Paris, Day 3

The last three days have been a blur.

I awoke and had a quick breakfast, then met Michel, who was kind enough to drive me to the IBM office where I was to teach IBMers, customers and business partners how to use the IBM Classification Module. The commonality among the participants was that they were all French nationals. Their understanding of English was good enough, however, to make my task a relatively simple one. I did my best to keep my language simple, removing idioms and acronyms that might not be immediately understood by non-native speakers. Feedback was very good, and I believe that everyone was impressed with the power of the software.

I departed for Charles Du Gaulle Airport at 4:15 (thank you again, Michel!) for an Air France flight to Milan. Waiting in the security line I noticed that the signs were in both French and English. This was somewhat surprising because the French are fiercely protective (and proud) of their language in a way that American's are not of English. In the United States you sometimes hear the wingnuts call for mandating English-only instruction and English-only ballots, but my interpretation of this is just racism and bigotry. Part of the American identity is that it has always been a mix of cultures and languages. In France, by contrast, I think the national identity is strongly tied to the French language itself. While walking (and Metro-ing) around Paris I saw no other language. None. Even in the Louvre, which draws artistically curious persons from around the globe, every placard on every exhibit was French-only. It is almost as if the French are saying, "We don't need you."

Pride in their language notwithstanding, not once did I witness the stereotypical snootiness of the Parisians. I made an effort to speak at least a little broken French; they made an effort to speak some broken English. I found the people to be friendly, helpful, and efficient.

As we flew into Italian airspace I peered out the window down onto the Alps. They are spectacular. After spending many many vacations in the Sierra Nevada mountains I did not expect to be so easily impressed by such a relatively small mountain range. I would love to bring my snowboard to the alps some day. Looks like some really challenging slopes.

Once again, Air France was clean, efficient and friendly. Suck it, United.

To be continued...