When Visiting France

            

Things to do when visiting France:

Buy a stack of postcards, and ask the baker, the waiter, the bus driver, the cafe owner, the lady with a poodle... to write a note for you to mail to your friends back home. "Hello from France wish you were here." In French of course.

Go to the open market, buy a baguette, some olives, a bottle of wine, some fruit and cheese. Have an impromptu picnic.

When visiting Paris, take bus #69 from the Eiffel Tower until Pere Lachaise, and back. Every time the bus stops take a photo.

Skip to the light fantastic.

After having dinner in Sanary go skinny dipping in the Mediterranean.

Gather a large bouquet of wildflowers, then pass them out, one by one, to those you meet.

Collect the ordinary, the little treasures that often are disregarded.

Learn to say three words in French: Merci-thank you, bonjour-hello, and oui-yes.

Strike up a conversation...by asking for directions, even if you know your way around.

Take a paint set and paper, hike to the top of St Victorie and paint a homage to Cezanne, or sit in a garden and dream of Monet.

Write a love letter and slip it under the mattress in a bedroom at Chateau de Chenonceau or your hotel room.

Record the church bells.

Sign up for a cooking class. Or go to a grocery store and ask someone how they make a tarte de tomate. Or ask if they could help you choose a good melon.

Take a deck of cards and play card tricks at a cafe.

photo: Vintage mini postcards of France at the flea market.

Comments

[rochambeau]

I hand you the prettiest flower from my bouquet for all your clever ideas!

[Di Overton]

I am off to France tomorrow and will endevour to try as many of these as possible. Being that I am only going to Paris I may be restricted. I have hiked up St Victoire before and was so exhausted when I got there I just wanted to sleep, though Cezanne choice a beautiful spot. Merci

[marita]

beautiful vintage cards, corey and thanks for the tips of 'what to do when in france'. however, most of the advices i've gone through already while visiting la douce france. what about a new post 'how to capture a good looking french'???? would appreciate your ideas ;)

___________________________

Hi Marita,

When you see a handsome man, go up to him and ask him out to dance.

[Paris Flirt]

I went for a picnique on &^%$# Mont St.Victoire...
It's covered in THISTLES!
Ma derriere has yet to recover
So DON'T sit down what ever you do.
Now where so I find this light fantastic?
Is it in Paris?
Or Provence?
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Hi Carol

"Skip the light fantastic," means, "To go out dancing" It is a saying from the 1920s.