I have heard stories of people visiting Paris and complaining that the people there were rude - sort of like how tourists complain that people of NYC are rude - and that French people in other places in France are much nicer.
I've heard that also...I guess it's that way in every nation...some cities are more polite than others.
About your trip to France...did you visit other cities?
Not in France, but I did visit Germany and Italy, which are beautiful, beautiful countries and quite "romantic," so to speak.
It would be
wonderful to see more storylines from book series of characters visiting those countries
I have also been to Switzerland, which is absolutely heavenly in its beauty...lots of snow in the winter and lovely mild summers without the heat or humidity.
Also, the people in Switzerland are open-minded and very polite.
They also welcome immigrants with open arms, so there is a fine diversity of languages and different ethnic and religious backgrounds there.
So many good storylines could happen with characters visiting gorgeous Switzerland.
Switzerland, Italy and Germany are the most beautiful countries I have ever visited in my life.
I have also visited Quebec City, Canada, which is also lovely, especially at Christmastime.
There, people speak both French and English...actually, the Quebec French is smoother-sounding than Parisian French.
It's a pity that the
Sweet Valley series wasted so much time focusing on and over-romanticizing France for their international trips.
There were a couple of SV books where the twins visited England, but those books were rife with stereotypes of British people allegedly being "snobby" and unrealistic storylines of the twins becoming engaged to and almost marrying some high prince in a royal family.
Why not have the twins visit Ireland or Sweden?
It does have a few books where the twins' ancestors on their mum's side immigrated from Sweden in 1865, so it would have been great to see the twins spend a summer or winter break in Sweden learning about the culture there, their roots and even a bit of Swedish.
What a huge waste of a potentially great storyline from the SV series fixating on France alone.
I have a couple of friends who have visited Ireland, Sweden and Iceland and they tell me that those places are gorgeous and fantastic and I can tell by the pictures they sent me also.
I hope I can one day visit those places one day.
I have one fanfiction plotlet that I mention in my BSC stories where when Dawn and Mary Anne are in college, Sharon wins an all-expenses paid trip to Germany for their family, so they take a fantastic winter break trip to the Barvarian Alps in Germany and have a great time with the snow and with learning some German and even a touch of Yiddish.
If so, were the people there more pleasant?
I found the people in the places I visited in Switzerland, Germany and Italy very pleasant in general.
And because I am Latina, I felt especially at home in Italy, where their people often treated me as one of their own.
Spanish and Italian, both beautiful languages, are very similar.
Stacey was already there before and had a good time, she could go back and have fun again.
Perhaps...but I see her more likely to head to Ireland or Scotland for a semester abroad.
France is way overused and is over-romanticized in too many books.
Not all things in Paris or France are "romantic" or gorgeous and not all French people are fashionable or "romantic" or gorgeous.
Those popular stereotypes about France and French people are so silly.
It would make for a far better and richer storyline to have Stacey visit her ancestors' original motherland and discover interesting facts about her ancestors...instead of the banal, overused storyline of her going to "romantic" Paris and endlessly flirting with supposedly "romantic" French guys, endlessly partying and becoming some superficial Parisian clothes-horse.
I think not only would Stacey love the rich culture and history that Scotland and Ireland have, she'd have a great time with the fashionable kilts there and the pubs as well as tracing her ancestral roots.
She'd e-mail her BSC friends back in the States and get them interested in finding out more about their roots.
That would be potential and great fodder for many great storylines with all the BSC.