Normal Depends on Where You Stand

We’re wrapping up day 17 of our trip—and our last day in Paris. Tomorrow we head back to our Airbnb in Les Houches, where we'll have a couple of quiet days before family starts arriving to join us. We're excited to share this adventure with some of our favorite people. Then it will be time for me to shift my focus toward resting and preparing for my own adventure around Mont Blanc: 110 miles, 32,000 feet of climbing and descending, and a 46-hour cutoff. They call it a race, but if you read my last post, you know I'm choosing to think of it as a journey.

For my readers who haven’t been to France, I thought I would share a small list of differences/things I have noticed living here in the last 17 days. Some are a bit random:

Trash:

Trash collection is all non-profit and included in local taxes, so households don’t have their own individual trash cans. Instead, there are communal bins around town for trash, recycling, and glass. It was also really fascinating to watch them get emptied—I’ll try to record the process. The whole system honestly makes so much more sense to me than for-profit waste collection.

Produce bags:

The produce bags at grocery stores are all lightweight paper instead of plastic. I like them, although I will admit there’s one advantage to plastic: you can actually see what’s in the bag once it’s in your fridge. Still, that’s probably a pretty unnecessary use of plastic.

Smoking:

The smoking here is unreal. People smoke near building entrances, in restaurants, everywhere. It’s crazy to me how normalized it still is here. Definitely going on the cons list. I would describe the general smell of France as BO and cigarette smoke.

Tipping:

The fact that tipping is not completely out of control like it is in the U.S. is really nice. A 15% gratuity is legally included in all restaurant and cafe bills. Though you can leave a tip, it is not expected or mandatory as all workers are paid a living wage.

Appliances:

All the appliances in the house we’re staying in are a little strange to us. The washing machine is an all-in-one washer/dryer, just like the one I have at my office. It’s in the kitchen, and it’s a major pain. It took us 10 days to figure out how to use it properly and it never gets the clothing dry. This is most frustrating when it comes to our towels. (Which the house has very few of). Our Airbnb in Paris also had a small washer, only in the bathroom instead of the kitchen. Both houses we stayed in had a separate room for the shower and sink vs. the toilet.

Street signs:

There are basically no street signs—or at least not consistently in the Chamonix Valley (I found it easier to find trail signs then street signs). Google will tell me to turn onto “name of road,” and meanwhile there is absolutely no visible name on the road, so… in Paris I found the street signs posted on buildings at the end of the block. Within a day of being here, we found our way around well without our phones (with the exception of venturing farther via the metro)

Sidewalks:

The sidewalks in the Chamonix Valley are really narrow, and people love to walk two abreast. It becomes a little game of chicken over who is going to move to let the other person through. Not everyone seems to share my belief in the single-file concept. It makes running through town pretty unpleasant, especially because the roads are also narrow, so running in the street isn’t exactly a great alternative. Pedestrian laws? Not sure. (This was a bit easier to navigate in Paris. Sidewalks were much wider)

Baguettes:

It is 110% normal to see the streets full of people walking home with bundles of baguettes tucked under their arms. And they’re €1.80 each at the local bakery! This one is obviously going on the pros list. We’ve purchased fresh bread here daily. As you should.

Bikes:

There are so many bikes on the roads, and cars are actually respectful of them. Drivers give them space and seem to accept that bikes belong on the road too. (Specifically I’m speaking to road cyclist and mountain bikers in Chamonix/Les Houches) Damn, the U.S. has some work to do. Nora’s first comment about Les Houches was how shocked she was that everyone is so active.

Food labels:

Nutrition labels are pretty different here. Everything—and I mean everything—lists the nutrition facts based on a 100g serving. So even something like peanut butter, where 32g/a 2 tablespoon serving, shows all the nutrition information for 100g. It makes comparing foods really easy, but figuring out what you’re actually eating requires a little math.

Plastic lids:

This one is kinda funny, but all plastic lids that go on water bottles or drinks stay attached to the container, which, is really pretty smart.

Meal times:

This has probably been one of the biggest adjustments for us, especially since we're used to eating dinner on the earlier side. Most restaurants serve breakfast and lunch, then close until dinner service begins around 6 or 7 p.m. That makes finding food between about 2 and 6 p.m. surprisingly difficult. In Les Houches, most restaurants don't reopen until 6, though a few will serve drinks and maybe fries beforehand. We've mostly cooked our own dinners, but when we do eat out, lunch is usually the easier option. We learned this lesson the hard way after arriving in Paris around 4 p.m., having missed lunch, and spending quite a while searching for a restaurant that was actually serving food. We eventually found one, but it took some effort. One other surprise: it's completely normal for your pizza to be served unsliced.

It's been fun to immerse ourselves in another culture and be reminded that what we think of as "normal" isn't the normal—it's simply our normal. Travel has a way of expanding your perspective and challenging assumptions you didn't even realize you had. I know with certainty that Nora is becoming a more well-rounded, open-minded person because of the places she's experienced. I hope the same is true for me. But as a parent, there's something especially rewarding about watching your child experience more of the world than you did at their age.