When I covered my first Tour de France in 2003, it was only the third time I’d visited the country – so I admittedly knew little about the place, and even less about its people. Digging through the PEZ archives – I uncovered this gem of an article – highlighting some of my initial observations about understanding the French people, their country and culture.
~ Understanding the French is a whole topic unto itself, that I’m sure they’d be happy to discuss ad infinitum and never come to any conclusions. But I’ve now had several first hand experiences that give me a clearer picture of why the French are so distinct, and just so… “French”.
It was explained to me by one of the guides with Experience Plus, who is Danish and lived in Europe and the United States. He says for the French, there is a “correct” way of doing things that must be followed. Once you understand what is the “correct way”, you’ll be fine. Near as I could figure, the correct way means following the rules (which being French are quite different from Planet America, or anywhere else on Planet Earth for that matter) – don’t bend them, don’t take shortcuts, and for sure don’t try to help yourself – someone will be with you when they get around to it, and until then the correct thing to do is wait. And wait. And wait.
Do they know something we don’t? Slow pace is a way of life in France.
“Waiting” in itself seem to be a national French pass time. If you have a question, or are attempting to something “unusual”, like say, connecting to the internet, it often involves listening to 2 or more Frenchmen discuss something somewhat related to your question. Although I don’t speak French and can’t really understand what they are saying, it appears the French way to solve a problem is to discuss it at length, with as many other French people as possible, until such time as the problem goes away. (In other words, you – the person with the problem – leave.)
I’d say we got’em beat on this one – The traditional French toilet – face the wall for #1, face the door for #2.
The list of “impossibilities” here is endless. You can’t do this, you can’t have it that way, you can’t get there from here. Last night I ate in a small pizza place that would not seat me outside because I was alone, and they were saving the table for larger groups. The whole 2 hours I sat inside the very hot and stuffy restaurant, no one sat down outside.
My hat goes off to Jean-Marie & co. for pulling the Tour together every year, the amount of effort that must go into the organization of the Tour has to be double or triple what we’d require at home, simply because a large part of the French mentality seems to involve giving up at the first obstacle, supported by a strong preference to simply “not do”. Gosh guys – honestly, you’d be amazed at what you might accomplish with even just a “little more effort”.
Just another town in Provence – France is full of amazing villages like this…
For a country that’s down on America in these days, they have an amazing number of new McDonald’s. I can’t tell you how many beautiful little towns I’ve driven through chasing the race, stone buildings, no sidewalks, ancient men sitting in lawn chairs watching the world go by… only to get smacked in the head by the big new Mickey D’s drive-through in the center of town! I guess it’s now only a matter of time before Starbucks arrives to teach the French how to make coffee … Proudly, I’ve refrained from dining under the golden arches.
But let’s consider some of the good points shall we – and there are a few. Sometimes you can even make their system work for you…
Bike Racing On TV: It’s 3:00PM in the afternoon, I’m in the town of Orange sitting in a bar watching 3 hours of live tv coverage of the Tour. Tyler’s away on a huge solo break right now, showing us once again just what he’s made of. I can barely get an internet connection in this country, but I can see bike racing on tv almost every day – you gotta love it. Sure you can watch the Tour at home, but how about a race every weekend and often midweek?
Le Plat Du Jour – I’m not a huge fan of French cooking overall, but the daily lunch specials – the “plates of the day” – are worth seeking out. Figuring out a French menu can be yet another frustrating adventure, so the “plat du jour” is awesome as the choices are made for you by the chef. Luckily, they’re easy to find, as they’re offered in almost every French cafe, bar, or restaurant. The deal is each place comes up with a set menu for lunch, which consists of 3-5 courses. The value is huge as the most I paid was 13 Euros for soup, a big salad plate I piled high at this French-style salad bar (it had all kinds of salads, cheeses, sliced meats and more), followed by a leg of roast duck with pommes frites (French fries), glass of beer, 1/4 bottle of wine, water, bread, coffee, and a crиme brulee dessert. – All served up by a buxom French lass, in a very cool roadside cafe in a small village I was driving through. Since dinner usually doesn’t happen till around 8:00-9:00, the big feeds are a good call. Rule of thumb – if the restaurant looks like anything you’d find at home – keep looking. They best places are the ones that you’d never see in your town.
Driving – Driving around this country is much the same as driving in the rest of continental Europe- pretty much a gas. There are endless twisting turning roads through storybook-style towns, just like we see on the Tour coverage. No two roads are the same. It can be the full rally-driver experience, slowed by the occasional traffic jam if you picked the wrong route. A couple of days getting the hang of where the traffic goes should keep you away from slowdowns, and four-wheel drifting the afternoon away. Cool coffee shops are just around the next bend.
And when you get tired of the backroads, just hit the autoroute and floor it. I started out doing about 130kmh (65mph) on the autoroutes, then notched ‘er up to 140, and now I’m cruising along at 150 like an old pro. Drivers here are nothing like home. Here they actually move out of your way if you pull up behind them on the freeway – now that’s civilized! I saw no cops handing out speeding tickets anywhere, I guess they’re busy solving crimes.
This gentleman, with a very impressive mustache, owns a bar I had a great lunch in, used to play rugby, and was the central character in his establishment. His job appears to be holding court at the front of his bar, and of course everyone knows him… Something you never see at Ronnie M’s.
I expect I’ll never understand these French folks, which is fine, as I like my own home and life just fine. But at least the more I know about them, the easier it is to avoid the hassles and enjoy the good stuff they have to offer.
– The Pez
Follow all The PEZ Tour de France coverage here
• The PEZ Tour de France Stage by Stage Guide to Week 1
• Tour de France through the Decades: the 80s
• The Lost Phil Liggett Interview from the 1990 Tour de France
• EUROTRASH Ranks the Last 10 Tours
The post The French, Explained? Observations From My First Tour in 2003 appeared first on PezCycling News.
