Most Surprising Things about Living in Paris

[@hellonicolette]

What are some surprises you've experienced while visiting, or living in, Paris? Leave a comment below, I'd love to know!

[@TheDasKanal]

i'm kind of surprised you were not culturally shocked about the difficulty of finding housing which I really found crazy cause there's just too much demand.. i wanna know your secret if you didn't have any trouble finding an affordable flat!

[@Zeneyez]

I’m from Scotland and the tap water there is soft and super pure, like spring water. But I live in London and when I moved here, I was horrified at the furry kettle and limescale stains. I wouldn’t even brush my teeth with tap water, never mind drink it! We mostly tell people where we live by tube stop too, everyone I know, does, or they say postcode or north/south/east/west London . Tubes are less busy since lockdown, many people work from home Monday and Friday now, the city is busy but less busy than it used to be, even rush hour.

[@solracer66]

Compared to my first trip to France 35 years ago smoking is nothing these days and they have finally learned to pay attention to no smoking signs. Sure it still can be irritating at times but great progress has been made.

[@lindagrace2]

I agree it's NOTHING like it was, no more smoking in public buildings alone is huge. Now I notice smokers as an anomaly almost, then it was unavoidable. Growing up our teachers smoked in the classroom!! (Yes I have some respiratory issues now thank you!).

[@nonokbh]

You can sit on the grass in Buttes Chaumont, Parc de la Vilette, or Parc André Citroën for example. Bois de Vincennes is amazing too, opposite side to Bois de Boulogne.

[@kerouac2]

Also Jardin Nelson Mandela, Parc Martin Luther King, Parc de Belleville....

[@johnnyfrederick01]

Also spots in the jardin du Luxembourg and parc Monceau you can sit in the grass

[@FanNy-ku6wt]

Apart from Parc Montsouris there is CIté universitaire, or Parc du Luxembourg (in the 5th) where you can sit on the grass. If you're more around the 18th, there is Cité de la musique not far away, which is a nice place to discover.

[@Rovingkiwi0516]

Hello Nicolette. I am a gazillion years older than you but I find your channel essential viewing. Your comments on touchable huggable green space and the risks associated with the expat bubble in Paris truly resonate. Keep up the great work.

[@charlottejoly5657]

You can sit on the grass at Les Buttes Chaumont

[@hellonicolette]

Thank you! I will definitely have to check out these recommendations. (But the 15th one might take some time/effort to get to haha. I know what you mean about that arrondissement, at least as someone living in la rive droite 😅)

[@TheMoviePlanet]

You can sit on the grass in parts of Jardin des Plantes (5th) as well as the very close by Jardin du Port de l'Arsenal in front of the Canal St Martin, as well as several other parks other people mentioned, and the Bois the Vincennes which they also mentioned.

[@solracer66]

You can sit on the grass at the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in the 19th but it's not exactly central and depending on where you are coming from you might need to take multiple metros or walk a bit to get there.

[@katherinemahoney4728]

Parc Monceau in the 8th you can sit and have a picnic on the grass sometimes they have miniature ponies which is a bonus

[@annebrown886]

This was really interesting thanks ❤

[@hellonicolette]

Thanks for watching! 😊

[@nikoforge]

This video is so accurate 😂 You can also go to Buttes Chaumont park for some grass experience 😉

[@hellonicolette]

Yes, so true! I'll have to adventure there and see what the grass situation is like... Thanks :)

[@aeolia80]

I live in Ile-de-France and can confirm the hard water situation, lol, I have eczema, and usually I have it undercontrol, but it's never been under control since Ive been living here, even have eczema on my scalp now which I never did before, and my husband's psoriasis is much worse now. We can't install a real water softener in our apartment (even though we own it) because we are on "collected water", which is basically we don't have a direct cold or water source in our apartment, the whole building is on the same intake (we do have shutoff valves and meters for both, but they are in a closet outside of our apartment, and the closet is definitely not big enough to install a water softener). Anyways, we have a filter on the showerhead and another on the base of the shower hose, but it doesnt do much, we use a Brita for our kettles and coffee machine, also doesn't really do much even though it's "supposed" to filter out most deposits. We both use sulphate products since sulphates are attracted to mineral deposits and make it worse, and I use shower gel and shampoo with added salicylic acid in it to hopefully prevent some deposits from getting on my skin and hair, I've stopped using conditioner on my hair because the hard water reactes weirdly with it and doesn't fully rinse it out of my hair no matter what I do, so I only use a serum after I get out of the shower and it works ok. I could use distilled water to rinse my hair and body, but that's a lot of jugs of distilled water laying around the house, lol. But yeah, long story, hate the hard water here. I live in the banlieues, at least 40 minutes from the center of Paris by the RER. All our friends live in banlieue towns surrounding Paris, we're all about 40 min to and hour apart from each other, each in different parts, though technically all of us live on the West side, lol, but the west is huge, if you think it's hard to see friends when you actually live in Paris, it's worse if you all decide to move out to the banlieues because it's cheaper and closer to work. We mostly only see each other a few times a year, it has to be scheduled at least a week or 2 in advance (a lot of our friends have kids now too), and usually twice a year we try to get together for a longer period of time like a few days for NYE and a week in a rental house in August. And it really sucks because it feels like you have no one to rely on at the drop of a hat if you need someone, like say you need someone to help you out with a project or go with you to a medical appointment or babysit someone's kid, it can't be last minute, it still has to be scheduled at least a week in advance, so unless you make really close friends in your town or neighborhood, which almost never happens in the bigger cities in France, your "friends" are usually not the same thing as your "community", and it really sucks. When it comes to French language level, if they are not up to a B1 or B2 level, officially, they are not on long term visas, because many visas have language requirements, I came in on a spouse visa, and had to take a language exam right away, if I didn't pass at at least A1, I had to take French classes until I did, and for the 10 year residency card you need to test at A2, though preferably B1 or higher, many jobs here make it so that if you don't test at least at B2 level, which is the level to get into most universities here, they may not hire you. So, if you are meeting "locals" that are only at A1, they aren't on a 10 year visa, and if they are A2, they did the bare minimum and also possibly aren't on a long term visa.

[@chrystald.vavoulidis1328]

🙋 I know! Parc André Citroën in the 15th arrondissement lets people sit on the grass. When I was in grad school, in the summer, people would go there after work and have picnics on the grass with their wines, beers cheeses and chips😊. There are areas in Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, in the 19ème arr. that also let people sit on the grass. It gets really full in the summer!!! I have also seen people, from time to time- especially in the summer, sit on the grass in front of the Esplanade des Invalides in the 7th arrondissement.

[@hellonicolette]

Fantastic! Thanks for the recs 😊

[@existentialgroove]

I could watch an entire video just of paris park recommendations where you can actually sit on the grass 😆

[@hellonicolette]

Oh my gosh, seriously. I might have to go on a Parisian park tour haha.

[@navis1980]

In principle, lawns in Parisian parks are allowed from spring to summer, except during specific maintenance periods. During their winter rest, the lawns need to regenerate after the busy summer season, so from mid-October to mid-April, they are no longer accessible.

[@hellonicolette]

I had an inkling that might be the case... Good to know that there is a grassy summer ahead!

[@lindagrace2]

I think the hard water is a French problem. My mother lived in Uzès in the south where the calcium problem was MUCH worse, she told me to rinse out her water kettle with vinegar every other time as it turned white with calcium after one or two uses. I recommend rinsing everything (including your hair)in white vinegar (you can dilute it). I'm in the 17th right now and there is a Park Strip on Blvd Perreire and there is small patches of grass people sit on. I also saw pictures of Parc Monceau where people sit on the grass. Expat bubbles exist in every country. It's the worse way to live in a country imo, unless you can't wait to get out of there and are simply marking time before you get to go home.

[@hellonicolette]

Oh wow, interesting. Thanks for the vinegar tip! I'll have to try that :)

[@SurpriseMeJT]

It's possible that parks forbid being on the grass in order to allow them to grow back so that they can be enjoyed during the summer. You mentioned Parc Montsouris which is a great one. I noticed you didn't want to say explicitly what happens at Bois de Boulogne. I will say it since I live near there - prostitution. I used to commute to work through Bois de Boulogne and those ladies will be ready to work at 8am. Serious. I do wish the city would clean that stuff up though because they leave too many remnants in the forests.

[@JuneJupiter]

I just found your channel and am really enjoying the content! Nice to see you’re posting more!

[@hellonicolette]

I'm so happy you found this corner of the Internet. Welcome! (or rather, Bienvenue!) I hope you have a beautiful day. 😊❤️

[@thierryf67]

there's a many places in France where water is hard. I don't know where you lived in the south of France, but it's usually hard in most places... only specific places, in mountains, or on special rocks, get a soft water. You say you were in Toulouse, you where lucky in this region, the water is soft, due to the close mountains, i guess.

[@NicoleWensel]

Love you ❤️ this is great!! ✨✨✨

[@hellonicolette]

Thanks for watching! 😊❤️

[@kyraskye5880]

So interesting! I didn’t realize Paris would feel that different from the rest of France when it’s already so different from the US :)

[@lola.lola11.11]

Your videos are so good. I hope yule post more :)

[@elsme4878]

Hello did you do the park "les buttes chaumont" ?! It's fantastic

[@slicksalmon6948]

Super interesting. I didn’t think you could get a long term resident visa without B2 competence.

[@nickygrace7495]

Hello Nicolette, I am a Nicolette as well. I am enjoying your You Tube channel. I am in US, I have plans to come to Paris next year to hopefully connect more with my heritage, and where I was born. So I will be learning about it as well from you before I get to Paris.

[@hellonicolette]

How wonderful! Best of luck with your move, (fellow) Nicolette. 😊 And I'm so happy you found the channel. Bienvenue! ❤️

[@JeanChordeiles]

Je suis surpris de découvrir que le prénom Nicolette est plus répandu aux États-Unis qu'en France ! Ici, il est très rare. Probablement parce que la mode des prénoms en -ette est un ancienne, à présent. Colette, Odette, Suzette,... sont des prénoms de grands-mères, aujourd'hui (mais je ne connais aucune Nicolette). Mais Nicolette est vraiment très mignon (avec une connotation médiévale, cf. "Aucassin et Nicolette") et je ne serais pas surpris d'un retour de ce suffixe dans les prénoms, puisque la mode revient aux prénoms anciens. 🙂

[@eligirl100]

People sit by the grass at the Jardin des Tuileries

[@BaronDiacre]

if u are in the 18th arrondissement, you should consider Martin Luther King park

[@lauraswihart4816]

I didn't expect that about the 💦💦

[@baark999]

:( What a waste of time. Did you arrive from North Dakota?