This was my experience in Paris, but not in Nice, even away from the tourist traps like Vizille I was very much encouraged to speak my broken French so I could learn. If they spoke English they'd apoligize for a dropped participle and then pull out a word like pugillistic.
Parisians hate everyone, including the French.
The trains did not in fact run on time.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/loco-motive/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-15/stop-saying-mussolini-made-the-trains-run-on-time