Veronica Archival Reflective Essay September 3, 2013 An Essay on France Many travel agencies will claim that France is a country of natural beauty and scenery that millions of tourists from around the world visit each year. Many expectations of those tourists are to visit Paris, or other cities in the Southern region of France and the Riviera. Despite the general ideas about France, people visiting France often come to the realization that not everything about the country is true. In 2007 1 had the opportunity to visit France twice with family, and it is not the perfect amount many perceive it to be.
I cannot say that it did not impress me; however, my expectations were not met when it came to the food, environment, and the people of France. Incidentally, I have never been to Paris, so we will focus on the South of France (Provence) and the Cote dyad’s (French Riviera). Food The French prefer to eat the traditional lunch and dinner with their family or at the restaurants, not fast food in front of a television. Typically, people in France eat almost everything: meat (including horse meat), fish, oysters, snails, and many gettable, fruits and herbs.
For breakfast, we drank coffee, like the native French, ate freshly baked croissants and ate sliced ham with eggs (as is customary for Russians). People in France prefer to buy fresh pastries that are made the same day. The baguette is the best bread I have ever eaten. For lunch, citizens often go to small restaurants. Usually servers will bring salads or Foe Grass (duck liver) to a seated customer. Then the main enter©e is usually meat or fish with vegetables or potatoes. All meals are served with a sauce, which is typically seasoned with aromatic herbs.
You will always get the amazing taste of fresh food. Unlike lunchtime meal, dinner can begin with a soup: often French onion soup, meat or vegetable broth. The most traditional soup that I ate while my family and I visited Provence was Bouillabaisse. It is the most famous soup in that region of the country. Bouillabaisse is served hot with toasted baguettes. I had a chance to try this soup in the city of Talon where they add to it potatoes (different parts of Provence have several different recipes for this particular dish). Dinner also includes the main dishes of meat and fish.
The People Many travel agencies will assure their clients that France is a friendly country, alas, this is not case; people on the streets are very rude to tourist. Every time my family and I tried to ask somebody for the directions of a restaurant or a museum, the people would be uninterested in helping us and answered “Jew en apparel pas angles! Excuses-mom! ” which meaner “l do not speak English! Excuse me! ” and quickly ran away from us. The first time we experienced such bad manners we were surprised, but later we got used to such a reaction from the French people.
Some of them, who worked in the field of tourism and service, tended to speak English. Many French people can speak foreign languages, but are very reluctant to use that knowledge, and it was proven to us on this trip. Also, we learned that the French have work habits that are deterrent trot many parts to the world. In big cities stores are generally open from loam until pm, Monday through Saturday. In Provence, they are often closed during lunchtime (from pm to 2 pm, or 1 pm until pm) and even have Monday off. Some of the larger stores are open until pm only once a week.
Hypermarkets can be open until pm or Imp. Some of our French friends explained that their work customs are similar to that of the Spanish tradition of Fiesta (several hours during the day when most of places can close up to 2 or 4 hours for resting workers). During these hours people like to drink wine, especially white wine and Rose. The people of France were much different than I imagined them to be. Environment The French Riviera is traditionally considered to be among of the top European holiday destinations. It was home to American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and was mom of Gerald and Sara Murphy.
The layout of the Hills of Provence are covered with vineyards, lavender and olive fields. Lavender is a purple flower, which is grown for the production of lavender oil and cosmetics. Generally, compared to the Cote dyad’s, the area of Provence is less densely populated, and it makes it possible for one to feel closer to nature. My family and I visited the Sequence Abbey where the monks grow lavender plants. That is where we bought many souvenirs, like soap, pillows and lavender papers for letters and cards. My impressions from this trip to France were mixed.
