Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-16
BY ELIZABETH CARPENTER
Special Dispatch to The star

Special Dlspatch 70 Ane ottr
PARIS, Sept. 15--Paris Is a
bad-tempered beauty.
She is so beautiful you for
give anything. But you fire.
quently wish the lady would
take a large slug Of her own
champagne and be as gracious
as she looks.
Even her irritability and
confusion is historic. From
time immemorial, the tourist
has had to take her beauty
with bedlam, her culture with
chaos.
She hordes the worlds great
est art treasures. But just try
to reach them! That's where
the catch comes. And. it Is
the wise tourist who, on leav-
ing his hotel for the Musee de
Louvre, cables his wife the To-
cation Of his Insurance policies.
AS one tourist, arriving the
worse for wear in front Of the
portrait of Mona Lisa. put il,
mo wonder she smiles. She
made it here safely"
Paris is the only city in the
world where four cars mean a
traffic jam. The Frenchmap
uses automobiles to express his
individuality and temperament.
When he gets in a car, he loses
all the chivalry he has built
up for ages.
Bumper to Bumper
With the August vacation
month just completed. the Pa
risiens are returning home,
literally with a bang. Bumper
to bumper they stand in the
Place de la Coneorde and,
with honking now outlawed in
France, shout vindictives at
one another.
Here is where Marie Antoi-
nette lost her head and $4,000
Frenchmen lose theirs every
day.
What makes Paris so diff
cult?
I'VE are so advanced" the
Frenchman claims.
Sympathetic foreigners have
another reason: Paris has
been quite short Of money for
a long time. Salaries don't
change but bills keep getting
higher. And she wrestles with
her budget problems. collec-
lively and individually. in the
worst housing imaginable"
Aware of the bad impress
sion the native disCourtesy
was making on visitors. the
Paris Police Department staged
a Courtesy Week" in an ef-
fort to improve the dispositions
of taxicab drivers and all driv-
ers, for that matter.
NObOdy's Safe
One foreign service officer
tells how he was almost forced
onto a curb by cab driver
who then got out of his car
and gave him "what-for."
With humor, the foreign
service officer asked. What
about Courtesy Week."
"Oh, that doesn't begin until
tomorrow" the cab driver shot
back.
Another American woman,
trying to push a perambulator
across the Champs Elysees was
practically attacked by a
French motorist who swerved
out of his way to hit her.
II didn't mind him trying to
run ME down." she said. but
/ think it is going a little far
when he tries to kill my
month-old baby"
Despite all these drawbacks,
Paris is the chosen city for the
intellectuals, the stylish, and
the wealthy from around the
globe.
She is a lady with many
lovers:
The bearded, grimy students
at the bonnie who sip
aperitifS each evening at the
Cafe des Deux Magots.
Never Daunted
The artist who stands in the
middle of the street during a
shower continuing to sketch
OF all thlngS-a sewer eXcaVa-
ton.
The chic lady of royal blood
stepping into the fashion house
to view the new collection.
The short, balding man in
the camel's-hair coat with a
black pork pie hat tilted jaunt-
lily. driving a black Citroen
madly out to the races at Long
champs.
The concierge standing in
a doorway in her "pantoufles"
with her spectacles hung on a
craggy nose.
The black-robed nun bicycl-