Wie Gott in Frankreich

After some eight days in France i reckon it's fair to say that the German pronoun (as in the title) isn't completely wrong. I'll tell you about that in a minute. However, I'd like to share with you some things about the French as well as a quick insight into what's occupying the French these days.

The Airbus A380 (a long name to pronounce in French) has probably completed its test flight by the time of writing this, but it's definitely a huge thing here. Then there's the oui/non to the European constitution. Almost every night there's a debate on television in which JM LePen is doing his best to scare ordinary French people but, fortunately, both old and young people seem to just laught at him. Speaking of LePen, he's actually a lot less charismatic than I thought he'd be. Chirac has a far better grip on his audience, and there are a lot of audiences these days as Chirac puts his reputation on the line to secure a "oui". Thirdly, there's the question whether or not pentecôte is a public holiday. The French, no surprise there, would rather not work...

The French are, to my surprise, very formal in everything they say and do. Not on one single occasion has anyone yet said "tu" to me, it's always vouz followed by monsieur, even amongst people my age. I can also reassure you that the French carry their baguettes under their arms. Just sit down on a bench outside any boulangerie and watch. Quite funny really.

My French is also coming along nicely. I find myself using the same phrases over and over again but in how many ways can one check into a hotel or ask for a map at the tourist office? I tried speaking to a pentioner in Nancy but old people don't seem to know that there are people who don't speak their language fluently, making no effort to speak slowly or clearly. Anyway, the conversation wasn't too bad even though it was mainly a monologue on her latest illness, son (the owner of the café we where in at the time) etc. Obviously it's much easier to understand than to speak a language. I can follow a cellar tour or the news in French but easiest of all was "Forrest Gump" dubbed into French. I don't know whether it's a good thing or not to be able to understand everything someone with a particularly low IQ says....

Before you start questioning my IQ I'll get on with my account of the last few days. After a quick dose of art noveau in Nancy I found my way to neighbouring Metz, where I went through the main sites of French and German architecture (Metz was under German rule long enough for the Germans to provide the town with some of its finest buildings).

Next up was Verdun, a name almost synonimous with the first World War. I spent two days visiting most of the museums and, also, several battle sites (trenches) which, in the end, almost made me feel sick. There's also a site where French soldiers were buried alive as a shell exploded. They were not moved since and you can still see these soldiers' weapons sticking up into the air as if they were still waiting for the assault that never came. I couldn't drink the tap water thinking blood would still be in the water 90 years on... A very interesting experience though, I know a lot more about the great war now than I did before.

A sharp contrast to the endless suffering of Verdun, I headed for a bit of Lebensfreude in the Champagne region. My first stop was the cellar of Moët & Chandon, where our group was introduced to the art of making the finest of sparkling wines. In épernay there are more than 100 kilometres of cellars underneath the village. No tour is complete without dégustation so I jumped at the chance to test and compare three different champagnes. The gigantic house of M&C, situated on the Avenue de Champagne, is majestic and grand. The employees there (those I spoke to were Dutch and Spanish) made no secret out of the fact that certain French general was a regular visiter after the Revolution. In fact, the brut impérial is named after him.

As I'm writing this I'm in Reims, together with épernay, the capital of the Champagne region. Here I've visited Taittinger which is also one of more famous champagne houses but M&C is simply in another league as far as grandeur goes.