We’ve been in France long enough now that we are just wondering…
Why haven’t we smelled skunks?
Why haven’t we seen any road kill?
The french love pigeons…they eat them, they keep them as pets, they used to use them as messengers…we, on the other hand, we don’t “take to them”.
How is it that they can drive on their auto routes at 80 mph without crashing? and where is the highway patrol? We’ve logged many miles and never seen one.
How did they figure out that roundabouts were a great way to keep traffic moving? They are everywhere…small villages, big cities. Especially in the small centuries- old villages.
When listening to the audio guides at the chateaus, they give you a big run down on all the goings on of the rich and famous. We wonder about the average citizen during this time. Wonder if they have a book like Howard Zinn’s – A Peoples’ History of the United States? A book that explains what life was like for the people that built these huge batiments (buildings), the painters that painted all these rich aristocrats, the weavers that wove all the giant tapestries?
Where are the bathrooms (les toilettes) in these batiments (chateaus)? haven’t seen a one!! (not to be confused with the les toilettes for the tourists, complete with modern plumbing).
Why don’t they use fenetre (window) screens? We have yet to see one anywhere.
And while architecturally beautiful and interesting, why do use the shutters? for the ground floor, security. But all the high rises have them too. And they are used. Perhaps for insulation.
hy are their streets so clean? Their roadways? We rarely see litter here.
It rained here today. We walked to the poste (post office), we bought fresh fish and I managed to spit out, “vous nettoyer the poisson?” (I was trying to ask if he cleaned sardines). He actually understood and did so. After barbecuing them, I decided I’d rather spend my calories on something else.
We couldn’t buy gas in La Ferte. There are two stations here both associated with supermarches (grocery stores). French credit cards have built in “things” (a technical term) that ours don’t have. Because petrol is so expensive, Ray drove to the next town to fill up at the rate of $80. We’re going to take a day trip tomorrow and track how many miles/gal. we are getting. We think it is very good. But at $80 we didn’t want to spend our cash…we needed to charge it.
We are also planning a trip south for the first of next week for a few days. And we planned our three days in Paris today. So we will be prepared next time!!!
Picture above is the main street in our little town.
Mont Saint-Michel, here we come!!!
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