Sundry Observations on life in France

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As we’re nearing the end of our time we are all starting to look forward to home. What I’m most looking forward to is:
• Seeing friends and family and being part of the everyday happenings of life.
• My own bed, bathroom, kitchen (with all the bits and pieces I need and use and know where to find), and wardrobe (I’m over living out of a suitcase).
• Carpet – we haven’t stayed in a single house or hotel that had carpet. I’m looking forward to the end of the creaks, noise, and cold hardness, and being able to comfortably walk bare feet around the house. The girls have even invested in a pair of slippers each here.
• Some alone time – even just 10 minutes driving in the car alone. We have all been together 24/7 which has been great, but I’m ready for a bit of balance. I really noticed and appreciated it when I travelled up to London on my own.
• Internet access. Having not had it on tap for the last two months I’m looking forward to some mindless surfing.
• Being understood when I speak. It’s not just my French that can’t be understood here, but also my English (amongst English speaking people), because of my accent. They have never heard anything like it and really struggle with it, so I have to concentrate on picking and choosing simple words and make sentences short.
• Tap water with no floatys in. The water tastes okay but there is a huge amount of calcite in the water. You can normally see it, especially after it has built up in the jug, and comes out in lumps in your drink.
• Pilates.
• Riding my bike along the walkway.

With the above extensive list it may sound like I can’t wait to leave, but I am really going to miss:
• The cheese, the wine and the bread. The selections are so extensive and they are all so yummy. It is all readily available – even in the smallest villages it’s normally only a five minute walk to the baker for that day’s fresh bread. The markets (and supermarkets) cheese selections are five time what ours are. We didn’t taste a bad wine (including quite a few house wines), or bad bread until we hit Brittany – but I guess they are more famous for cider than wine. I like how the quality of the bread, wine, and cheese really adds to the meal, and can even be enjoyed just on their own.
• Relaxed unhurried meal times. This is the only way to really appreciate the food. Also the conversations that go along with it.
• Quality simple food. The French food isn’t overly fancy or complicated, just fresh, good quality and tasty.
• The warmth and the sun (non-burning) and the long evenings. It doesn’t get dark till 10.30 – 11pm so the days are enjoyably long.
• Not waking to an alarm every day.


The driving has been interesting. Obviously driving on the opposite side of the road took a bit of getting used to – along with opposite side indicators and window wipers. We are impressed how courteous French drivers are. They don’t even seem to get impatient when the car in front stops to let someone out, and they take a few minutes getting their stuff out of the boot and saying their goodbyes to each other. But I guess they make up their time on the narrow country roads – speeding along the middle of the (unmarked) road with no thought to what might be coming the other way. It amuses me how the roads through some small villages are so windy and narrow its like a private driveway, but no it’s a main numbered road. They do love their roundabouts here, which are handy when we’re not sure which way to go – we just keep going around until we’re decided.

Navigating has been a bit stressful at times. We ditched using the navman after it sent us along little lanes and took us almost two hours to get from Carcassonne to St Genies (when it should have taken one hour). The problem was there had been a detour, and we’d never made it back to the original road, before it recalculated and sent us along a ‘quicker more direct’ route. After that I navigated myself just using google maps, although got caught up a few times with the multitude of one way streets in some towns.

Train travel has been a lot more relaxing than driving and quite enjoyable. There’s been a big range in quality of the trains, with most of them quite nice, even in second class. The toilets are not usually the best, but when you have to go, you have to go. You always have to pay at the train stations to go, and they’re usually the most disgusting ones. The trains are very accommodating for cyclists, with special carriages for bikes, and pets seem to be welcome to, with lots of dogs, and a few cats on board. In future I would not bother with the eurail pass though. It is so much hassle, and I don’t think it would have worked out much cheaper. We had to make bookings and reservations at a station for every leg (as opposed to being able to buy tickets online).

Unfortunately we haven’t progressed like we’d hoped on the language front. We really haven’t got past saying a few basic words. We are definitely much more familiar with the written menu now though, and can make sense of most signs and notices. We’re guilty of not trying hard enough, and 95% of the time they jump in with their excellent English. I’m planning on studying up on the listening and speaking of French in preparation for our next visit, as I’d like to be able to progress more. I’ve even bought the book and CD. It was nice listening to all the French spoken when we were at Adeles. I’m amazed at how often they say voila, which we have no equivalent in English for. It’s used in such instances as pushing the button in the lift, agreeing with someone in conversation, and putting anything in front of someone – like countless times during the course of a restaurant meal. I’m also surprised to hear ooh la la now and then. I didn’t think anyone actually used that. They also always answer the phone ‘allo, and they use OK a lot as well as their own d’accor.

We’ve talked about coming back at some time in the future, and we most like the Languedoc region and Dordogne to return to. The Languedoc, for the abundance of vineyards, warm weather (when the mistral wind isn’t blowing), and towns and villages that feel real and untouched by tourists (only English immigrants). The Dordogne was beautiful in a more classic French forest, countryside way, but consequently it had a large number of tourists. The food in this area was the best, and the villages were all very picturesque.

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