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francenew : la
belle époque
on first arriving in France - driving Marianne - a French national symbol, with French definitive stamps the calendar of the French Revolution the 6th
bridge at Rouen: Pont Gustave Flaubert, the French umbrella & Aurillac the forest
as seen by francois mauriac, and today the Citroën 2CV: Marianne - a French national symbol, with French definitive stamps the calendar of the French Revolution mardi gras! carnival in Basque country what a hair cut! m & french pop/rock country life in France: the poultry fair |
My intention is to tell you about the France the tourist does not see; not the France of the tourist guides, nor the France of the “ain’t they quaint” pop writer. My intention is to show you the quiet France, the miniature France, the practical France. I will be telling you about ‘my’ France; and most definitely about my responses, and the responses of some close associates, to France. I am neither a Francophile nor a Francophobe; just a monk observing what takes my eye, what I think matters to understanding the place, sometimes better than the French, and often at more psychological distance. Countries accumulate myths, and my experiences widely tend not to accord with the myths. For example, I hate Paris with a passion, as a dirty, ugly and unhelpful place. I don’t much like cities and large towns anyways, but Paris still ranks for me amongst the very worst along with Edinburgh. Paris, for me, is a town with a few good museums but a place inhabited by zombies, lacking style, ill-designed, cold runways blowing with litter, paved with dog droppings. (Apparently, this last is changing as fines are being enforced.) Again, I dislike French cooking as among the worst around, as do many others with international experience. But, the raw materials for cooking are much better than can be easily obtained easily in England. The problem is the French insistence on covering most everything with a superabundance of fat – in my experience, only the Greeks are worse. No, if you want cooking, you are far better off in Italy. Why do I tell you such negatives early on? It is to give you some grasp of my biases, so that you may allow for that while using this sub-site of the abelard experience. I prefer being in France because I am warmer and, above all, the French are far less intrusive than the British. There are downsides, but the lack of intrusion is the principle advantage for me. |
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| email abelard@abelard.org © abelard, 2004, 04 april the address for this document is http://www.abelard.org/france/intro-picnic.asp |
