July 20, 2011 by Victoria Wall
Jogging along a Paris bridge (Kevin Bongart)
As a very keen runner, I realized that Paris – with its pavement café culture and lax attitude towards dogs’ toilet habits – might not be the ideal place to train. However, little did I know the numerous obstacles I would have to overcome each time I pulled on my trainers and switched on my iPod.
The tourists: map-reading, awestruck or, worse still, love-struck, they tend to look at the sky, the ground, into each other’s eyes or up at elegant Haussmannian buildings. However, they are rather less aware of what’s going right next to them (i.e. me charging past) and happily straddle the pavement two or three abreast.
The cars: do not expect them to stop willingly. Ever. The art of a good Parisian runner is judging if, with a little acceleration, you can whiz by before the lights change and the engines rev back into action. For a Brit accustomed to polite codes of roadway courtesy and to giving cheery waves as cars patiently wait, I admit that this was initially quite a shock.
Dodging city life, jogging along the Seine (D’Alk)
The bikes: Equally unwilling (or unable) to stop, but doubly dangerous as often manned by:
A) Unsteady, inexperienced Parisians whose idea of physical exercise is a gentle Sunday stroll to the boulangerie for fresh croissants.
B) Tourists. Having read the above, imagine the chaos when they haul themselves on to a heavy, unwieldy and highly unsexy Vélib (hire-and-drop bikes dotted at strategic points around the city). Don’t be misled by quaint wicker baskets and slim steel frames that adorn postcards and appear in films like Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain!
The beggars: Do they really think I carry around loose change in my skin-tight running trousers? Apparently so.
The dogs: They rule supreme in Paris. I’ve even heard that there are more dogs than children in the city. I digress. I have learned to steer clear of all canine specimen after various incidents involving barking, biting (well, some very close calls) and being tripped up by leashes as unconcerned owners look on nonchalantly as if to say, “Bon, if you will insist on donning that ridiculous running outfit and puffing around in a rather ungainly manner, you can’t expect to not get caught in a couple sticky situations…” Continue Reading »
Posted in Parisian Living | 14 Comments »
April 5, 2011 by Justine Robinett
I submitted my graduate school application to study in Paris around the same time as I adopted a dog back home in California. The timing was intentional, of course. I had naive daydreams of sitting outside at a sunny café in a striped shirt and ballet flats, sipping a glass of wine with my dog, Lucas, people-watching with me from the seat next to mine.
Let me just mention that, although it worked out for me in the end, I would not recommend this kind of logic. The hassle of the dog’s paperwork (on top of mine), the stress and cost of his place on my flight and the limitations he imposed on the already difficult apartment search are serious considerations that should not be overlooked if you are considering bring your pup with you to Paris.
That said, I don’t regret it at all. Although I have spent several years in France over the course of my life and considered myself fairly familiar with many French cultural quirks, having my dog here has allowed me to explore a whole new set of myths and clichés.
Alain Ollier
The first question on my mind was where exactly nos amis les chiens are welcome and where they are not. It’s not one I could find a useful answer to before I got here since the most common stereotype people have about the French and their dogs is that they bring them everywhere. Like most stereotypes this is both true and untrue so I’d like to share my experiences…
Metro
It took me months to gather the courage to take my dog on the metro. He is considered rather large by Paris standards, too large to fit in the metro’s mandatory 45 cm-long enclosed bag. Until one day I saw a full-size Labrador on my commute to school; my dog has been taking the metro twice a day to work with my boyfriend ever since. It is basically the same deal for the RER and other regional trains, though leashes are allowed and you’re supposed to buy a reduced price ticket for your dog. Buses, however, are the only form of public transit where it seems like people really do follow the official rules – I’ve only seen very little dogs and always in shoulder bags.
Restaurants
In the states I never dared to ask at a restaurant if I could bring my dog anywhere but an outdoor seating area. In France, I’ve learned to assume we’re both welcome and to walk straight in no questions asked. In a year and a half, I’ve only been stopped a couple of times with a polite “Excusez-moi, Madame…” Continue Reading »
Posted in Parisian Living | 15 Comments »
September 1, 2009 by Erica Berman
Photo Alain Ollier – rue de Bretagne, Paris 3eme
The dog days of summer 2009 may well be over in Paris, but our furry French friends are here to stay. The French love their doggies, and remain one of the countries with the highest per capita dog population in the world. A recent jaunt around the city unearthed Continue Reading »
Posted in Parisian Living | 4 Comments »
Philippe Charles 
