France Lives Up to a Mighty Reputation

I am in the Air France business lounge negotiating this tough little Euro keyboard, my final post of the trip. I feel lucky to have you, my readers following along as I have experienced this lovely country; it makes any new discovery of mine all the more fun because I get to share it. Thanks for joining me here this week.

The five-hour drive from Colmar, near the German border to Paris Roissy (the French don`t call it De Gaulle) took almost six hours. We passed through endless fields of yellow rape-seed and rye grass; stretching far, far into the distance. It was nice to see so much of France is still plain old wide open space. We caught glimpses of small villages of the Champagne region,we passed a series of very tall windmills, slowly turning 70 foot-long blades in the fields.

I thought about the difference between Cindy`s beloved Italy and this place. There is a different kind of beauty here, more sweeping, in some ways more rustic; of course, Italy has its own unique appeal and its famous sense of humor. The wine here is more important to people than it seems in Italy--there you quaff the cheap local stuff and love it....en France the grape and the vintage seems to matter more.

This trip has made me broaden my interest in a vacation rental here...to be able to settle in and get to know a village like we did in Italy would be fun. Hey, maybe we can do both...now that I realize I can speak a bit of the language.