BWL Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 Hi! I just landed in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport this morning at 6.00 am local time. Everything was smooth except for my luggage getting lost somewhere between Kuala Lumpur and Paris and I was promised by Air France that they would deliver my suitcase directly to my house in Bordeaux within 3 days! I never expected the Parisian airport staff to be so nice! (Enough with the stereotypes about rude Parisians).Anyway as I am writing this, I'm sitting in the waiting hall at Gare Montparnasse eating half a baguette and watching the world go by......Et oui, il y a pas mal de touristes américains qui se promènent autour de moi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcgamer Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 Well, the last part is incomprehensible. But I wish you a speedy recovery of your goods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pojokers Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 That's great. France is definitely on my travel list. Now that I'm studying French I think I understand what you said there (except for the word promenent). But either I'm translating wrong or something is wrong as wowtgp said.Anyhow have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linguaholic Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 wowgtp was just saying that because he probably does not speak french :=) there is nothing wrong with that last part :grin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pojokers Posted September 14, 2013 Report Share Posted September 14, 2013 Oh, LOL my French still sucks. Is he saying this?"and yes, there are bad American tourists walking (I'm guessing) around me" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWL Posted September 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 Oh, LOL my French still sucks. Is he saying this?"and yes, there are bad American tourists walking (I'm guessing) around me"Sorry, I was using very colloquial French (some would say it is slang). "Pas mal" means "not bad" but "pas mal de" is a casual way to say "quite a few" or "quite a bit" depending on whether the word that follows can be counted or not."Il y a pas mal de touristes americains" means "there are quite a few American tourists". and "qui se promènent autour de moi" means "who are walking around me". "Se promènent" is the present tense plural third person form of "se promener" meaning to go for a walk. It is the same as "spazierengehen" in German or 散步 in Chinese and Japanese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sayitwell Posted September 19, 2013 Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 I want to go to Paris! Most of my family has been there. I'm the last one in my immediate family to not have visited Europe. I actually had a friend who had to stay in the Paris airport for half a week because he didn't bring enough cash and his credit/debit cards were not working for some reason. LOL.Bon chance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BWL Posted September 21, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2013 Merci beaucoup!Yes, I think you sort of can camp out in Paris CDG airport because it is huge and there are relatively clean toilets and showers available. I feel for your friend and yes, these things do happen!That said, Paris is getting colder and rainier now so I'm getting my warm clothing and putting them on standby just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatupswags Posted November 2, 2013 Report Share Posted November 2, 2013 Happy that you got to come to Paris! The French get a bad reputation for being rude and unhelpful, but they are actually one of the most sincerely hospitable and generous cultures out there. They just don't have any interest in helping rude and ungrateful people! So, kudos to you, you were "worthy" of their services. What it really means what that you are polite, and they respect you for that! The French definitely are reactionary when it comes to "treat others as you would like to be treated!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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