We're just back from France and...
 

Strangely enough, everybody in the supermarket this morning was speaking English. It was distracting. I could understand every word. What happened to the gentle background noise of sweet French voices?

Oh, we're home.

We came out of the grocery store and didn't recognize our own car. We were expecting to see a little Renault Clio. There wasn't any car that small in the whole parking lot.

The motel room near Dulles had two beds, huge ones. It seems so un-French.

Apparently, at my age, I don't know how to flush a toilet. The buttons on top seem to be missing. And there's no choice of single or double flush (not that that ever works).

Driving home, every small town we passed through had multiple steeples. Most villages in France just have the one.

What’s this on my plate? Tofu and brown rice. Oh, we’re home.

On the bright side–oh wow, 5G!

And a shower with adequate water pressure!!

Stu Dudley

Lol. I hope you had a good time.

It is always odd returning home after a while away. After weeks in the camper I would nearly fall out of bed at home as I was so used to the side of the van being there.

I have actually been in supermarkets in France where nearly everyone was speaking English. Very off putting.

btw, our dual flush works just fine, and never had a problem with water pressure in France either.
5G on the other hand is something I haven't moved onto yet, my phone is too old, but even finding 4G can be a struggle at times in France.

Oh, BTW....what's that stuff in the refrigerated section of the grocery store? Yellow stuff wrapped in plastic? OH... it's individually wrapped slices of "American" cheese!

"Should we dine out tonight, or eat in?"
"Let's see: if we eat at a classic US restaurant, it's 'what to have on the hamburger', and if we eat at the Mexican restaurant, it's 'what do you want with your cheese' ".
"let's eat in "

In my own Paris neighborhood, most of the employees in both Monoprix and Franprix speak English better than French (because they are of Indian origin). In my G20, which doubles as my Chinese supermarket, the employees speak Mandarin (cashiers and supervisors) or Bambara (Mali) or Wolof (Senegal) better than French (the African staff are the butchers, vegetable weight staff or shelf stocking people). I sometimes feel that I live in a totatally different Paris from the one that I often read about here (Saint Germain-des-Prés, Marais or 7th arrondissement).

"Cheese" also requires quotation marks.:)

I am looking forward to hearing about it. I am not so envious now we are planning our return next year.
After one trip , P found himself driving up the wrong side of our street- fortunately a dead end and short, and then in the wrong lane to turn out of a car park. Luckily no other cars around.
I bet you are already planning for next year!

And a shower curtain.

Happy to see you travelling again.

When arriving back home I get so annoyed as housekeeping doesn’t come in everyday.

Nobody to tip? :)

Had shower curtain in Nice and door in Paris, awesome water pressure and almost instant hot water (better than we have at home!) at both, room in Nice huge, Paris too small for us over-packers, one thing that we noticed is that no one seemed to dress out of their "touring" clothes for dinner! Except us old folks. Gee, some quite sloppy for the venue, did you notice this??

You took the cheese quotations out of my mouth, cdnyul! 😁👩‍🍳

Welcome home Coquelicot.

I've been wanting to visit France for a long time

We stopped dressing for dinner in France about 20 years ago.

the loos flush and you can do a half flush...

They've stopped doing that in Italy, too. (My husband and I never followed the rule.)

Haha, Coquelicot, love this! My thoughts are always:

Why is the waitress talking to us like we're best friends?
Why won't people walk faster?
Do you really leave the house dressed like that?

And I keep a video on my phone for when I must hear the melodic language I barely understand.

Welcome home. I hope you are already planning your next trip 😃

By the way, Panera sells a chocolate croissant that's almost as good as a French one.

What is it about French flour that makes goods taste so much better? I mean, wheat is wheat, isn't it?