January and February, 1999 by Joan

FRIENDLINESS : Contrary to everything you may have read or heard, the French are actually quite friendly. They sing out their greetings and goodbyes whenever you walk in their stores. In fact, the longer you stand there zipping up your jacket, putting away your change etc., the more they sing out things like, Thank You, Have a Good Day, etc. etc. Maybe they're afraid to let a moment of silence pass while you're in the store.

I don't know how the French got such a bad reputation for being unfriendly. Maybe they used to be. Or maybe the ones who travel come across that way. But many of the ones we met here are quite nice.

ANTI-AMERICAN? The French are not anti-American. Lots of them are actually big fans. We met a lot of people who still fondly recalled trips to the U.S. as long as 20 years ago! Many went more than once. They have great memories of the Grand Canyon and New York. We met one innkeeper who was planning a big trip for the Millennium New Year's Eve, to the U.S., with about a dozen friends. She was thrilled to be going. For better or worse, we've also seen a lot of American icons held up with reverence: Levis, Los Angeles-style surfing shops (on the Southwest coast), and yes, some French even admit they like McDonald's. And ironically, when we visited the Picasso museum in Paris, the big exhibit was a bunch of visiting Picasso works from the New York Museum of Modern Art.

BICYCLES: Thanks to WWII and its gas shortages, bikes got a second life here. We read in the French Resistance Museum in Bordeaux that after the war, there were three million people in Paris, and two million bikes.

A lot of older folks use bikes to run errands. A white-haired guy wearing regular pants and a jacket will pull up to the Monoprix grocery store on an old bike with leather (briefcase-like) panniers mounted on the back racks. Older women too. The young folks mostly use bikes to race; they whiz by wearing all lycra.

One surprise: you'd think a nation of bike lovers would be riding only the best bikes. But a lot of the bikes we see parked on the street, or in store windows, are cheap imports from Asia.

A lot of the mail is delivered on bicycles that have huge front racks.

BIKE LANES: They actually connect cities here, instead of going nowhere! Look for signs marked "Piste Cyclable" or "Liaison Cyclable." We saw a lot near the Southwest coast that cut through forests and by beaches. They were very narrow but they had hardly any pedestrian traffic (We rode in winter. Maybe it's different in summer?)

CONDOMS: France is a very Catholic country and a lot of people here have large families (i.e. three kids or more). In the countryside, it's not unusual to see crucifixes posted in public squares, or on the sides of small country roads. But once you get in town, there are condom machines all over the place--just stuck on the outsides of buildings, like outside a pharmacy, or outside o bookstore. And I'm not talking about sleazy, red-light districts. These machines are in the middle of nice shopping districts.

DRIVERS: Awful. The French have lead feet, which can really whip their tiny cars around. They love to speed. We even saw a road warning sign that said, "Levez le Pied," or "Lift the Foot." The good news for bicyclists is that the French like cycling, so they'll usually give you a lot of room. But pedestrians have no such protection. I'm writing this in Feb. 1999. At the moment, France is considering a very controversial law that would make it a criminal offense to speed.

Perhaps because the French are such bad drivers (or despite it?), there are several driving schools in every city we've visited.

DOGS: The French love dogs. They bring them in restaurants, grocery stores, bookstores, Internet cafes, you name it. Most of them are well behaved, but some just run around wild. In Bayonne, we saw two dogs run into a bakery, and the owner didn't seem to mind. Unfortunately, despite the large number of dog stores (selling haircuts and toys, etc.), there don't seem to be enough pooper-scoopers. We spend a lot of time dancing around large piles of slushy, steamy, dog-do on the streets. On the beach at Arcachon, we saw some sandpits made just for dog-do. On the beach at St. Jean de Luz, we saw signs advising people to make dogs "respect" the promenade.

CREDIT CARDS: A lot of people who visited France a decade ago told us that back then, cash was the only currency in France. Even traveller's checks were suspect, and credit cards were worthless. Well thankfully, that has changed. Lots of stores (though not as many as in the U.S.) take Visa and Mastercard and some take Amex. Unfortunately, though, there are two credit card standards. Being from the U.S., we have credit cards with magnetic stripes. Well, the French have cards with a chip inside. And a lot of their credit card machines only read credit cards with chips inside, not credit cards with magnetic strips. So about 30 percent of the time, when you get to a store that accepts credit cards, they won't be able to read yours. Also, I think sometimes the owners feign a problem because they prefer cash. Be prepared.

SIESTA: Guess what? The siesta is not just Latin-American. It's alive and well in France (and China; check out our chapter on China First Impressions). Most stores close for two or two-and-a-half! hours in the middle of the day, starting anywhere from 11:30 to 12:30. Others don't take a siesta, but they also don't open until 11 a.m. Then there's the 8 a 8 (eight o'clock to eight o'clock grocery store chain), which often closes for three hours in the middle of the day, and closes at... as in St. Jeanne de Luz, 7:30 p.m.! What a pain. If you want to eat lunch, get into a restaurant by 1:30. Most restaurants close from 2 p.m. until dinner. Dinner is from 7:30 to around 10:30.

FOOD and FOOD PRICES: The food is generally excellent, but often expensive. We consider ourselves lucky if we can get a good dinner for 80FF, or about US$15 each. Ditto for lunch. Coffee will kill your budget. A grand creme (like a Starbucks cafe latte, but half the size) will set you back $2 to $4!!! If you're a Coca-Cola fan, bring lots of money, or kick the habit. One can costs $1.50 to $2. Bakeries abound, and they cost, too. But they're worth it. A small, but excellent chocolate eclair goes for about $1.50; a beignet (large sugared donut) for $1.75. If you're looking to really fill up fairly cheap, try flan, which comes in huge, heavy pieces for about $1.

You can save a lot of money if you buy groceries. Sample costs in U.S. dollars: less than $1 for a huge hunk of fresh bread (in a boulangerie); 50 cents for a baguette; $1 for four small single-serving cups of Dannon yogurt; $4 for four large slices of smoked salmon (vacuum packed, for sale in big grocery stores like Monoprix, which is sort of like Safeway or Giant); a little less than $2 for 1.5 liters of not-bad, red table wine. A fairly decent bottle of red costs only $5 or so. After that my tastebuds can't tell the difference.

HOTELS: Generally excellent, though it's far more common to get a shower in your room than to get a toilet (many hotels charge more for rooms with toilets; if you go without, you can use the one in the hall for free). We almost always found hotels for less than 200FF (US$35) with shower, toilet, TV and phone; and sometimes as low as 100FF. Most places don't change the sheets every day during your stay (though we think they do between customers). You can save a lot of money by skipping the hotel breakfast (usually US$5 a person for a croissant, jam, coffee and juice). You're better off buying your own groceries and eating in your room. In winter, you can keep everything cold the way we do--stick it out on the balcony or hang it outside your window.

ENGLISH and FRENCH. If you speak bad French try it, because a lot of people here are very patient, and willing to work with you. But many of them speak English, too, and are eager for a chance to practice.

PHOTO DEVELOPING: If at all possible, do it back home! The prices we've seen here (49FF, or about US$7 for developing and printing one roll of 24 color pictures in one day, or about US$15 to US$25 for doing the same thing in one hour) are the highest prices we have seen ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD (so far, we haven't been to the rest of Europe yet). Even the U.S. is cheaper.

TV: A great way to practice your French. Unfortunately, most of the programming is American. We've seen: Married with Children; Friends; The Simpsons; and The Continuing Adventures of Clark Kent and Lois Lane. And we saw movies on TV including Groundhog Day; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; and Crimson Tide. Most of the French shows are documentaries (not bad!) or really dumb-looking game shows.

Next: France Chapter 1 -- Paris and Le Montel

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