Here are some random and mostly off-topic observations from my trip to France. I'm posting here because this is where my friends are. If you don't like it, ask the moderator to delete the post.
AF has unexpectedly good seat pitch in coach on its A340s. This aircraft also has the most MHC-friendly configuration that I've seen: curtains both forward and aft of the lavs between the two coach sections. No, I didn't get a chance to renew my membership this year.
The countryside in southern France is being quietly invaded by the British, whose real estate market inflated earlier than France's. Now the prices are impossible for everyone everywhere.
The average intelligence and ambition of the French may be gradually decreasing due to the tendency of high achievers to export themselves to the U.S. I once heard a leftist politician on French TV say that he was not concerned with this trend because those people don't vote for his party anyway!! Incidentally, the tendency of such people to come to America from everywhere is why I believe the U.S. will remain the leader of the free world for generations to come.
Similarly, I am convinced that the average beauty of French women is dropping by some fraction of a milliHelen per year. (A milliHelen is a metric unit representing the amount of beauty needed to launch one ship.) My wife exported herself over 20 years ago, and that alone made a significant difference in the average. She's exquisite, and I have the proof: a distant relative recognized her instantly in her car despite having seen her only twice, the last time being over 30 years ago. And after a few moments, she recognized him, too! She would have made an excellent detective.
People in southern France are much the same as rural people in the U.S. The differences in world view are driven much more by misperceptions peddled by the media. American media thinks that the French government represents the philosophy of the French people, but that is an unwarranted extrapolation of the way government works in America. Likewise the French media, having little direct experience with Americans, believe and perpetuate the conventional wisdom of left-leaning political groups. If you ask a specific question as to what would be the best policy in a particular situation, you will get nearly identical answers from French and American people, at least in this part of France. For example, did you know that a majority of the French favor the death penalty for some cases, just as in America? Many people in both countries are upset with massive immigration of poor people, not that anybody has a workable solution. Politicians stay in office by exaggerating differences, but don't let that fool you. The best antidote to antagonism between these two countries, or any two countries for that matter, is getting to know each other person to person.
More proof that people are the same everywhere: I have heard stories of intra-family feuds here that rival anything you know of in the U.S. It's crazier than those French movies like Jean de Florette and Manon de la Source. It's a sad fact of human nature that a not insignificant percentage of people are willing to trade their family ties for money, and that even a minor slight can cut those ties for decades. People are stubborn cusses, as we say in the U.S.
If you get deep enough into the wilds, Southern France is a great place to do nothing at all for a few weeks. Or, if you like do-it-yourself construction, you might even be able to make a living rebuilding ruins in tiny villages of 4 or 5 dwellings. But you'd need plenty of patience.
France is a great place to visit, but I'll be glad to get home.