiting… there are a group of women & men, that are what the locals call GYPSIES. If you’ve ever watched the Disney movie ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ , Esmerelda is well a very bad example, but she is a beautiful GYSPY belly dancer that DANCES for her money. Today, GYPSIES aren’t dancing for their money instead they wil SCAM you. Way worse then any New Yorkers I’ve come across. I was almost scammed not once, but twice while here this trip. One attempt is where these girls walk around with a piece of cardboard and on it taped is a piece of paper stating that they are collecting money for some organization that benefits the deaf and mute.
They tell you all they need is a signature, then once you’ve signed they beg and insist that you contribute a donation by pointing to other (probably forged names) and an amount in Euros they supposably donated. COMPLETE BS. Another one that I actually had fell for was by a guy Gypsy. I was walking minding my own business with my Dutch friend and in front of us a guy bent down just as we were walking by and picked up something with a lot of excitement. For a second we were like I wonder what he found, but it didn’t take more than a minute before the scam artist showed us he had found a GOLD RING! Of course we were like wow awesome good for you dude, but instead of keeping it he insisted we kept it as a generous favor. So of course, here’s a guy’s giving us a fake gold ring (that obviously we thought was real at first), so why not take it. But, about 30 seconds after we took the ring, the guy came back up to us from behind asking if we could give him a couple euros cause he was hungry. I ended up giving the guy like 10 US Dollars cause I felt bad. The trick was this: He pretended to find a ring on the ground in front of us, then pretended to be generous and give it to us, because he played so generous with the ring when he had asked for a couple Euros we felt like we ALSO had to be generous right back. When we told him we had no Euros he pointed to an ATM across the street and that’s when we instantly knew the bastard was scamming us. Very sneaky and smart if you ask me. It wasn’t until we were walking near the Eiffel Tower where coincidentally another guy found a gold ring in front of us and we like MOTHER FUCKER! Haha so I was scammed in Paris end of story. -.-
I know very well that kind of gypsies. Here in Portugal we have the Romani gypsies (I think it’s said like this) and they seem very similar to what you wrote. The women usually appear with a baby and claiming they’re hungry so people would fell for them. Some even show reports of children with deadly diseases…
There’s a way to know if they’re really hungry, though. Instead of offering money, bring them to a caffee and offer them food. I did this once and it worked :) And I know stories about gypsies who were offered food but they refused it.
Another way of acting is asking for money; if we refuse to give they ask “I have a question, may I?” then they tell some story.
There was a gypsy woman in my hometown who seemed to have difficulty in walking. It was painful to see. Because, even if we know many gypsies fake situations,some can be really ill.(I saw a gypsi boy with his feet turned inward instead of pointing straight ahead…) Well…apparently someone saw her RUNNING AWAY! lol.
I liked the video. I hope you enjo~yed the City of Love, despite what happened. ;)
xoxo
That totally sucks!
Hi! Next time you come to Paris, let me now: I’ll be your guide (no scamming!) and I’ll make you some pictures ;-)
Eric
Awesome! Would love that! Email me: maxryderxxx@me.com
OMG, It never occurred to me to warm you about the gypsies. I live in France for 2-years and they are all over the place and creative as hell. Sneaky bastards are the super con-artists. I learned quick to keep an eye out for them and to keep a hand on my wallet at all times. Paris is a beautiful city so I hope you enjoyed. BTW, I speak French pretty damn well, so you can always take me along as your interpreter and touch guide next time. :)
ugh, spelling errors….
I lived*
Tour guide* (maybe a freudian slip there)
Great blog post Max. I think the good rule of thumb for tourists everywhere is to not act like tourists. Rude boorish behavior is what locals always remember and then they think of all tourists that way!
As for the gypsy’s (or Roma) I think until they get their act together and try to integrate as respectable citizens and not scamsters and con-artists they should never expect to be accepted by society at larger! This is not a problem being politically correct will solve!
Am I saying all Roma act this way? no I am not. But a small group has made the larger cultural group a pariah in Europe and the USA!
We have them here in San Diego as well.
p.s another great Paris based photographer is Markus Bollingmo
@siphotwit on Twitter
Ah…oui. Les GITANES! LOL Max I was married for 18 yrs to a French person. The first thing they taught me was that the French will screw with an American/Brit if they can. Expect them to be jerks, to protect yourself – especially in Paris! BTW – watch those cab meters like a hawk. Check where it’s set when you get into the cab. :)
It’s really your own fault for not checking with all of US before you went into the lion’s den. ;) xxx