You know You are in France when...Driving & Cars

It's been a while since I wrote a "you know you are in France when..." segment, but I think I'll put the subject of driving and cars into this format. Maybe it will make the subject a bit more interesting? I don't know, we'll see.

There is a reason for my madness. Our former senior pastor, Jim Johnston, has since become the pastor of a church in Oklahoma where there is a young family raising funds to go...guess where?...to France!!! Yeah! I am so thankful God is calling more to come!

We have made acquaintances with this young family by internet, thanks to being introduced by Jim and Lisa, and we are excited to finally meet face-to-face this coming year as this family is now 93% supported (incredible! Yeah God!!!) and will be moving to France this December. (If I am remembering the details correctly.) Anyway, this family has asked us to put pictures of cars on the blog because they will be moving to Albertville, a town in the Eastern part of France, for a year of language training and they will be buying a car there.

So, here we go...

You know you are in France when...Driving & Cars:

1. There are ROUNDABOUTS everywhere. They don't like to stop here, so they put roundabouts everywhere and then you don't have to stop! It's not always good for the stomach when you are sitting in the back seat of the car, though. Here's a look at a roundabout:


2. Most of the INTERSECTIONS have a minimum of 5 streets crossing paths!!!! It's zooey! How do you say "turn right" when there is a street at a 47 degree angle, another at a 95 degree angle, another that goes somewhat straight, but veers to the right and then there are a few more streets that go generally to the left? We have yet to find a city in France that has streets that are laid out in anything close to a grid. I really believe it does not exist here.

(Here's an aerial view of a very typical layout of streets in France...and especially in Paris.)


3. And, good luck understanding the logic to ROAD SIGNS! All the signs point to a city name first. They really do not like to show the road name or number very prominently. Instead, they want to tell you this is the road you take to go to Paris, for instance. But, if you want to take a different route to get to Paris, then good luck!

The best advice I have for you if you are driving in France, is to look at the top of about 4 or 5 large signs that say all sorts of different types of information on them and look for the tiny little yellow sign that you almost cannot spot as quickly as is necessary (if it is actually there!) which will have the road number on it.

Or, you could just keep driving in a circle around the roundabout or intersection until you can read ALL the millions of signs (almost none of which have the road name or number on them) until you figure out which one is the right one to take. (Not that we have done this, or anything!)

Here, you can see what I mean:



4. Get used to NARROW streets. If you think about it, the streets were originally designed for horses and carriages to pass through. Most streets (unless they have been widened for mass use in the city), are very narrow. The buildings are ancient and built to last forever, so you just don't widen the streets easily around here.

Here's a video that shows what it is like to drive through small towns in France. (I'd love to know if you find yourself holding your breath at any time during this video.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zOlV18J-mI

And, behind those stone walls are gorgeous gardens and courtyards. We joke about moving into a small town like that and buying a place along the main road and then tearing down the stone wall! What would the people do? Would we ever be forgiven? I'm sure we'll never find out, but it is sort of fun to think about.

Now, shifting to cars...
4. Think SMALL!!!! I think there are many reasons. One - parking is hard to find in the city, space is limited. Two - the streets are very narrow. Three - That's just how it is here, I'm not sure exactly why!

Here are a few photos of normal, everyday cars in our neck of the woods:

This is a VW...and about the closet thing to an SUV. If you put it next to an American SUV, though, you would laugh at the size difference. It's not really that large, and seats 5 but has cargo space (not a given here).

Yes, there are tons of Smart cars here.


Here's a French car, a Citroën brand.





And, here's an example of another French made car, the Peugeot brand:


Are you bored yet? Me too.

5. Can I just say, BLACK, GREY or SILVER!?! It seems like all the cars are black, grey or silver. The wide variety of colors that exists in vehicles in America just doesn't exist here. Motorcycles seem to have more variety in color than cars do.

Then, I happened to see this, which was a big surprise. It's very unusual to see such color in a car here! What fun!


6. The Fiat MINI COOPERS are just awesome! I hate to admit it, but sometimes I dream about only have 2 children because we could fit our family into an old mini-cooper. They are soooooo cool!!!! (But, I wouldn't trade Todd for anything...so it's just a short-lived dream.)


Or, better yet, look at this!


Maybe we could stick Todd in the trunk for a while! Just kidding.

I even love the newer ones, like this sporty model:


7. Yes, TAXI CABS are very often Mercedis Benz. It's just not right to me, but it is true.


8. It's still is funny to me to see LADIES in DRESSES on SCOOTERS, BIKES & MOTORCYCLES. Even after a year, this still makes me laugh.


But, if you were moving to France and buying a car to hold a family with 4 kids, you might end up buying a vehicle like this:

Vans (as we think of them as Americans) do exist here, but they are not very common at least here in Paris. I apologize for getting a photo of a pretty old van, but it at least gives you the idea.

Around here, families with more than 2 kids drive a car like this:


This is the car we borrowed from our team leader during the summer for our day trips outside of Paris. There are two seats in the back that fold down and when they are upright, your cargo space is pretty small.

Actually, a few of the cars above that you would not think could seat 7 adults actually do by having 2 fold-down seats in the very back of the car. This creates challenges for stollers and such. If you go on vacation, you put a luggage rack on the top of the car and a luggage carrier to hold bags, etc.

In the end, the smaller vehicle is often preferable, because the parking space is so small here. I don't believe our team leader could fit a van into his parking spot. It's just really, really tight! We have a parking space, but no car. Yet, we know that our Honda Odyssey van would NEVER fit into our parking space! It wouldn't even come close. It's just too small. But, it might be another story in a smaller city than Paris, too.

So, there you have it. A little picture into the world of driving in France and cars.

And, for me, it might get quiet in the blogging world for me. I begin a 4 week intensive language course on 8/31. I'll be taking 30 hours of class per week for 4 weeks. If my name comes to mind any time during the month of September, pray for me! I am looking forward to another slug of grammar, but dreading the long hours. Yet, I need the instruction, so off to school I go!

Enjoy this beautiful Fall to the fullest!

Au revoir!