stocktakingtravel

42 things I love about France

  • le Tour de France
  • vast open tracts of countryside
  • empty motorways
  • fast trains
  • Renault cars
  • Paris
  • croissants
  • lots of public art
  • imaginative and bold public architecture
  • warmer than England
  • good food, made from the best ingredients, with plenty of time spent on its creation and its eating
  • warm fresh baguettes
  • Roquefort cheese
  • Asterix
  • friendly people (as long as you make some attempt to speak French)
  • well-developed sense of style
  • people who are more hedonist than puritan
  • respect for scientists, engineers and intellectual pursuits
  • emphasis on liberty, equality and brotherhood rather than individual rights
  • no royal family
  • excellent free health service

Les Halles

  • willingness to invest in welfare, education and infrastructure
  • lack of hangups about nudity and sexuality
  • Lunéville
  • Champagne
  • Annecy
  • la Camargue
  • café culture
  • Limoux
  • St. Malo
  • Mammouth hypermarkets
  • le Mont St. Michel
  • chèvre cheese
  • Chateauneuf du Pape premier cru
  • Calvados
  • Kronenbourg
  • Danao
  • Danette Chocolat Noir Extra
  • moules-frîtes
  • galettes de sarasin
  • glace mystère
  • crêpe flambé au grand marnier avec chantilly