French Vacation in Mid-America

Old May 28th, 2016, 05:43 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
French Vacation in Mid-America

Things went so awry on our last trip to France that it was a financial disaster which I am still trying to pay off. This week because of the financial disaster that was last September, I am staying home for vacation. But I miss her, I miss her like a addict misses her next fix. I think about her, dream about her, read about her and think about her some more. I won’t get to see her for at least another year, If I am VERY good.
So considering that Paris is not in my immediate future, the question is how can I console myself?
It is possible that I can have a French vacation here in good old mid-America? What can I do to shape my days so that there is a little hint of something French? Any suggestions?
rosiecaro is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 06:04 AM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 19,358
Received 79 Likes on 8 Posts
Not mid-America but eastern Canada might be worth considering. Fly into Montreal, visit Quebec City, then make your way down the St. Lawrence to the Gaspe Peninsula, around and back.
Gardyloo is online now  
Old May 28th, 2016, 06:38 AM
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 12,126
Received 26 Likes on 4 Posts
My advice is to continue to miss France, not look for an even France-ish experience, the better to keep yourself on track for the real thing as soon as possible. In the meantime, either forego a vacation entirely, or do something as un-French as possible, as cheap as possible, the rewards being a distraction from things French, rather than an unsatisfying not-France. You may even find it's possible to enjoy something else. I suggest colonial Mexico for myriad reasons, having done a similar detour myself recently and loved it.
MmePerdu is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 08:17 AM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 229
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I wish I had a suggestion for you, but I agree with MmePerdu. In between my France "fixes", I try to go somewhere that has some American history because I like history. Places like Charleston, Williamsburg Va, come to mind. Of course, they are not in mid America, but I can drive there.

I do understand how you can be addicted to France! So am I.
powhatangal is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 08:28 AM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 11,971
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I used to love Italy the way you love France, but IMHO, no point waiting until you can go to enjoy or experience something fun.
I like mini-mini vacations, a picnic with good bread, cheese, fruit and bottle of wine.
Visit a vineyard.
Pretend you are visiting your home town and go sightseeing as if you had never been there before.
Find a nice sidewalk cafe. Invite a friend to spend a leisurely afternoon.
Invite other friends who love France over for a French themed party.
Make crepes.
If you do not already speak French well, take a French language class.
Visit some city with a distinct vibe: New Orleans, Charles, Savanah.
Sassafrass is online now  
Old May 28th, 2016, 08:44 AM
  #6  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 23,763
Likes: 0
Received 6 Likes on 1 Post
All of the street signs are in French in Lafayette, Louisiana.
kerouac is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 08:56 AM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 34,831
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I don't know, but the fact is that Canada is not France and not a substitute. So if you want to be around French-speaking people, obviously, that would be a place to go, but it doesn't really seem like France to me. Especially Montreal. But I suppose if that's what you want, it's closest.

Besides, the OP wants something in the middle of the US, I presume to save money as going on a vacation long distance isn't going to help someone save money. If you just wanted something cheaper than Europe (the air fare is really the only difference between that and vacationing in the US, you can spend the same on other stuff, if you want -- hotels and food), you could go to a French island like Guadeloupe or Martinique. Because they are part of France, and they speak French there and have a lot of the same products in the stores. When I was in Guadeloupe on vacation, probably 90 pct of the people at the inn I was staying at were French. Norwegian Air is offering some real cheap RT airfares to Guadeloupe and Martinique right now, and they fly nonstop from some cities. I could get a RT for about $300 at Thanksgiving and am seriously considering it.


If it's what can you do at home -- I agree with Sassafrass, take a French class. There are events at Alliance Francaise, become a member (at least my chapter there is) if you are not. They have French meetups, and there are lots of French classes even for those who are fluent (such as literature, etc.).
https://www.afindianapolis.org/?even...v=7516fd43adaa

I find that for a lot of people, the idea about how you miss Paris, etc. is like a style--it makes you sound like you are sophisticated or cool, but a lot of people who talk about how they miss France, they wish they could move to Paris, etc., never bother to learn hardly a word of French. It's just an affectation.
Christina is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 09:01 AM
  #8  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 12,820
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I used to read trip reports by a French doctor whose name escapes me. He and his family visited U.S. parks--Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, Zion, etc.

I don't think there's as much of that type of spectacular scenery in France.
Pegontheroad is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 09:19 AM
  #9  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 12,820
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I just remembered that the name of the French doctor is monpetit. He gives a pretty thorough report, including restaurants. I'm always kind of pleased that he and his family enjoy the food.

His last report was in 2015.
Pegontheroad is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 10:40 AM
  #10  
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,484
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Listen to podcasts in French, like One thing in a French day. Bake croissants and fruit tarts. Drink kir before dinner. Watch French soccer games on tv. Read French newspapers online. Check Fodors France every day and start making notes for your next trip.
Coquelicot is online now  
Old May 28th, 2016, 10:49 AM
  #11  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 12,126
Received 26 Likes on 4 Posts
Join HospitalyClub.org and go to Paris now, stay with someone, free. I've met some of the nicest people that way, even when I could just as well have paid for a hotel.
MmePerdu is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 11:44 AM
  #12  
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
"I find that for a lot of people, the idea about how you miss Paris, etc. is like a style--it makes you sound like you are sophisticated or cool, but a lot of people who talk about how they miss France, they wish they could move to Paris, etc., never bother to learn hardly a word of French. It's just an affectation."


Wow, that is pretty judgmental.
IMLonesomeDove is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 12:52 PM
  #13  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 229
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Lots of good ideas posted. How about buying some French movies from Amazon or checking them out from your local library. I take a French class with 4 others from a HS French teacher. Maybe there's something like this where you live if there's no Alliance Francaise.

BTW, I don't talk about how I miss France. For me, it's an internal thing. I also don't want to move to France and I speak French.
powhatangal is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 12:54 PM
  #14  
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 49,560
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The few months before we moved to France, as we were packing and imagining what we were going to want to take with us, we in rather adolescent fashion if I do say so, started trying to "live French at home," not that it was ever going to be anything like our life in France because we were living in a 20-square-meter studio in the heart of the city and moving to a big place in the country, but we played French music, listened to France 24 on the TV, bought and cooked only French food, spent evenings with French-speaking friends, had picnics in DC gardens, read French newspapers, and spoke French to each other almost exclusively. Yes, it was a game, yes it was not much similar at all to actually living here, which we love beyond measure, but I suppose it was an indication that with some imagination you can sort of recreate the experience.

I should add that we also had our moments of "fond farewells" to things like Five Guys and corned beef hash for breakfast.
StCirq is offline  
Old May 28th, 2016, 03:47 PM
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 2,585
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Quebec city is the best of 2 worlds.
Easyness of contact, yet deep relationship. And whatever it can be said, Quebec is frenchspeaking, but culturally mixing US and European culture.
Whathello is offline  
Old May 29th, 2016, 12:05 AM
  #16  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 1,817
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What about a long weekend in Louisiana?
Lafayette is where I'd go - tons of festivals, great food and music, "ici on parle francais" - and skip the tourist trap that New Orleans has become.
fuzzbucket is offline  
Old May 29th, 2016, 01:49 AM
  #17  
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,169
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You could vacation like the French -- go to the nearest lake with a sandy beach, put up a tent the size of a room with a table and a couple of chairs, put on a tiny bathing suit (it doesn't matter if you are tiny) and crisp your skin in the sun all day.

If the campground has wifi, you can listen to or watch French music, movies, and television all day long. You will have to pay, though.

For meals, go to farmers' markets every day and eat lots of fresh local vegetables, salads, charcuterie, bread, butter, cheese and wine.

Try to find some place where you will be stuck in traffic for a long time both going and coming, maybe the second weekend in August to Labor Day.

Having an affair with the guy on the next tent is optional, but the rest of this is totally doable, even if some of it is slightly tongue in cheek.
Ackislander is offline  
Old May 29th, 2016, 04:12 AM
  #18  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Sassafras, Coquelicot & Christina, yes you got it. I am not going anywhere, just want to incorporate "some France" into my life every day that I am off. I already speak some french, but I don't know of anyone to speak it with. We had a French restaurant here for one glorious year, but it went out of business. I am going to start croissants this morning, but was foiled in that yesterday (one has to have a 8 hour commitment to them). I do have a lovely little sheep of Brie that is singing my name. I have already watched every French movie I can find on netflix, read every French themed book I can find at the library and have some great French music on my phone . But you guys gave me some ideas I had not thought of.
Christina, you found a option for me in my own hometown!, or rather I live in a suburb, but still. Thank you!
Ackislander So on a staycation, that would be my neighbors I'd have to have an affair with, and one is young enough to be my son and I'm strangely related to him by marriage, and the other guys, NEVER speaks ( most likely shy, because he's nice when he musters up the courage, but he's sort of a chubby old farmer in living in suburbia and that does not sound at all French or Sexy to me. But I got a good chuckle at the thought!
rosiecaro is offline  
Old May 29th, 2016, 07:54 AM
  #19  
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 2,699
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
New Orleans for a vacation?

What I do when I'm missing Spain ? Watch a foreign flick on Netflix. Download an language app and practice your French. Make a French dish for dinner and pair it with a French wine. I've learned how to make Tortilla de Patatas and Gambas de Ajo this way. And if nothing else, make time to read some trip reports on Fodors or Tripadvisors.

Then go out and discover your own hometown. There must be a city nearby that has attractions or history of its own.
emily71 is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Mary2206
Europe
52
Jul 12th, 2012 08:00 AM
capo
Europe
36
Jun 6th, 2012 09:04 PM
mariacallas2
Europe
42
May 10th, 2011 08:06 AM
cigalechanta
Europe
62
Oct 7th, 2009 01:00 PM
Bellbird
Europe
59
Jun 11th, 2004 08:07 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -