| 39. "What amazes me is how, with all their stories about suffering, you see so many well-dressed Frenchmen." The places we frequent in Paris are comparable to the rich or "touristy" neighborhoods of any big American city -- Fifth Avenue, Michigan Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard. It is on the Champs Elysees, around l'Opera and on the Boulevard Hausseman that you see those Frenchmen who are well-dressed. It is there, too, that you see those who profit from the inflation and the black market. Some of the Frenchmen who look so well dressed are well dressed only in the places you see. Under a good collar and cuffs, there may be the oldest, most patched-up shirt you ever saw. Socks are made of pieces of old cloth. Underwear is made of anything a person can lay his hands on. |