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| In October 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron's (pictured) government announced that French energy giant EDF -- one of the world's largest suppliers of electricity -- would build Britain's first new nuclear plant in a generation, with Chinese backing. |
The country is surprisingly like the United States (which it
taught a thing or two about liberté) in that you don't really ever need to
leave.
Not to mention a lot of cheese.
And sex.
As well as quite a few other things the French do superlatively
well.
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| No one's arguing against the existence of great cheeses around the world -- but no French citizen needs to go much further than the corner shop to find one. Mimolette (pictured) is just one of its edible works of art. |
1. Cheese
Yes, it's a cliché but France remains the ultimate destination for
cheese lovers.
General de Gaulle once asked how he was meant to govern a country
that produced 246 varieties of cheese.
Maybe he was afraid they were living organisms and would start a
revolution.
Some French cheeses, such as Reblochon, are so smelly and runny
they seem to be decomposing.
Even mild, hard Mimolette is apparently so scary that last year
theUnited States restricted its import.
No one's arguing against the existence of great cheeses around the
world -- but no French citizen needs to go much further than the corner shop to
find one.
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| While in many other countries they've been sacrificed to the chains, France has hung on to its quirky, little boutiques. |
2.Shopping
There's a reason the French invented the word "bourgeois,"
which now stands in for all things materialistic.
Paris department stores stock everything from cheap generic brands
to labels so chic you feel the need to dress up before trying them on.
The annual sales in
January and at the end of June offer unbelievable bargains because by law all
stores have to discount prices at the same time and compete for business.
At the other end, the French have defended their small, often
family-owned neighborhood stores -- boulangeries, boucheries, épiceries -- from
being steamrollered by chains.
The French also do quirky, one-off boutiques probably
better than anyone else.
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| The vast Château de Chambord, one of France's great museums, and also apparently the perfect place to shoot a Brazilian telenovela, as here. |
Paris, of course, is home to perhaps the world's best known
museum, the Louvre.
But French museum culture spreads much wider afield.
The Loire region has what is arguably the most beautiful
collection of museums in the world -- its chateaux include the huge Chambord, with a
spectacular collection of tapestries, and the impossibly romantic Chenonceau, astride its
moat.
Even the lesser-known castles can be wonderful -- Chinon, for example, is set above a perfectly preserved old
town.
You can almost hear Joan of Arc riding up to the gate and offering
to kick the English invaders out of France.
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| The French weren't joking when they called their high-speed rail network train à grande vitesse -- "very fast train." |
4. Trains
French trains are faster than planes.
If you want to go from Paris to the Mediterranean coast for lunch,
hop on a TGV -- train à grande vitesse, or "very fast train."
Three hours later, you'll be sipping rosé and gazing at
billionaires' yachts while the fliers are still putting in a claim for their
lost luggage.
TGVs crisscross the country, and the SNCF (French national
railways) offers excellent online deals -- first class for just a little more
than second.
The French might like the good life but it needn't also mean slow.
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| The first French rule of the road: I'm going that way, and you can't stop me. The result: world-beating traffic jams, especially during vacation season. |
5. Traffic jams
The average French driver's notion of etiquette is a strong but
terrifying one: I'm going that way, and you can't stop me.
If going where he or she wants to means causing an accident or
total gridlock, that's everyone else's fault, non?
The unwillingness to acknowledge any other car on the roads -- the
supreme French belief in liberté incarnated in the automobile -- means that on
every Saturday in summer, and on national holidays, the whole country is
transformed into a huge traffic jam as everyone drives to or from their
vacation at exactly the same time.
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| The French have mastered the art of being impeccably polite and startlingly dismissive at the same time. A bright "bonjour" usually gets you what you want. |
6. Politeness
Politeness -- the French?
Aren't they notoriously abrupt, especially Parisians when
addressing non-French-speaking tourists?
More accurately, the French have mastered the art of being
impeccably polite and startlingly dismissive at the same time.
When a posh maître d' raises one eyebrow and oozes
"Monsieur?" or "Madame?" at you, he's simultaneously
respecting you and questioning your right to exist.
But if you get the hang of French politeness, anything is
possible.
The golden rule is simple: you should begin every conversation
with a bright "bonjour!" ("bonsoir!" in the evening).
This doesn't just mean hello.
It's recognized French code for, "Yes, I am here, and I am
respecting you by being polite, so you are going to respect me and maybe even
be pleasant to me."
All that in one magic word -- and it works.
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| Insouciance, that accent, joie de vivre -- it's an irresistible package. Marion Cotillard has been seen as embodying a certain Frenchness in recent times. |
7. Sexiness
It's hard to pin down sexiness but, for many, "being
French" is a good working definition.
That accent, plus a certain insouciance and joie de vivre (yep,
inevitably slipping into French here) make a pretty attractive package in both
men and women.
And then there's plain sex, which is everywhere in France.
Take French films, for example, which almost by law have to
include at least two naked breasts and four buttocks.
Frenchmen and women know the rules of attraction equally well and
rarely stop playing.
It's almost a duty to look sexy and classy whenever anyone else is
around -- and to leave a memorable impression.
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| France's style of light-touch sophistication and luxury -- whether at spas or in fancy cafés -- has been copied worldwide. |
8. Luxury
It's a clever trick.
When you think of luxury goods, the word "French" slips
almost automatically into place.
Today, the French talent for luxury has trickled down beyond Louis
Vuitton, Dior, Moët et Chandon and the rest.
Its effects can be felt in the dozens of stylish Parisian cafés
with starched-apron waiters, and in the many reasonably priced spa hotels, such
as Thalazur (French
site only), that can make you feel like a millionaire without charging you
accordingly.
French light-touch sophistication has been copied worldwide.
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| French shopkeepers are consummate professionals. Sometimes grumpy consummate professionals. |
9. Customer Service (oh yes)
Related to "politeness," but with an important retail
distinction.
The French have a saying: the customer is king.
Yes, and we know what you did to your kings.
But behind a sometime façade of surly indifference, French service
can be wonderful.
That grumpy waiter doesn't hate you, it's just that he's a pro and
you're an amateur on his territory.
The same goes for the snooty department store saleswoman.
Unlike in other countries, such jobs in France can still be
lifelong careers, bringing a lifetime's worth of skills.
The thing to do is soldier on, smile and inform your server what
you want.
The French respect people who know what they want, and will do their
best to help you get it (as long as it's not just before their lunchtime, of
course.)
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| Public toilets: often French. |
10. Globalization
France has the world's best policy on globalization -- it spends
so much time complaining that foreign invaders are killing off its economy that
no one notices how French products are taking over the planet.
Have you checked recently who provides your electricity, who owns
your transportation system, who feeds your army, even who built your city's
public toilets?
Especially if you live in Europe, there's a strong chance you'll
find a French multinational, such as EDF, Transdev, Sodexo or JCDecaux.
That's not to mention the countless French brands on every
shopping street in the world.
Next time a French person tells you Hollywood is destroying French
culture, just point to the nearest public toilet.
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