On my first visit to Paris the taxi driver taking me to my hotel proceeded to give me a French lesson. I had mis-pronounced the street, and he led me through some useful vocabulary. When we got to the hotel (a small one used by air hostesses and pilots, on a side street) he drove me around the immediate neighborhood and showed me a couple of good places to eat and drink.

Visits to Germany showed me that Germans were often rude and unhelpful.