5 Things I Love About France

1. Cheese, bread, and wine are obligatory at almost every meal. In fact, I take that back, many people drink white with breakfast. That is awesome. I mean, they dont over do it, or anything, but to start the day with a nice sauvignon blanc- I can think of worse ways of starting the day (like at the Starbucks in the Louvre- an atrocity).

2. The public spaces: people actually use them here! I mean parks (or as we say here: parcs, see, you're learning French too) are an everyday part of life. People take their lunches there, they read there; they draw or juggle; they make out. People just get out and enjoy being outside. There are no TV's or Nintendos in these places. In fact there are no Starbucks either, so that's all the better. I spent two hours reading The Life of Pi in the Jardin du Luxembourg yesterday, and it was a two hours I will never forget. The Jardin is like this: everything you think of when you think of the ambience of Paris combined with New York's Central Park. There are big marble statues of lions and deer and dead white guys hidden throughout the trees. There are these huge fountains surrounded by enormous banks of flowers, the tennis courts, the running track, the artists, the musicians, the couples- young and old, and the cathedral bells chime the hours out. It is an amazing place to bring a good book or just people watch. Oh, but read Life of Pi. It rocks ass.

3. I dont eat the meat, as most of you know, but French cuisine is so based on simple tastes and flavors and aromas, that I almost want to. Today, I made some potaotes for the restaurant. They were not deep friend or slathered in sauce. I took some fingerling potatoes, put them in hot oil with bay leaf, garlic, salt and pepper. A short while later, they were done. You take the lid off of these things, and it is golden brown potato heaven, perfumed with the sweet and savory scent of caramelized garlic. That's it. Simple. A roast beef, cooked blue (very, very rare), sitting on the decades old wooden chopping block, with these potatoes and some sauteed spinach, with a glass of red wine and a hunk of fresh bread with a hefty slice of brie. This is the food of France, simple tastes of the earth. It smells amazing. I just dont eat the roast, and they dont serve any of this at Starbucks.

4. Last night, I was watching SkyNews, the international news show here. It ended, and I expected to see what one usually sees in America after the news: reruns, sitcoms, gameshows, etc. Not in France. Whats on after the news at 10pm? Porn. Straight up, full on, crazed-monkey style porn. These people really know how to wind down after their fix of caffine from Big Brother Starbucks.

5. The half glazed over look, and back-tilt of the head that indicates that the person you have asked a question of does not know the answer and does not wish to be bothered with your stupidity. I mean, you ask, "Where's my stop on the train to Paris? I dont want to be late for my meeting" and you get the look. Again, an ever so slight back-tilt of the head, and a slight closing of the eyes, almost as though the question you have asked is so boring, that you have literally forced narcolepsy on them. Its the French equivalent of New York's "Look buddy, I dont f***ing know; beat it." But here, people do it all the time: "Where's the bank?" The look. "I've been robbed and am bleeding out my ears!" The look. "Maybe we should build this wall a little higher so the Nazis cant just fly over and invade..." The look.
Sometimes they get so overzealous in their need to let you know that they do not want to talk to you, that even the look gets the look.
It is a sight to behold.

And it is definately something you can do, if someone should ever say to you, "Hey, how about we head over to Starbucks for a double decaf venti Americano?"