Category: Life in France

Life in France

No cell phones, ever!

Do you remember the 1981 movie, “Mommie Dearest”, that depicted Joan Crawford’s distaste for how her daughter was storing her clothes in the closet? The quote was, “No wire hangers, ever!” and a town about an hour south of Paris has adopted a similar rule for cell phones. Known in France as a “téléphone mobile (or) portable” because of their portable nature, the government estimates that 95% of the population has at least one. In theory however, despite that overwhelming number, there’s one community where you won’t find them in public.

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Life in France

Bilingual

There’s a “Good News” website that daily provides a few stories that emphasize something positive that might have been missed by the mainstream news sources. In the past we’ve referenced a few of their articles here on the blog with discussions about the environment, healthcare, and public transportation. A headline that I saw began with, “America Has a Higher Percentage of Bilingual Citizens Than the French…” so I certainly wanted to find out more about that.

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Life in France, Travel in France & beyond

Sleep tourism

When I saw the words “sleep tourism” (le tourisme du sommeil) in our newspaper, I thought that they were talking about “slow travel”. That’s something that Bill and I have embraced since moving to France, now that we no longer need to fly over here from the US, dash around seeing everything we can in 2 weeks, and then immediately fly back. Taking the train over long distances gives us a chance to enjoy the journey, the scenery, the food and wine, the legroom, and arrive downtown within walking distance of our hotel. In fact, since “sleep” was in the title I figured they were talking about overnight trains that are making a real comeback in Europe, giving you a comfortable bed allowing you to wake up in your destination city. We have already covered that topic and the book you see here in this paragraph in previous blog posts. But this new style of travel was something totally different.

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Life in France

Eat less, gain more

Two of our neighbors are vegetarian, or rather were vegetarian. Last Saturday, just before we left for the weekly open-air market they told us not to buy any eggs because they had several for us, along with cheese and milk. We should have guessed why they were giving us these items produced by or from animals and sure enough, when we got home we found out that they are now vegan. The four of us had already enjoyed a vegetarian dinner together but next week we’re having game night at our house so our snacks can’t include dairy, eggs, or even honey since insects are animals and we’re avoiding that connection. Interestingly I had just read a study suggesting that by reducing meat consumption, France could reach its environmental targets.

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Life in France

Here’s a tip

It’s often around this time of year that most of us think about giving to others. The city of Carcassonne organizes a “Gift for All” program that encourages residents to fill a shoebox with presents that shut-ins, homeless people, and even their dogs might appreciate. For the people who help us during the year, Bill likes to take the time to design gift cards, craft the appropriate message, and then print them so that we can include a cash token of appreciation inside. Refreshingly, the recipients, who might include our postal carrier, the recycle and trash collectors, and our favorite vendors at the Saturday fruit and vegetable marché, are always taken by surprise by this small gesture of thanks. I compared our experience with what others do around Christmas and even with tipping in general the rest of the year.

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Life in France

Sintra in 1 day

Last week we talked about our most recent visit to Lisbon and today it’s about an inevitable side trip. When we’re researching a possible destination, I always start my Internet search with something like, “Top 10 (insert name of city to visit)” that typically gives us a great list of must-see monuments, museums, and sites to explore in that city. Very often, however, the recommendations will extend beyond the city limits to include tourist spots you can see on a day trip. For the Portuguese capital, everyone included the monastery and tower in Belém, yellow Tram 28, districts like Alfama and Barrio Alto, Ribeira market, and tiled walls. But where is this hilltop fairy tale castle with bright yellow and red towers and crenellations that also appears on so many of the Top 10s and can we walk there? Yes, in about 6 hours, but we thought that taking a tour to Sintra would be a better idea.

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Life in France, Travel in France & beyond

Walking in Lisbon

When we first visited the capital of Portugal a few years ago, we were staying about a 40-minute walk from the waterfront, so we made extensive use of the city’s public transit system. Going downhill was easy enough; however, for getting back up to the equivalent height of a 16-story building, the Metro (subway) was a welcome relief. This time our apartment was closer to the sea so we were able to see much more on foot, with plenty of time to stop along the way to admire the views, the shop windows, and even stop for a coffee or a beer. Thanks to a Rick Steves guidebook we had our own do-it-yourself walking tour of the neighborhoods, complete with maps.

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