The Daily Baguette: November 2007

Smart Cars!

There is a real lack of SMART cars in Asian countries... well at least in the countries I've lived in since it was first introduced during the 1995s. Surprisingly, there seems to be a real difference in the size of the cars people prefer in France compared to Thailand and Korea. Here, I should say about 60% of cars are three doors or less, and you will often see the signature 'SMART' style parking all over Lyon... These miniature vehicles are short enough to allow it to be parked 'nose in' whereas a conventionally sized (4-door) or more car would have to parallel park. There are tons of these SMART all over Lyon, where there is practically a War of Parking everyday. Here, a nice car is a car you can park easily... It's a country where taxi drivers drive the Merdeces S-classes, and the rest.... the ordinary Renaults and Citroens.

-1 Floor...???

One of the few things that foreigners fail to adapt to in France is the funny 'floor system.' In Asia, or Thailand and Korea I should say, the ground floor is often labelled 'L' for lobby, or 'G' for ground, but we usually call the 'ground floor'... the 1st floor. However, in France we call it '0' (zero) floor as you can see in the image above (a typical French elevator). Although, this little thing does not seem much, it can cause quite a bit of a problem at times. My first day at the Alliance Francaise didn't quite begin the way I wanted... because of this 'floor system.' I was told my class was on the 3rd floor... and in Thailand or Korea, that would be 2 floors above the ground floor... (1, 2, and then THREE) I ended up on the SECOND FLOOR according to the French system. It was actually supposed to be (0, 1, 2, and THREE).

Another funny thing is when you go below ground... the first floor below basement is called '-1' floor... haha. So you would need to first press the 'negative' (-) button, then 1 if you took the elevator in the picture. Very Logic and simple thinking, but its something very new for an Asian to adapt to. Vraiment bizarre ca....

Zurich to Geneve (Geneva)

On my way back from Vienna to Lyon, I literally had to cross the whole of Switzerland from the East coast to the West...from Zurich all the way to Geneve. By this, i mean travelling from a very German speaking region of Switzerland to a very much French part of la Suisse. The 3 hour train ride was one of a kind... the journey starts off very German as there are lots of passengers travelling from one Zurich to Bern (two German speaking cities). However, from then on, French takes over and you will tend to hear the typical Swiss-French. The language of newspapers change throughout the course of the journey... It is not much of a surprise to see the person opposite you reading a GERMAN newspaper, speaking FRENCH with the person beside him, and ordering his coffee in ENGLISH.

For those who speak French, they will often giggle when the annoucement says that the train will stop at 'Lausanne, Geneve,.... et Geneve a l'aeroport' hahaha...ㅋㅋㅋㅋ. A very good example of Swiss-French... Inside the train you will find that all signs are written in four different language: German, French, English, and Italian. So when you come to Switzerland make sure you take a train from Zurich to Geneve...

Autriche

I decided to spendmy one week holiday (from the 27th October to the 2nd of November) in Austria. I took a train from Lyon, Part-Dieu station and headed off to Salzburg via Mulhouse and Zurich... a journey which took approximately 13 hours. During the week I visited Salzburg, Vienna, and a small village called 'Hallstatts' which is located between Salzburg and Linz...just beside a lake. It is deemed, the most beautiful place on earth, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, therefore I decided to pay a little visit...