I’m an American who visited Paris for the first time. Here are the 11 things that surprised me most.

The biggest adjustment for me was learning that the sun wouldn’t set until it was almost 11 p. m. some evenings in Paris.

In Los Angeles, I’m used to the sun going down after 8 p. m. Currently, the sunset is 9:34 p.

m. in Paris. The extra hours of daylight made it feel like it was safe to stay out a bit longer and explore even though it was quite late in the day.

It also made me want to adjust my eating schedule. A Parisian told me that’s just a summertime perk. Wintertime in France is the complete opposite with immensely short days where the sun rises after 9 a.

m. and sets by 4:30 p. m.

Additionally, it rains often. That’s quite the trade-off. If you’ve ever had to drive to a major airport in New York City or Los Angeles to pick up or drop off someone, then you know how much of a hassle it is to get in and out while trying to stop for a few seconds to pack or unload a vehicle.

I was shocked to learn that Paris’ CDG airport has eradicated all of that unnecessary stress. When my driver dropped me off to return home, he arrived at a ticket booth that offered up to 10 minutes of free parking for offloading. He was then able to pull into an actual parking spot so I could comfortably get out without the hassle of worrying about double-parked cars honking.

He couldn’t understand why I was so shocked and happy at the ease to arrive at the AirFrance terminal. This is how it should be everywhere. I lived in New York City for four years so I’m quite familiar with the subway system.

I’ve used the train systems in New Jersey, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities as well. It’s common to see people jump down onto the tracks in NYC, especially if they drop something. I was stunned to see wall-to-wall protective shields in the underground French subways that only parted ways once the doors to a train opened.

It seems like this should be a mandatory innovation in the US to help save lives. According to the New York Post , since the pandemic, track intrusions jumped 20% in 2021 and suicide attempts on the subway rose 50% in the first three months of the year when compared to the previous year. It was also a surprise to me that France’s subway tickets were so extremely small that I could easily lose them if I wasn’t careful.

Additionally, I was surprised to see people ride warm subways underground with the windows open , something you typically don’t see in NYC. There were also double-decker trains that ran underground. In the US, these are reserved for above-ground use.

One of the first things I noticed after leaving the airport were these teeny-tiny additional stop lights at every traffic stop. Motorcycles, bicycles, mopeds, scooters, and other smaller vehicles are as common as cars in Paris. When I finally started wandering around the city on foot, I realized these smaller lights were for the plethora of two-wheeled vehicles traveling around the city.

Having lived on both the east and west coasts, I’m used to New York City and Los Angeles crosswalks telling you how much time you have to make it across the street. That wasn’t the case anywhere I went in Paris. Once the crosswalk light turned on you had a short amount of time to cross before the lights changed colors and cars came barreling toward you.

Americans, especially in NYC and LA, can tell immediately how much time they have to cross and not think twice about it. In Paris, I never knew if the crosswalk would change in a matter of seconds so it forced me to be more present and aware, which I personally appreciated. For the first leg of my trip, I stayed at Disneyland Paris’ The Art of Marvel Hotel where I was given a keycard to access my room.

When I later traveled over to Paris to explore, I was perplexed to receive an actual key on a giant keychain instead of a keycard to open my door. It was like something out of a novel. I removed the key from the keychain so I could walk around with it more easily as the entirety was too large to fit in most pockets.

I also had to remember to manually lock my door with the key before leaving each day, something I almost didn’t think to do at all on the first day of my stay because I’m used to hotels with keycards and doors that lock behind me. I pride myself in knowing where some of the best public New York City bathrooms are located (check out Bryant Park), so I was surprised when I headed to the public restroom underground near Notre Dame and was asked to pay two euros. I didn’t because, at the time, I didn’t have change on me, but also I knew I wasn’t desperately in need of a bathroom.

I was surprised to see that there were multiple attendees in the bathroom with services offered. I was shocked that two of the hotels I stayed at both provided hygiene bags to dispose of used pads and tampons. In the US, you’ll see small garbage cans in public restroom stalls, but I’ve yet to see anything like that in a US hotel room.

These thoughtful touches made me feel seen. One of the wildest things I wasn’t expecting to hear while laying in the grass in front of the Eiffel Tower was the sound of people yelling out: “Beer! Wine!” Unlike the US, Paris is totally fine with people bringing their own alcohol to sit down in a public space to unwind. I saw so many people get together with their friends at this tourist location and along the Seine river to split a bottle of wine to end the day.

Wine is also really inexpensive in Europe. I never saw a bottle above $10. Most of it was half that price.

The Eiffel Tower wine sellers made me chuckle to myself because it felt like a variation of something that occurs in the US. Whenever I’ve gone to the Jersey shore, I’ve witnessed people hauling coolers full of water bottles and ice cream for sale — just never alcohol. I wanted to try and order coffee from Parisian locations while abroad, but caved and ordered from Starbucks when I needed some Wi-Fi and time to kill as I waited to check into a hotel one day.

I was taken aback by the very small drink hole in Paris’ versions of the familiar Starbucks cups. I had to know what it was like to step inside a McDonald’s in Paris. Most of the ordering took place on a screen when you first entered.

If you were dining in, I was surprised to see that you could take a number with you, place it down in front of you, and have an employee bring your meal to you. This blew my mind. In the US, you typically have to grab your food from the counter when it’s ready — there usually isn’t someone who will walk it to your table.

Another surprise was that Paris offered wedges in addition to normal fries. I thought the wedges were far superior to the string fries we’re eating in the US. .