Why did I decide to go to France in the first place? Well, basically I had a friend (let's call him Dave) who is a university professor (although you'd never know it to look at him). He had a short time in the summer off and wanted to go on a vacation. All of his other friends were too poor or too busy to go, so he asked me. I was excited to go to France because I wanted to see all of the old castles and ruins they have there, especially since that area is considered to be conspiracy central, with the Cathars, the Knights Templar, etc. I am a bit of a conspiracy buff. Also, there is a tiny country called Andorra sandwiched between France and Spain and I wanted to go there because I like being able to say that I've gone to strange places that no one has ever heard of before. As for Dave, he is a big wine fan, and he was interested in going to the wine country nearby and tasting various wines. So, France was a place that we could both agree on. We also thought about Turkey and Israel, but we decided on France.
One thing about going to Europe from the US; don't do it during the summer tourist season unless you've got a lot of money. A ticket from DC (where I am) to Paris costs about $250-$300 if you go between February and early May. The same ticket costs over $1000 if you want to go in late June. Unfortunately, as I said above, Dave could only go during this part of the summer, so we were stuck. But I would recommend going in the Spring if you can wangle it, it is a lot cheaper, at least airfare-wise.
France is not a third-world country, and you can expect that they will have everything you could possibly want to buy. It is a good travel tip to try to underpack as opposed to overpack. Things like sunscreen and such can be purchased easily once you get there, if you need them, so don't feel that you have to pack for every possible contingency.
That being said, keep in mind that French merchants aren't as hungry for your money as they are in the US. In France, it is more important to enjoy life, and so the stores aren't open as many hours. Most stores close at like 6, and it is rare to find any place open on the weekends or even on Mondays! That doesn't include restaurants of course (which seem to be open all hours), but it does include pharmacies! Don't get a headache on Friday night, because you won't be able to purchase an aspirin until Tuesday morning (at least that is what I found). One interesting side comment I have to make about that; in Europe, pharmacies all have a green, neon cross outside of their shop to alert people that it is a pharmacy. They can be very ornate in some places. But, no pharmacy seemed to be open after sundown, so I thought that it was weird that they all had these conspicuous, lighted signs attracting people to their closed stores!
I would certainly recommend that you get a tour book. I bought the 'Let's Go!" guide, and Dave bought the 'Lonely Planet' guide. Both were quite helpful and had maps and other info that we needed. However, don't be fooled into thinking that they are comprehensive! In some cases (Carcasonne in particular) they guides only listed a few hotels, and there were hotels all over the place. Shop around a little when you get to a new place, there is often more than what's listed in the tour book.
You always hear about how Europeans are better dressed than Americans. People say that you can't wear sneakers, or jeans, or T-shirts, or baseball caps in France without people looking at you funny. And at one time that might have been true, but not anymore. As I was walking around I noticed that the people in southern France were dressed pretty casually. There were less jeans and shorts and sneakers, but they were present. I told Dave not to embarrass me by bringing a lot of 'American' clothes, and once we got there he berated me about not having his jeans and sneakers. Oh well.
Summers in southern France are pretty warm, but it wasn't too hot while we were there, so khakis and T-shirts are probably good. I would suggest that you get a pair of hiking boots if you intend to see some of the castles and ruins in the area, they aren't all that accessible.
We decided to rent a car. Again, I've heard horror stories about how crazy the drivers are in Europe, and from what I saw in Paris in 1997, I believed them. But Dave liked to drive and so I figured I would leave it all up to him and just keep my eyes closed.
Driving was way more pleasant than either of us had imagined. Contrary to rumor, the drivers were pretty normal, and there wasn't a lot of traffic. There were a few exceptions (Bordeaux, Andorra-la-Vella), but in general it was pretty easy to get around. And cheap too. We rented a car for about a week and it only costs us like $125! That is cheaper than it would've been to take the Eurorail around. And it really proved useful, especially if you are going to look at castles, which are really located in the middle of nowhere. We enjoyed the freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted. I would certainly recommend driving.
One thing though, most cars are manual transmission, so if you are going to rent a car, learn to drive a manual transmission.
There are a few differences between driving in the US and driving in France. The main difference is that the inter-town roads (I won't call them highways) don't bypass the towns, they go right through them. So you're driving along and bang! you're in the middle of town. Then bang! you're back on the highway. Personally, I thought that it was a great, but that's because I was touring. If I was trying to get around efficiently, it would've been a pain. There are "Autoroutes", which are like American highways, so if you are in a hurry you can use those, but most of them are toll roads. The rest of the roads are almost all one-lane roads. So if you are going to drive, you better brush up on your passing techniques, a lot of passing goes on in France.
Another thing is that, especially in the small towns, there are no traffic lights, they use traffic circles. It can be quite disconcerting to be travelling down a 'highway' and then finding oneself in a traffic circle. But they do make things go pretty smoothly, as long as people respect the right of way.
As for getting around in bigger towns, it can be very confusing, even with a map. In France, they don't put up street signs where you can see them, they tack them to the sides of buildings and hide them in small print. So, you rarely know what street you are driving on. In addition, all traffic directing signs just point the way to various places, they never tell you where you are. In a lot of cases, if there are two possible ways to get somewhere, the signs will point in both directions, which leaves you guessing as to which way is the better way to go. It isn't so hard to get out of cities, but finding a specific address can be a pain, even with a map.
Click here to see some pictures from on the road.
There are lots and lots and lots of restaurants all over France, and they are usually pretty good. I think that the French eat out more often than we do in the US. There are a few differences though that you should keep in mind. One seemingly strange one is that what we call 'appetizers' they call 'entrees', and what we call 'entrees' they call 'plats'.
In France, they never bring you the check until you ask for it. If you just sit there, they will just wait for you, even if you've been sitting their for hours. No one is in a hurry. Remember to ask.
In southern France, they don't have American style coffee (except at McDonalds), they serve espresso (called 'cafe' in France and 'expresso' in Andorra). It is usually served at the end of a meal. I you want coffee or tea with your meal, or before, they will get very, very confused. This was a bit of a problem for Dave, since he needs his caffeine in the morning.
There is no such thing as a 'quick' meal in France. Expect to be there for a while. Even if you are just getting a small snack. Eating is a whole big deal there and you are expected to get multiple courses and sit back and relax. In fact, typically you just order the 'menu', which includes an appetizer, a main course and dessert. There is no eating on the run. And you can't get anything to go. Again this proved problematic for us since Dave needs his caffeine.
One stupid little difference between the US and Europe, is fingers. In the US when you want to signal 'One' you hold up your forefinger. In France, you hold up your thumb, kind of like you are signalling 'OK'. We ran into problems like this on several occasions...
Dave: "Je commande une cafe"
Me: "Moi Aussi. Une cafe."
Waiter (holding up a thumb): "Une cafe" Holds up a thumb.
Me( thinking that he is signally 'ok' for two coffees): "Oui"
Then he goes off and pours a single coffee for Dave, but not for me.
Of course, that problem was exacerbated by my poor French speaking and listening abilities.
One more thing about French restaurants, the tips are included. So is the tax. If the menu says that a dish costs 30F, then it cost 30F.
You also hear that the portions of food are very small in Europe. I didn't find that to be true at all. We were always stuffed after a meal. I took some pictures of various, strange dishes that we had:
Click Here to see some pictures of food.
Every time we got to a new place, Dave immediately made a beeline for the Tourist Office. I was skeptical at first, but they proved to be a great resource. The people there speak good English (and Spanish and Catalan) and they had a lot of information. They were generally easy to find (except the one in Bordeaux) and were well worth a visit. They have organized tours, hotel recommendations, and they have plenty of brochures.
Luckily, I speak some French (one of the reasons I chose to go to France). Enough to read most things, but not enough to really have long, drawn-out conversations. Part of my problem is that I'm slow and it takes me few seconds to process what someone says to me, and then process a response. Dave is an impatient guy and often jumped in, speaking English, figuring that if he did it slowly and loudly enough, people would understand him. Of course, that immediately identified us as Americans and the conversation would quickly degrade to bad English.
Most people that we met in France speak some English, at least enough to take your money. We didn't have a problem at any of the restaurants or stores, etc. Of course in Andorra they speak Catalan, not French, but I'll get to that part of the story later.
It does help tremendously though if you do know some French. Especially the names of various foods. Reading a menu can be quite difficult without some knowledge. I would also recommend knowing numbers and some basic phrases. Of course, the more you know, the easier things will be. I studied up on French before I left, and I wished that I knew more. You should also bring a French-English dictionary of some sort. I have an electronic one called "Hexaglot" (which implies a six-language capability yet it only has four), and it was totally useless. It never had a single word I needed. It was sort of a running joke after a while. I recommend not using that brand.
OK, that's about all I have to say about the basics, let's move on to the first part of the trip, Chris Goes to Toulouse.
If you are thinking of going to Peru instead of France, see my Peru Page
If for some reason you think that I'm a great writer, and you like scary, conspiracy-laden, psychological thrillers, you can read my novel, City of Pillars, published by The Invisible College Press. It has nothing to do with France though. PS: I use my middle name as my nom de plume, but it's still me.
I don't really have a lot more information than what's written in here, but if you want to contact me about something, mail me at:superluminal23@yahoo.com.