The French: Anarchists at Heart

In every French man and woman there exists an anarchist just beneath the skin, ready to surface at the slightest excuse and ready to bend or break the rules whenever possible. Paris traffic is most definitely a good example.

Yet the entire nation - men, women & children - stand united in the agreement that to break the rules of good taste constitutes an unacceptable crime. A capital crime, in fact.

To act in accordance with the rules of good taste, beauty and elegance comes natural to every French person. It is mysterious and unexplainable. It seems like a genetic condition. Perhaps it is in the water or the air. And sooner or later visiting foreigners, such as us, will be affected. And certainly we will be affected by the people who are ready to inform us when we break the rules of good taste or disturb the balance of beauty and elegance that prevails everywhere. And the people who are ready to tell us - that is every living being in France.

Therefore one gets educated in the French ways, whether on wants it or not.

For example, there exists a science here that determines which foods can and cannot be combined. There are food sequences that even the most ignorant Frenchman would not tolerate on his taste buds.

And while I may not lose my life (by a small margin) having been caught combining a certain cheese, wine and chocolate, I certainly have lost face completely.

Wine. Not drinking any wine is most definitely un-French. Anybody here can give you a description of any given wine using at least 10 adjectives without the slightest effort, thus defining a wine in a historically unprecedented way.

This can be followed by a heated dicussion with everybody else in the room if they disagree with the interpretation of the wine taster. This heated argument can easily last 10 minutes.

Only in France. I love this place.

To say that I feel I have been dropped into exotic circumstances is putting it mildly.