- 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
- 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