Which way is the Eiffel Tower?

We've all read numerous articles on how rude the French are (supposed to be). This article in the Sydney Morning Herald (which I found via The French Journal) reminded me of a recent experience. This weekend I went to a housewarming party in Paris. Almost all of the attendees were French. I'm guessing that the French don't always talk about Americans at parties, but when I'm present, the conversation almost always turns to something American-related. At this party, the discussion was about how many American tourists assume that everyone in France speaks English. In fact, one Parisian (with whom I was conversing in my preferred melange of French and English, aka, Franglais), told me that when he is approached by an American in English for directions, he first acts like he doesn't understand, and then gives them the wrong directions!!! But if they try to speak a little French first, he is quite helpful.

From my overly-friendly American perspective, I found this kind of shocking actually. And who knows if it's true (I think there is a similar ad on TV right now?? Anyone know?).

This same Parisian later told me that he felt like an American traveler when he went to Switzerland and automatically assumed they would accept Euros...