When I was still in San Francisco, and I said that I was moving to Paris, I invariably got the same response: an involuntary gasp, usually accompanied with a hand to the heart, and the words, "Oh, I love Paris! You're so lucky!"
Here in Paris, when I tell people I am from San Francisco, I get....the exact same response. The involuntary gasp, usually with a hand to the heart, and a dreamy, "Oh, I love San Francisco." Sometimes followed by the quizzical, "Why did you move here?" I have had many Frenchies tell me that they would love to live in the US -- but only if it was in San Francisco. Sometimes they concede to New York City. But mostly just SF, even if they've never been there.
Why the love affair? Is it the common obsession with food and wine? The mutual predilecton for site-specific architectural styles, and a distinctive look to the streets? A certain tendency to left-leaning politics (so much so that being merely left is considered conservative vis-a-vis the more radical left)? A firmly-rooted belief that any city worth its salt has a large steel icon, ideally phallic in nature, and also très photogenic?
Whatever the reason, there was rarely a day in SF when I didn't hear some French being spoken on the streets (and I'm talking about outside my own little francophone world there), and there is certainly a hefty chunk of the California, and specifically San Francisco, population here in Paris. And no, it's not just the Parisians being polite. I guarantee you that if I said I was from Minneapolis, I wouldn't get the hand-to-the-heart maneuver.
Last night I had a stress dream in which the troubling part was -- I kid you not -- that I bought veal, but it was not organic. This morning, I am buying something in "A Touch of Bio" which is a store whose name (which is in English, mind you) will give you a big clue as to its contents: "bio" being the code word in French for "organic". It is in the 5th arrondissement, which is one of the most international areas of Paris. I hear the owner speaking perfect American English to the customer before me, so I speak to her in English also (it always seems more than a bit artificial when I am speaking French with another native anglophone). She asks where I am from, and when I say I'm from San Francisco, she seems so stunned at the coincidence, because so is she! I haven't even been here a year yet, and I'm already jaded on this front. I deadpan, "We're in a natural food store, in the 5th, and I'm buying tofu and sprouts. I can't say I'm that surprised."
Here in Paris, when I tell people I am from San Francisco, I get....the exact same response. The involuntary gasp, usually with a hand to the heart, and a dreamy, "Oh, I love San Francisco." Sometimes followed by the quizzical, "Why did you move here?" I have had many Frenchies tell me that they would love to live in the US -- but only if it was in San Francisco. Sometimes they concede to New York City. But mostly just SF, even if they've never been there.
Why the love affair? Is it the common obsession with food and wine? The mutual predilecton for site-specific architectural styles, and a distinctive look to the streets? A certain tendency to left-leaning politics (so much so that being merely left is considered conservative vis-a-vis the more radical left)? A firmly-rooted belief that any city worth its salt has a large steel icon, ideally phallic in nature, and also très photogenic?
Whatever the reason, there was rarely a day in SF when I didn't hear some French being spoken on the streets (and I'm talking about outside my own little francophone world there), and there is certainly a hefty chunk of the California, and specifically San Francisco, population here in Paris. And no, it's not just the Parisians being polite. I guarantee you that if I said I was from Minneapolis, I wouldn't get the hand-to-the-heart maneuver.
Last night I had a stress dream in which the troubling part was -- I kid you not -- that I bought veal, but it was not organic. This morning, I am buying something in "A Touch of Bio" which is a store whose name (which is in English, mind you) will give you a big clue as to its contents: "bio" being the code word in French for "organic". It is in the 5th arrondissement, which is one of the most international areas of Paris. I hear the owner speaking perfect American English to the customer before me, so I speak to her in English also (it always seems more than a bit artificial when I am speaking French with another native anglophone). She asks where I am from, and when I say I'm from San Francisco, she seems so stunned at the coincidence, because so is she! I haven't even been here a year yet, and I'm already jaded on this front. I deadpan, "We're in a natural food store, in the 5th, and I'm buying tofu and sprouts. I can't say I'm that surprised."
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