In the US regional differences are stretched out for miles and miles. Even though are regions and landscapes can be incredibly diverse, the change from one to another is fairly gradual and you often have to drive a long way before anything changes. Not the case in France. Just taking the area Lyon, you have to the east flatlands with small lakes and ponds, and if you go further, you run into the Alps. To the northwest, vineyards and rolling hills with naturally ochre colored stone for building constructions, and further west still the Loire river valley and then, the Massif Centrale, dormant volcanoes which make up a small, low, mountain-like range. Not to mention due south, where you can find prehistoric caves, or the north where you eventually leave the Beaujolais vineyards for Burgundy vineyards. All of these changes are within about a 2 hours drive of Lyon. But it's not only landscape we're dealing with, it's also regional identity, and of course food. Eac...