Ma Vie in France

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...

In this post, I’d like to attempt a humble comparison between what I know about French culture and what I observed on a summer trip to Germany this summer (Munich in particular). grounds of the Schloss Nymphenburg Some of the highlights of our trip were a tour of the Munich city center, a visit to the Neuschwanstein castle and surrounding area, and a visit to the Dachau concentration camp. We also ate a lot of great food, and of course, drank a lot of beer. Although I realize we really ate at quite a few tourist spots, the food was always hearty and filling. We also had a Bavarian breakfast one morning, including sausage, pretzels and beer. For me, the simple goodness and heartiness of the food felt like the mentality around us, people were open, direct and generally friendly. In France, food is such a complex affair, still regulated by traditions that date back to Louis XIV. That’s one of the things I love about France, but I think it also reflects the mentality of the Frenc...