When you think of France, what exactly do you think of? Pretentiousness? Croissants? Perhaps Serge Gainsbourg smoking. For me, it’s Owen Wilson walking beside La Seine. But that is perhaps a result of watching Midnight in Paris at 16 instead of going out and doing normal teenage things like getting drunk and vomiting on my friend’s sofa.

Maybe you think of the kind of Parisian disdain that has long been the nation’s stereotype. It’s a portrayal that Netflix’s wildly successful Emily in Paris has leaned into, to the point where a character in the show’s third season says: “The French are just Italians in a bad mood.”

The French have a reputation for rudeness, but this may be unfair.Credit: Getty Images

On a recent trip to France and Italy, my first time visiting, I was curious to see if this claim rang true. Like many, I arrived in Paris full of assumptions: that the French would be aloof and allergic to tourists. My partner and I expected to be made fun of for our attempts to order coffee, over-reliance on tote bags and out-of-style sneakers. Instead, we got the most welcoming “bonjour” I had ever heard.

It was at a boutique store that neither me nor my partner had any financial right to be in. And yet, the........

© WA Today