Un Peu Plus

The French do not hug. They really, truly do the "mwah, mwah" thing, though. S'appelle la bise.

Everyone has an electric water kettle. Or, at least both of my hosts have had one.

It's traditional to just bash shoulders. Les piétons français do not move aside. Even if you are on a bike. On the other hand, the pigeons do move - but not until you're almost on top of them, so that they fly in your face. You mark yourself as foreign if you do not jaywalk.

There is a fair number of people here who have dreadlocks or oddly colored hair. Dreadlocks are more popular than color.

Organic food is much easier to find here, and much more popular. The same goes for homeopathic medicine. In every pharmacy there is an entire half devoted entirely to natural remedies. I believe this is mandated by law.

French fast food sucks, and is far from fast. It is common to wait for at least fifteen to twenty minutes at 'Quick'burger. I have never missed Arby's so much as now. Now, let it be known that street vendor food is different from fastfood; vendor food is much speedier and better. Fast food places are wannabe American or Canadian fry places - the names are almost always in English. Speedburger is another one. There are only three or four in the entire city of Aix as far as I've seen, so you can see how popular it is. I still hold that bad food is sacrilege in France. You feel dirty as soon as you walk into such place.

----For the record, I've only eaten at one once when I was desperate. I've simply stood in several lines with Jackie.

Restaurants frequently close between lunch and dinner. Dinner is usually served later in the evening. It's street vendor food or nothing between those times. Or Quickburger.