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9 Ways Paris is different than New York (what I learned on my trip)

So, I just spent 6 glorious days in Paris and then 3 in London but since the majority of my stay was in Paris, we are going to focus on that!


My man had to go to Paris for a work trip and I very casually asked... "so should we make a trip out of it?" and he said "YEAH!" So we did a bunch of site seeing (which I'll go into in another blog post) and I took notes.

Paris, Bridgette Karl, BFITTE, Wellness, Travel Tips, Travel Workouts, Kettlebell
Bridgette Karl at Eiffel Tower in Paris

Before I left for France my friend Bailie asked me "are you nervous going to a country where you don't speak the language?" and I VERY confidently responded, "Not at all."


Because of my cruising experience (I was a singer on a cruise ship), I had a feeling most people would be able to speak a little English and if they didn't we would have google translate!! Which we didn't have back then. Well... let me tell you google translate in the heat of ordering your meal is not a good look. If I were to go back I'd learn a lot more of the basics. However, we did survive and that's what matters. This is the perfect segway into the list of 9 things I learned on my trip to Paris.



1. They speak a different language, learn it so you can order an espresso.

Paris, Bridgette Karl, BFITTE, Wellness, Travel Tips, Travel Workouts, Kettlebell
Bridgette sipping espresso at Versaille

2. You have to open the doors to the metro (subway) yourself! Sometimes it's a button, and sometimes it's a pull-to-open situation but either way, they don't just open automatically. The first time we witnessed this was when we saw a train come into the station and a guy pressed the button to open the door before the train came to a complete halt, the rule followers in both of us were baffled haha.


3. They have a totally different keyboard (computer/texting). A very kind lady asked if we wanted to try to win a backpack in a store and in order to do so we had to put our email in and the m was in a completely different place. Just a fun fact.




Paris, Bridgette Karl, BFITTE, Wellness, Travel Tips, Travel Workouts, Kettlebell

4. Homeless people in Paris wear masks on their foreheads (like a headband) just like the homeless people in New York City. You're welcome.


5. Fresh Orange Juice! It's everywhere. I couldn't believe it, it's so popular. Everyone has a juicer.


Paris, Bridgette Karl, BFITTE, Wellness, Travel Tips, Travel Workouts, Kettlebell

6. They don't have "normal" nutrition labels, they use an ABCDEF system on their food packaging! It's actually kinda cool.


7. No Express Stops! We made that mistake early on, thinking we were beating the system, they simply have stations that are hubs to change to another train, but you won't get anywhere faster. Each train makes every stop.


Paris, Bridgette Karl, BFITTE, Wellness, Travel Tips, Travel Workouts, Kettlebell

8. Pomme means apple, and there's a lot of apple stuff. Just another thing I noticed.


9. Both London & New York have fabric seating in the metro (subway). It was so comfortable. We could only imagine how many more homeless people would be on the subway if we had that in NYC. We also wondered how they cleaned it... (I didn't get a picture, and I'm sorry)




YAY, those are just a few things I learned on our trip overseas I hope you enjoyed the round-up!


Au revoir!


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Hey, I'm Bridgette Karl!

 

I'm a highly caffeinated actress, motivated personal trainer, OCD website designer, red wine sipping, kettlebell swinging, quality time craving, MN-born New Yorker who can't sit still but... also probably needs a nap.

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