Foreign Parts

À AIMER: faire du lèche-vitrines

"Faire du lèche-vitrines," or window licking, is one of my favorite French expressions.  It implies so much more than the English expression "window shopping," which hints that the person doing it is looking now in order to buy later.  The French expression is funnier, and more honest.  It expresses that surge of desire we all get when we see something we want in a shop window and it does not at all mean that we will ever go inside to buy.  

Window licking is also perfectly permissible in France — no one will think badly of you for doing it.  It is, in fact, a sort of national sport, something to do in your free time.  Look. Stare.  Dream.  Why not?  Women do it, men do it, even dogs do it (I once saw a large boxer on its hind legs, front paws on the window of a shop specializing in foie gras).  

So the next time you are in Paris, don't be shy.  Stroll and faire du lèche-vitrines.  This city, with its unique boutiques and artful displays, is one of the best places in the world to do it. Over the next couple of days I'll list of some of my favorite quartiers for window licking.  Stay tuned . . . 

À AIMER: la vision globale

On election night, while I was in California watching the results come in, French friends were e-mailing me from Paris. It was four in the morning their time, and they were on the edge of their seats.

Many French citizens stayed up all night waiting to see who would be our next president, and not just because they are largely anti Bush and pro Obama (a poll in Le Figaro today revealed that 85% of French citoyens approve of our choice for president this time around).  No, they stayed up all night because they are interested.

Interested in the world around them, not just the world within France.  And it is not only the United States that piques their curiosity; it is the entire world.  In any given day in the three major French newspapers — Le Monde, Le Figaro and Libération — there are stories from around the globe.  Today, for example, the French are reading about the collapse of a school in Haiti and the commencement of voting in New Zealand’s general election.  They are also reading that unemployment in the United States has reached its highest level in 14 years (Libération); that the Obama family wants a mutt for their new family pet (Le Figaro); that General Motors lost 2.5 million dollars in the third trimester of this year (Le Monde); and that Sarah Palin is reported to have gone on a $150,000 shopping spree courtesy of the GOP, and that she may believe that Africa is a country (Le Parisien).  

If that last story is correct, perhaps next time the GOP will send Palin to "socialist France" for a decent public education and a lesson in global thinking.