The French do not share the Middle American distaste for New York City. The mention of New York in a conversation will instantly call up coos of admiration and envy from those who have visited or those unfortunates who have never yet had the privilege of acquaintance with the Grosse Pomme.
A girl I know just got a coveted internship in New York City for the summer. She is very excited because she's never been to the U.S. and it was her dream to work in New York. She can't afford Manhattan rents and is living way up in Bronxville, and I hope that the commute doesn't put a dent in her enthusiasm. She also smokes and will find out the hard way about that....
Her friends put together a travel kit for her. She was already wearing the stars-and-stripes scarf when this photo was taken (notice the U.K. flag on the bottom. In France, this is often used as an abbreviation for "English," which really annoys me)!
with a few things from home in case she feels homesick:
To wind up the evening she posed in her new U.S. flag scarf, pointing up at McDonald's, beaming.
I think you are right about New York. French people, at least les parisiens, like New York, as well as New Orleans by the way. Since I have been in the US I always try to visit New York as often as I can. We went last October and also last week. Last Saturday we went in a small café restaurant on the East Side, I think it was near E 62nd St., they are called Le Marché du Sud. We ate in their inside veranda area and they had your sign “rue Rude” there. When I saw it it reminded me of something and it was your blog. For lunch they feature French sandwiches, provençal style, like Le Pain Bagnat, et sandwich au merguez, etc. But I don’t understand why you say it is an anomalie to like New York – it is a wonderful vibrant city
Posted by: Vagabonde | 23 May 2012 at 21:40
Oh, it's because a lot of Americans dislike it for being too slick, too foreign, too un-American. The way people in France feel about Paris if they don't live there. (Try Googling "hate New York"!) After 9/11 it stopped being quite as fashionable to hate New York, though.
http://www.ruerude.com/2010/05/no-one-wants-to-be-parisian.html
Thanks for telling me about the sign! I'll look for it next time I'm there!
Posted by: Sedulia | 24 May 2012 at 00:15