SEE ALSO: Cycling
France - Dordogne and Lot in 2011
Our 2008 cycling trip gave us a taste of
France. We cycled in Paris, Burgundy,
Alsace and Provence. We
loved French bakeries and cake shops. Even in a small
village a local bakery would have terrific baguettes
and our favorites - almond croissants. A visit to
a fromagerie (a cheese shop) would blow our minds.
Just goat cheeses would come in at least 30 varieties!
This has had some not so good side effects - we came
back with extra weight! And that's in spite of cycling
over 1000km.
Overall we were very impressed with France. It was
not just the food but also culture, old towns and
villages, well dressed and slim people, the attention
to good looks and quality of life. We were amazed
with so many book festivals - we came to Lourmarin when
a large antique book fair was on and to Manosque when
the correspondence festival just started. We did
not know people were still fond of old fashioned
good letter writing. And that's in the age when
140 characters is a long message! We will definitely
go back to France in future.