A McBaguette with Sarko

So last month I was in France for 2 weeks of vacation, soaking up all the wonders of the french countryside, chateaux, cherries, cheese and a lot of other really wonderful things one would associate with France. You can see the pics of my time in the countryside and at the monastery here in a wonderful zooming Prezi.

But much of what I enjoyed, was soaking up the incongruities and oddities of french life and the french language. You have to realize that next year will mark the 20th anniversary of my initial encounter with French and I have been a francophile ever since.

So what would a trip to France be without a trip to McDo's (say "mc-dough") for a McBaguette (see TV ad here). Yes, McDonald's is totally into contextualization. Un petit pain baguette, ground beef, lettuce, Dijon mustard and French emmental cheese.
And because it's France, the poster says "Pour votre santé, pratiquez une activité physique regulière." (For your health, get some regular exercise). But lest you think everyone is healthy in France, everyone is smoking as they eat their McNuggets with their kids out in the McPlayground.

In Paris, I was surprised to see a little Subway tucked away immediately across the Seine from the Notre Dame de Paris. To their credit, it just looked like a little store, no big signage.

Down on the Champs-Elysées I stumbled into the high-end luxury shops from . . .  America: Banana Republic, Starbucks, the Disney store, and the Levi's "Flagship" store. Apparently only millionaires buy jeans there because a pair of standard 501's cost 119.50 € or $157. I left discretely in my used jeans from the yugo-yugo market in Africa. Oddly ironic, isn't it- Americans selling denim (originally "serge de nimes" -from Nimes) to French people on the avenue known for haute couture.

"Fire Sarkozy"

I arrived in France just a week or so after their presidential elections and was there while their new President was sworn in. François Hollande was wildly popular, yet another sign I was not in America, since he is their first socialist President in decades. 

Official election sign showing both candidates. This was in Blois. You can see that Sarko's poster has been defaced.

 As I rode my bike through a lot of little towns, I saw quite a lot of anti-Sarkozy signs, some hand-written, some more formal.
I was in France to see Hollande select his cabinet and keep his first campaign promise - exactly one half of his government ministers were women, a first for France!

One can't spend long in France without visiting some of the cathedrals. Some like Notre Dame take your breath away! Others just leave you flabbergasted. This one in Azay-le-Rideau had a little chapel all done up in PLASTIC, a material I thought was banished from all Gothic cathedrals by zoning laws. Look closely and you see the sacrilegious little fluorescent orange and hot-pink plastic chairs for the kiddos. (Actually quite glad to see evidence of some sort of Sunday School).

 I had another cathedral-related surprise. One evening I was headed back home past Notre Dame and noticed a large number of people going in and the sound of singing inside. It was a Tuesday night. Inside I discovered it full to overflowing and not with tourists but with a pro-life service. I was pleasantly surprised to see that many French people of all ages out actively participating in the worship, and standing against abortion, euthanasia, etc. Equally shocking to me was the fact that they had TV-monitors all up and down the church so you could see what's going on down front. What's next? Chris Tomlin lyrics projected up on a screen blocking the stained glass?


My musings on the oddities would not be complete without mentioning "Le Tennessee Mexican Restaurant" 11 rue voltaire, Chinon, where I dined one fine night in the middle of my cycling adventure. Admittedly one does not go to France for the Mexican food but this was as close to Mexican food as I was going to get this year. Lest you think I am making this place up, see the pic someone posted of it here.

The first strike against the place was the name: Tennessee is not really known as the heart of Tex-mex. I think they really chose that name so they could decorate with Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey paraphernalia. There were also some Mexican blankets and hats, but also photos from Route 66 and Arches national park in Utah, places from my two most recent cycling vacations but not remotely "Mexican" . 

Now to the menu. There was a "deluxe burger" made with Foie Gras, bacon, cheese, tomato, fig jam (?) and presumably beef, though none was mentioned.
You could also order 

• chicken wings, 
• barbecue ribs, 
• "Onions rings" served with barbeque sauce, 
• Kangaroo Steak, with Bearnaise and Barbeque sauce. Is it Australian? Is it French? Is it American??

There was something called Mexican rolls, described as fried rolls, stuffed with chili, rice and corn and served with the ever-present barbeque sauce. Was this a burrito? I dared not find out. 
The Mexican plate came with salad, tomatoes, 3 onion rings, 2 "mexican rolls", 1 chicken wing, 2 mozzarella sticks and salsa. 

To their credit, they had quesadillas, guacamole, chips and salsa, fajitas and a very passable Taco Salad where you could "eat the bowl". That's what I had and I was pleased to have found something fairly Mexican.
Conspicuously absent from the menu were Tacos, Burritos and Enchiladas. 

Guess I should have gone for a McBaguette with Sarko. . .