A FRENCH PRIMER: PENMANSHIP by P.B. Lecron

Here's a useful travel tip I've never encountered before in any guidebook: get to know the subtle differences between French cursive writing and your own. When in France it could help reading chalkboard menus, signs, a child's homework and who knows, maybe even romantic handwritten notes.

Above is an abécédaire model like the ones used in the écoles primaires. Remember, this is the base; movement, rhythm, intensity and space vary from one writer to another. Note the differences with the American style of forming p's, v's, w's and particularly the capital G's, J's, S's, T's and X's.

An important word about numbers. Many French people's handwritten "4" resembles most Americans' "6", which can make for a great deal of confusion in a number of circumstances!

This is a French "4" not a "6".

Vocabulary
abécédaire: a small book to learn the ABC's
école primaire: primary school

©2011 P.B. Lecron

STEP LIGHTLY AND CARRY A SECOND PAIR by P.B. Lecron

When I coyly checked in at the ticket counter in the early 1980's with only one carry-on suitcase and boarded a plane to Paris for a week-long jaunt, I never dreamed that a high heel of my only pair of shoes would get caught and break off two days later in a small hole on a sidewalk in the 16th arrondissement.

It was thanks to that one pair of classic taupe Amalfi heels, however, that I had the most singular experience--about an hour and half before my hobbling descent into hell. Because those shoes determined what I wore, I necessarily dressed the entire trip looking as though I were on my way to a reception or job interview. So much so that while wearing a smart jersey ensemble and standing around on the terrace of the Palais de Tokyo admiring the building's architecture, a guardian at a side entrance mistook me for an invited guest to a private exposition being held there.

"Mademoiselle," he called to me in a loud whisper from a side entrance, "C'est par ici..."  Knowing only that he had said "it's over here," I hesitantly stepped in. Lo and behold, I had just been ushered into an invitation-only pre-viewing of the first major Modigliani retrospective in recent times.

Travel tip: Pack lightly, but not that lightly. Always take at least two pairs of shoes. After dislodging my shoe's heel, I was able to hail a taxi and go straight to a shoe repair shop or cordonnerie, but had this happened after closing hours it would have been an entirely different matter.

Text & photo ©2010 P.B.Lecron