One of the first things I noticed after arriving in Paris was that when I smiled at people, they smiled back. Everyone said pardon when they walked past on the sidewalk (a welcome change from the US, where I think we’ve all uttered an irritated not even an “excuse me”? under our breath after being shoved out of someone’s way). And everywhere I went, there seemed to be a feeling of community.
Maybe it’s on account of that liberté, égalité, fraternité that’s embedded into their identity as citizens of the French Republic; maybe I just happened to run into the right people; or maybe it’s bare-minimum politeness that many of us Americans seem to have deemed unimportant somewhere along the way. Whatever the case, I saw a lot of smiling faces in Paris; and for the lonely traveler that’s always a welcome thing.