Northern France

After ten years of inactivity, I decided to start traveling again and chose this French itinerary that I've been following for a long time. A group trip with Avventure nel Mondo, my seventh with them, the first six in the 1980s. A group of twelve people: three from Turin, two from Varese, one from Cantù, two from Rome, two from Foggia, and me, perhaps the oldest, fighting with one of the two Romans. The group leader is a tall 38-year-old from Varese, who came with his nice sister Cinzia, who is a few years younger. I bonded with some of them—Cinzia, the two from Foggia, and the history professor from Cantù—but with others, less so. In general, I found them to be irritating and unsociable. I was very surprised by their orders: often pizza, hamburgers, and fries, in a country that rivals ours for the best cuisine. The only ones who always ordered French specialties were group leader Andrea and I: oysters and champagne, snails, cheeses, onion soup, and a variety of delicious desserts—the French are unparalleled masters of this (real profiteroles, not the ones you eat in Italy, crepes and galettes, ice creams with lots of cream and drizzles of melted chocolate.) And then there were many glasses of excellent wine and even cider, made from fermented apples and often served in a ceramic bowl. The others in the group ordered beer and Coke. Another thing that bothered me was the huge waste of time and the long waits for the usual latecomers. The group leader, on his first experience, handled it well, but allowed too much time for visits (three hours for a church, five hours for a castle when one and two, or three at most, would have been enough). We stayed in good, clean hotels but with very small rooms, mostly from the Ibis chain, costing around 80 euros per room. Often, breakfast was included; other times, you had to pay an extra of around 10 euros. For lunch, we stopped at some boulangerie or bakery and got a stuffed baguette for 5-8 euros, or we stopped at some small restaurant and ate mostly caramel or Nutella crepes, spending little, around 10-15 euros including a drink. In the evening, you'd book a restaurant and eat an appetizer and a main course, or a main course and dessert, for around 30 euros. In French restaurants, tables are presented without tablecloths, so you don't pay for service or tips. Gasoline costs around 1.60 euros, and almost all highways are free; otherwise, you'll be photographed and have to pay online. France is the cleanest country I've ever visited, and pedestrians have reclaimed the city streets and squares, putting cars in parking lots where you spend about 8 euros at a time. There are many parks and gardens and huge vases filled with trees, bushes, and flowers—beautiful; flowers are everywhere. Whatever anyone says, the French are very kind and patient.