I really like David Lebovitz's blog, and I know many others here do as well. He is a an American chef and author living in Paris and usually has plenty to say about food in general, especially French food. But he occasionally branches out and today I found a link in my inbox to an article written by him about Paris and dealing with day to day life. I thought some of you might enjoy his take on "local" vs. "tourist."
Here in Paris, among friends, we’ll often say we’re going to “play tourist” when we get to do fun things around town, like go to a museum or take a boat down the Seine. If you want to “live like a local” when you travel, you could stay in your room and pay bills, try to get a plumber to come on a Sunday, get woken up at 6:15 am by your upstairs neighbor’s kids, or commute with a gazillion other people on the métro during rush hour. I’d rather go to a bistro or drink Champagne on a boat slowly winding its way down the Seine. I don’t see any upsides to not being a tourist.
I do tell people who feel uncomfortable about being a tourist in France (or anywhere), that if they were coming to their home country, that stiff waiter or gruff cab driver would likely make gaffes too. But I do recommend learning “Bonjour” and “Merci” if you come to France, as la politesse is a lot more important in France than it is in the States, where the staff at CVS gives me funny looks when I thank each and every one of them after I’ve paid for my M&M’s.
The whole article is fun and interesting (there's a sentence or two that talks about chocolates called les crottes du chien), so it's all worth a read.