FRANCE AND THE FRENCH
For many years France was a nation of internal contrasts —
between the more urban and industrial north and the rural south,
between the intellectual elite and the largely agricultural workforce,
between chic Paris and the less sophisticated provincial cities — and a
nation that saw itself as standing alone, distinct from all others.
Much has changed in recent times. Paris is no longer the
ultimate mecca for ambitious young French from the provinces; cities
around the country are attracting young professionals who want to
escape the more frenetic life in the Ile de France; the number of
agricultural workers has shrunk dramatically; industrial and high-tech
centers have sprung up around the country; provincial cities are
developing their own international reputations; and immigration and
increasing migration of populations within a “border-free” European
Union are blurring the edges of the French identity.
France remains, however, a splendid and individualist
country that has much to offer to the foreign visitor. The French
people — despite occasional rumors to the contrary — welcome tourists
and are eager to show off their country, their way of life, their
traditions, and their beliefs; in short, their essential joie de vivre.
They are proud of their nation and have a right to be.
Quality of life remains their paramount preoccupation. It is
no accident that the French are best known for their food and wine,
their clothes and perfumes, their dashing art and monumental
architecture. Their love of perfection serves them well.
Give French cooks a couple of eggs and they won’t just boil
them, fry them, or make an omelette (all of which they’re quite
prepared to do superlatively) — they feel obliged to produce a delicate
soufflé or a rich hollandaise sauce that makes an egg proud to be an
egg. Even a lowly croque-monsieur is a world away from a ham and cheese
sandwich. You will still find the elegant, spare plates of nouvelle
cuisine, but there is a new focus on heartier dishes and an acceptance
of cuisines of other countries.
The French attention to detail is found in all walks of life
— from the way a scarf is tied to the planning of the summer flower
displays found in small villages (national prizes for the prettiest
village are hotly contested).
France is blessed with an astonishing variety of landscapes:
long, high dunes on the Atlantic Coast; craggy coves in Brittany;
vineyards in Burgundy; steep gorges in the Tarn; olive trees and
vineyards, umbrella pines and cypresses in Provence; and lazy beaches
in the Côte d’Azur. All these are as typical of France as the more
conventional images of rolling green meadows bounded by straggling
hedgerows and arrow-straight avenues lined with plane trees, a village
visible on the horizon, clustered around its church.
The country is a veritable compendium of geography. The
plains and plateaus of Picardy in the north and Alsace to the east lend
themselves to large-scale agriculture before ending in the gentler,
rolling green fields of Normandy to the west and the vineyards of
Burgundy that herald the beginnings of the south.
The Alps of Savoie and the Dauphiné peter out in the rugged
little Alpilles of Provence. The formidable barrier of the Pyrénées
forms the frontier with Spain.
With these mountain ranges protecting the eastern and
southern frontiers, the mild Atlantic winds penetrate deep inland,
bringing with them all the rain and sun needed for a highly productive
agriculture, while avoiding the extremes of a continental climate.
Inland from the Atlantic coast — Aquitaine, Dordogne,
Périgord — the southwest is rich in farming and vineyards. It’s the
land of good duck and goose, of fine Bordeaux wines. Pointing out into
the Atlantic on the country’s western edge, Brittany’s spectacular
shoreline has earned the region a reputation for rough weather. In fact
it enjoys the mildest of climates, even in winter, and provides many a
pleasant seaside resort in summer.
The kings and counts and feudal lords have gone from the
Loire Valley and the forests and marshes of Sologne, but the hunting
and fishing country remains. At the country’s heart, slightly north of
the geographical center, Paris nestles in a basin ideal for industrial
and commercial enterprise, comfortably surrounded by the forest and
farmland of the Ile-de-France. And the Champagne area lies conveniently
to the east to help celebrate its successes.
If the land itself is the most obvious source of French
pride, the nation’s cultural wealth is just as important. Philosophy
and the fine arts do not intimidate the French as something to be
confined to a small élite. For most people, “intellectual” is not the
dirty word it seems to be in so many other countries. Museums are as
popular as sports stadiums, and crowds flock to theater and music
festivals in spring, summer, and autumn all over the country. Even
popular arts such as advertising, the cinema, comic strips, and fashion
are elevated to the level of high culture, with their own museums and
festivals.
An active government cultural policy in recent years has
preserved the architectural monuments of the “national patrimony” from
the ravages of time, weather, war, revolution, and urban development.
Throughout the 1990s, partly in preparation for the 2000 Millennium
celebrations, façades were scrubbed and buildings generally
refurbished. Innovative use has been made of outdoor facilities for
summer festivals, especially Roman ruins and medieval monasteries. In
addition to recorded commentaries, you will find bright young art
historians who are enthusiastic about the places where they work and
their areas of knowledge. Their descriptions are fresh and informative,
and they’re glad to answer questions that go beyond the brochure or
guidebook. Many important monuments are beautifully lit at night,
making city centers an evening treat.
While Paris is still a major destination for sightseers,
travelers should not ignore the charms of such provincial cities and
towns as Lyon, Montpellier, Rouen, and Strasbourg. All feature a blend
of ancient and modern, of dignity and fun, and strive to make the
visitor feel welcome and treasured.
The country offers plenty of outdoor enjoyment, too:
swimming and other water sports, or just sunbathing, on Alpine lakes,
on the beaches of Normandy and Brittany, or at the famous resorts of
the Côte d’Azur; first-class skiing in the Alps and Pyrénées; canoeing
down spectacular gorges; and marvelous hiking around the country’s
national parks and nature reserves. Evidence that France is far from
being a country of hidebound highbrows is the fact that the Marne
Valley, east of Paris, was selected for Europe’s first Disneyland.
France is internationally acknowledged to be a leader in
high technology and is happy to share its pride in these advances. With
its flagship Géode entertainment center, the Cité des Sciences et de
l’Industrie in La Villette, on the outskirts of Paris, attracts science
buffs young and old. La Cité de l’Espace in Toulouse is dominated by a
replica of the Ariane rocket. Even if you don’t get on one of the
high-speed TGV trains, you are almost certain to see one zoom past.
The people are as varied as their landscape, but don’t let
anyone tell you the French national cliché is a myth. The red-nosed,
mustachioed fellow with a beret on his head, a crumpled cigarette
drooping from his lip, and a long baguette or two under his arm
certainly does exist and can be seen in all regions of the country. But
there’s all the difference in the world between the prudent,
close-mouthed Norman and the vociferous, easy-going Provençal, between
the pious Breton and the pagan sophisticate of Paris.
For a people so fiercely proud of their identity, the
French are a rich mixture. In Picardy the Flemish influence is
unmistakable, and although Alsace may celebrate Bastille Day at least
as proudly as any other French province, its cuisine, wines, and
dialect all reveal a profoundly Germanic influence. The Côte d’Azur and
Corsica both have a distinctly Italian flavor, and the people on the
northern slopes of the Pyrénées are not so very different from their
Spanish cousins to the south.
France has always been a haven for foreign artists. Not by
accident did Van Gogh come from the Netherlands, Picasso from Spain,
Max Ernst from Germany, and Chagall from Russia to make their home in
France. One of France’s greatest poets of the 20th century, Wilhelm
Kostrowitsky, better known as Guillaume Apollinaire, was born in Rome
of a Polish mother and an Italian father. Irishman Samuel Beckett
happily wrote plays in French. And Kenzo, Lagerfeld, and Cerruti design
in the international but inexorably Paris-based language of haute
couture.
Despite occasional tensions, perhaps inevitable in times of
economic uncertainty, today French people increasingly recognize that
the immigrants from France’s départements in the West Indies and from
former colonies — Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco — enrich the national
culture and add spice to the country’s cuisine. And as the European
Union matures, Europeans are taking advantage of opportunities to live
and work in different countries. British families are buying second —
or first — homes in France; French young people are choosing to settle
in London or Dublin for a time. It all makes for a wonderful and
exciting mix, adding to that greatest of French assets — a vibrant and
varied street scene.
For the first-time visitor, France will seem at once
delightfully different and comfortably familiar, a country of exciting
and infinitely attractive contrasts.
