Observations from Paris

Whenever I travel, even though my wife accuses me of not being very observant, I at least TRY to notice things that are different wherever I'm at, and then point them out to my family, so they can sort of "travel with me." I have two observations tonight, one completely useless trivia, and one gross, hence no photos in this posting. Here goes:

1. Opening the Subway Door. I've ridden subways (Metros, tubes, chikatetsu... whatever you want to call them) in Tokyo, Nagoya, Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, France, London, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, Daegu, New York City, once in L.A., and even in Atlanta (MARTA). There's one thing totally unique to the Parisian Metro. Can anybody think of what it is? OK... I'll tell you. In my experience, ONLY in France do you have to open the car door to get on of off the Metro, by pushing a green button on the door. In every country I've ever been in, each door on the subway cars just open automatically. Here in Paris, though, for every single door or every single car of every single train on the Metro, you have to open the door to get on (or off). Push the button. I guess this is actually a pretty efficient way of doing things. I also imagine that it would stop some people from trying to dive in to the car as the doors are closing (I've seen people get injured doing that in other cities!). I have noticed, though, that the doors, upon pushing the botton, will start opening even before complete stop. Yikes!
2. Nobody Pukes Like Europeans. OK, now this is just weird and gross. Last night as I was crossing the street (in a busy crosswalk), this man coming the other way started puking. And just kept walking (while bending over slightly and inserting his stomach contents on to the ground), like nothing ever happened. "Oh geesh... puke... I guess I better just keep walking!" I've now witnessed this in England, Germany, and France. And every time it's like nothing ever happened! They just keep going. Now... when I start puking, I feel awful and want to go lay down! I must hand it to the Europeans, that they really know how to puke and keep right on going!!!