Toujours la France

Hi Rod, You happen to talk about Paris and life there and those restaurants at a time when Pixar released their new mouth-watering trailer for "Ratatouille". This is coming to theaters in June and I can't wait. Trailer here: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/ratatouille/ Paris and every little detail of a Parisian kitchen recreated on the computer. An amazing story. Ok, I am excited. (Enjoyed your post too - I took my soul mate to another European capital before we tied the knot). Thanks and have a good Holy Week!

I actually know La Table du P rigord! It is a great restaurant! Yes, sometimes in Paris you can be happy wie Gott im Frankreich, but it is disenheartening to think sometimes that all France is to some foreigners is good food and romanticism.

I must admit to a love affair with French wines, French cooking, French Poodles, the French chef Babette (from the film Babette's Feast), and the Belgian Hercule Poirot--thrown in for good measure.

Rod, Do you think your being from the Deep South has anything to do with your loving France and especially Paris. I'm also from the Deep South (Georgia) and am also deeply in love with a foreign country (the UK) and especially a certain city there (London). For me it has something to do with my "Southerness" always being somehow impermissable in other parts of the U. S. and especially in the major cities (New York, DC, LA, and San Francisco are the ones where I've spent the most time). Feeling like a foreigner in parts of my own country has made it easier for me to find a home-away-from-home somewhere else country. What about you? What about others here? PS: My sister (also from Georgia) is the Francophile in our family, though she's married to a Brit.

I wonder if the appearance of "freedom fries" might not have signalled the intellectual collapse of the Republican administration and many of its supporters.

Since noone is actually dogpiling on Rod for his comments about France, I will say this: First of all, I hope there is a distinction between Rod's love of France, and Tom Flemings quote, "I respect and admire the French, who have been a far greater nation than we shall ever be, that is, if greatness means anything loftier than money and bombs." And I will also say that France's policy on Iraq may have been wise, but it was also opportunistic and cynical.

"Back during the days leading up to the Iraq War, when idiots were pouring French wine down sewer drains..." I mean, how hard would it be to remove the label or make a fake label on the computer or something. Goodness, what a waste.

Charming, Frank. Hating your country is so authentically Catholic!

Maybe I've misread history; I had once thought that Calvin WAS French.

On my honeymoon in Paris (where my new bride, on her first trip to the City of Lights, had a terrible case of the flu) and the Loire Valley, the locals could not have been more gracious and friendly. Precisely one shopkeeper made a passing jab at les anglosaxones. However, it helps immensely if you speak the language. French is much harder to pronounced than anyone realizes until they actually try to order a drink in a real cafe, and the French think the same thing about English. I'll take California wine any day, though, and the French themselves would understand my nationalism in this regard.

My all-time favorite language barrier moment came when I tried to buy a pack of Marlboro cigarettes at a tabac, and the proprietor had no idea what I was trying to say. After the fifth or sixth repetition of "Marlboro" in varying accents, finger-pointing finally accomplished the task, and the owner exclaimed, "Ah, Marlboro!" as if it were a great epiphany.

Reader John, wouldn't you be more comfortable over on the Jimmy Carter blog? www.blameamericafirst.com Besides, in what way is teaching hatred the "antidote" of a god complex?

I'm with Rod. Its a shame that, among so many of us culturally conservative Americans, there is a ridiculous bias against Europe and Europeans. The conventional "wisdom" within the evangelical community is that Europe is totally godless and therefore virtually anything European (and especially French) must be rejected in favor of things American (and therefore more godly). But then we visit Europe and find that, in many ways, they live so much better than we do. Their food. Their towns and cities, and in so many ways their way of life, seem more godly than the godawful ghettos of evangelical "culture" in the US. My daughter lived in French-speaking Switzerland for a year recently, and found much to value. Sure, there are things about Europe that a Christian should reject (euthanasia, porn in the open, the decline of marriage, the drop in church attendance, etc), but there is still a Christian core to Europe that I admire. My daughter attended a Reformed church in Switzerland which had a very small but very dedicated congregation. They didn't waste time on the seeker-sensitive junk that dominates so many American churches. They seemed to walk their talk in a way that we Yanks have forgotten. And the Christian bookstores in Switzerland were crammed with real books, not the pop Christianity drivel that dominates the "Christian booklists" in the US. And all the stores close on Sunday!!!!!!!! (And yes, Calvin made Protestant Switzerland quite a place!)

What a lovely post! I share your love of all things French...especially my French husband, lol. We got married in a tiny town in Burgundy, and honeymooned in Paris. It was bliss...we should be returning this fall for a family wedding. I can't WAIT!!!!

I might as well point out, Rod, that you did not get dogpiled in the comments for your love of France. I think your audience has changed...

Well said, Rod. The French have delusions of continuing geopolitical greatness, which can have quite annoying results, but I have never stopped loving that country, its people and its products. My wife and I spent 2 weeks in Provence last summer, renting an apartment in a tiny and very old hilltop village. It was the trip of a lifetime. Best food ever, very good and inexpensive wine from the region, and the nicest people you could meet. My French was once pretty good (two summers in Paris during college, the second of them working at ELF Acquitaine) but has deteriorated considerably. Still, my game attempts to speak their beautiful language were rewarded with great friendliness. And I agree that A Moveable Feast is irresistible, especially when you read it as a young man.