I admittedly wasn't there long, but I really didn't find that people in Paris were rude at all, at least no more so than any other city.

Nor I. My acquaintances had prepared me for the worst, but I found Parisians to be perfectly cordial. Though I did make an effort to say "bonjour" and "merci" and had a go at pronouncing French menu items properly, so that may have influenced the way I was treated.

On my first trip to Asia, I spent the first week in Japan and the second week in Hong Kong. The difference was so striking I was in culture shock for the 1st several days in Hong Kong - I do not think one can attribute the differences between these two places simply on the basis of "cultural idiosyncracies".

But the same thing happened when I went to Florida - I spent the first few days in Jacksonville and then flew to Miami for the next couple of days.

From my experience Germans tend to stare a lot - I think the average North American traveler would consider this rude..

I stopped after seeing "The Caribbean"

Care to explain? Which country was worst?

As for my experience; I went to Paris once, back in 1998 or 1999. I'm not planing on going back there. Its not stereotypes, I think that if you don't speak French in Paris you'll be ignored by most of the local population, which is considered as being rude.
I've spent some time in Germany (West and East) and like in any other country, you will have nice and rude people. But majority of the Germans that I've interacted with were nice.
British people are also polite. Never had bad experience with Britons.

On the other hand, some people in Spain were rude and some were nice. At the end it balances itself

Not my expirience. A humble attempt, even a "Parlez-vous anglais?" has usually gotten me some measure of assistance.

I don't speak French and didn't have a problem. People would either direct their comments to my husband (who does speak some French) or start speaking in English. This was 2003.

I lived in England for two years and would definitely say this varies. When I first got there, I was amazed at how outright rude some people could be. I've still never been anywhere outside London where anyone's been so quick to pick an argument or just make a rude comment. I love England and would happily go back, but you definitely got lucky if you've never had a bad experience.

I've been to many on the list and think that rudeness many times comes from cultural differences. E.g. In China I find people staring at me at first it made me uncomfortable, now I turn it into an opportunity to interact.

I've come to the conclusion that to them I look like Colonel Sanders of KFC fame. :-)

If you try to interact, try to learn a bit of the language and try to approach people with an open attitude the "rudeness" goes away. Or it just doesn't matter.

Luck of the draw, IMO.
Travel enough, you'll have great experiences and not so great experiences.

I've lived in France, spent months in the U.K., Spain, the Pacific Rim, South America, Australia, and other not-so-well-known places. People are basically people. You can get lucky and meet great people, or you can get unlucky and meet very rude and ill-tempered people. I happened to get into a fairly rough exchange in a small town in Italy many years ago. A few locals did not like the fact that an American was seated at one of "their" tables in a neighborhood cafe and decided to annoy me. A few towns later, I had a great conversation with a nice man whom was sitting next to me at another cafe. He said he enjoyed meeting tourists. You just never know.

It probably helps to speak the local language, but not always. I speak fluent French, but do have an American accent that I can't totally shake. The French sometimes answer me in English because they pick up on the accent, but I answer them right back in French, because I pick up on their French accent when they speak English. Two way street, right?

I think it does depend on your visit location. You can't judge all of France from Paris, just as you can't judge all of the United States by New York City.

I find New Yorkers to be the rudest. There is no equal. New Yorkers are the worst.
And the Brits? They are friendly, but I have encountered some that are overtly racist. But, then again, the same racism is everywhere. Spain? Don't get me started on Spain...

This "study" is totally bogus. Another English-centric piece of nonsense. First of all, the respondents were mostly from people who probably only speak English and don't speak a second language (60% from Ireland & UK plus Australia & USA). If you have these English-only speaking tourists who visit "foreign" countries and expect those people to speak English, then the French, Russians, and Germans have every right to be "rude" to them. Ever try speaking French to a New York City subway attendant? Or, how about speaking German to order dinner in Manhattan?

If you want to visit a foreign country, at least attempt to learn a few phrases in the their language. It's not hard.

This brings up an interesting etiquette question. If something like the above happens, which language should the two discussants continue their conversation in? The language of the guest or the language of the host?

I'd think it would come down to continuing in whichever language gives the most fluent results, the biggest common denominator so to speak. But is there a rule? I haven't heard about one.

Till

I think you are right, whichever language gives the most fluent results. I've had lively discussions with friends when, later on, I've realised that we've just been constantly switching back and forth between languages. A couple of glasses of wine makes the transition easier.

The most fluent, but also there isn't anything wrong with both. I understand more than I can speak other languages, so if the conversation works with each of us speaking our mother tongue, but understanding the other language, why not?