I'm a Random French Guy (in Paris though, that's the capital, for the geographically challenged). Ask Away.

Where is your favorite place in Paris to purchase macarons?

I seldom buy macarons. I'm parfecting my technique.

How do the expensive macarons like Ladurée measure up to the smaller, family run stores' macarons?

Poorly. Although they do exotic flavours, like beet or whatever, if your taste go that way.

How do you personally celebrate Bastille Day?

We don't actually celebrate it. And we don't call it "bastille day", only US people call it that. It's the 14th of July. There are events on that day, a military parade in the morning which half of the people consider a nuisance because it gridlocks the city and the other half appreciates for some obscure reason, and dances in the fire departments at night.

However for most people it's just a day off.

How are Quebecois (French-Canadians) thought of in France?

For the most they are well liked and everybody finds the accent hysterical.

What is the level of crime in Paris?

It's extremely low, bar some pickpocketing in touristy areas. With some basic precautions, it's a fairly safe city.
However some of the neighbouring suburbs can be quite unhealthy.

Is the healthcare system as great as North America has been led to believe?

Apparently, pretty much any healthcare system is great compared to the US one.
I'd say the French one is still quite good although it's currently circling the drain. Some of our politicians want to privatise the whole thing so their friend can profit from it (it has started already). So if a certain short president gets reelected it may not last much longer.
It will already probably take years to undo the damage that has been done, if it's at all possible.

Paris is the first tourist destination of the world. So I encounter tourists all the time, especially in the summer. They don't bother me at all. What bothers me is tourist buses. Those huge things shouldn't be allowed to drive in Paris. And they especially shouldn't be allowed to use the city bus lanes or to park anywhere (well they aren't allowed to but they don't care).

Why do Parisians get a bad rep?

In my opinion, it's because of the food service industry. People here aren't paid by tips but get a salary. So they just do their job and aren't all over you as they tend to be in the US. This may come as a shock to US visitors. And the rythm in Paris can be quite hectic as well.

How are most Americans viewed in popular French culture?

I don't know if there's really such a thing as "most". As gun toting cow-boys maybe ? Same as pretty much everywhere.

What's the best French dish with beef?

It's pretty much the "default" meat, although of course there are many different cuts, without even going into all the other bits of the beef that aren't directly muscle... So there's an astounding number of dishes that use it.

There are a number of interesting old traditional dishes that don't require prime cuts and that are quite good like the Bœuf Bourguignon which is cooked with red Burgundy wine and the Carbonade where it's cooked with beer.

How is history taught in your schools?

Like everywhere else I suppose, in history classes, with history books and probably not very well.

How are Germans visitors viewed?

Like random Europeans.

Whats the nicest non-tourist area to visit in Paris?

I'm not sure there's even such a thing. A non-tourist area, I mean.
The Parc Monceau is probably worth a look and is away from the usual places. It also contains lots of hidden bits of history. The most obvious one being the rotunda at the entrance which is one of the four remaining toll gates from the time when Paris was circled by a wall which made collecting taxes on entering goods easier (it was torn down in 1860 when the city was enlarged). Needless to say it wasn't very popular and there were many tunnels going under it.

There are many beautiful places in Paris. Often you just have to turn around to have a nice point of view.

Or sometimes you have to know the story of the place. And then the place becomes beautiful. :)

I'm rebuilding my apartment as a guest house (well, a guest room really this is Paris after all), and guiding guests around the fun bits of Parisian history ought to be a big part of the interest of this for me. Along with the baking of croissants, for I can cook pastry, let this be known far and wide !

Actually, it doesn't really exist as such (other than that is exists as background noise like everywhere else). It's mostly a political thing because France tends to support Palestine. So any accident where Jews are involved turns into a big deal.

Most incidents happen because there is a portion of the population that is of northern African descent and not very educated (I wouldn't go as far as to say that the situation is ghetto like although in several places it isn't far from the truth, especially with the governments we've had lately). So it's easily swayed with random arguments like Palestine, Israel, derp, Jews, and there you go...

Edit: After thinking about it, I suppose you'll find the same level of anti-semitism as elsewhere. Which is fairly low nowadays. Especially since it used to be quite high at the turn of the century (19th that is) and there was a very public debate about it (you may want to look up J'accuse by Zola if you haven't heard of it)

I would like to know this also..

Favourite place to eat : On a bench in a park or at home (I took professional cooking lessons for a year and I'm taking pastry this year) :)

Fun to do when not eating, like in any other major city, stay home and browse reddit or play video games on the PC.

Or go to any of the hundreds of cinemas, thousands of bars and restaurants, museums... Or in my case just bicycle around with my cameras. I'm never bored in a city.

Do you have some interesting facts that you know about Paris?

Ah, um. Yes. Quite a few I suppose. :) It's one of the smaller capitals. The city limits were frozen in 1860, when it was last extended and grew from 12 to the current 12 20 arrondissements. It's also one of the more densely populated cities in the world which is not a very well known fact.

Edit, fixed arrdt number

Also hows is daily life like in France?

Pretty much like everywhere else I suppose. People get up in the morning, go to work in the People's Factory, come back, watch Socialist TV, sing the national anthem and go to bed.
(warning not all of the above is actually true).

Typically, each town/city (or in the case of Paris, or the larger cities each arrondissement) has at least one public library. They're usually not in their own building though so they're not necessarily very visible.

It seems to me that while many people know enough words of English to have a very basic conversation, they typically won't dare use them because they're afraid they won't be good enough at the language.

So the have a kind of "Japanese" attitude there, just pretend they can't speak and ignore the problem until it goes away. I don't know how common this is but I'm certain it happens frequently.

Regarding that café scene, it might well be that the servers figured that having a loud obnoxious group would scare potential customers away and that having them leave on their own was by far the best solution.

As a rule of thumb, in France as anywhere else, people appreciate it when you make an effort and are polite. So your method must have worked fine. I know it's worked very well for me all over the world.

France is currently one of the European countries that accepts the fewest migrants because they make convenient political scapegoats, despite every economical proof to the contrary.

Historically, there have always been huge migration waves into France (or whatever the territory was called at the time) during all of recorded history, with it being situated at the edge of Europe.

Paris doesn't deal in any special way with it. It's a very cosmopolitan city. There are numerous bits of the city that are traditionally associated with people from this or that origin (the Batignolles, where I live is traditionally a Portuguese area for example) but the higher prices tend to push the old dwellers out.

Do you hate Americans?

No, although we sometimes feel they are as alien as the Japanese can be.

Do you really call cigs "fags"?

No, because we tend to speak French, as it's the local language.

"fags" is a britishy term.