Just got in last night around 9 PM local time.

We visited:

The resting place of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lion Heart (Abbaye de Fauntevreau).
The town of Saumur, and the Combier Distillery where J-A-D-E is born.
Castles or midevil keeps in Saumur, Orleans, Loches, and Chinon.
The cities of Paris, Tours, and Orleans.

My initial impressions are that the French, even Parisians (contrary to my own recollection) are extremely nice, and warm people. I'd had some negative experiences in Paris when I went there after college, but this trip I found all of the stereotypes to be baseless.

I encountered one flight attendant in Charles De Gaulle airport whom, I initially took to be very snotty, but later realized that she taught me a valuable lesson.
When I approached here, I immediately asked in French, if she spoke English (from the depths of my high school 2 years of French). She looked down her nose at me and with a pained expression said "Bonjour". Once I had responded in kind, she was happy to speak English and answer my question. My take home lesson, Address in French first, make the effort. Once I had this in mind,, EVERYONE we met was extremely nice, helpful, and warm.

Another thing, spring for the good car, if your going to be driving the countryside. We upgraded to a Cadillac CTS with Nav system and I did all of the driving for the trip, was quite happy to, as the Cadillac compares fairly well with my E320 I drive at home. The Caddy was a bit temperamental, and the Nav system flaked out on us at a couple of key moments, but overall I loved driving over there. Id maintain 160 KPH on the major highways, and virtually no one stays in the left lane for anything but Passing. Another odd observation, no one runs red, or yellow lights anywhere. If the light is changing, people stop, instead of trying to 'slip through'.

Finally, no one in Paris or Tours is overweight. It must be all of the walking people do, but everyone is fit. I know we, here in the US, are notoriously overweight, but it really takes getting a look at another people to see the massive difference. The women are fantastic, and even the plain women are better looking than most American women. My wife says its because they are naturally more elegant. I don’t know what it is, but I was amazed, and happy once again, to have not married an American woman. The French men are likely also as good looking, although I found them to be rather effeminate looking. My wife says, the tight turtlenecks they wear, can be sexy, I just don’t see it.

Pictures (from the trip, not of French men) and more observations will follow.

Sexy!

Is that a turd on his chest?

The chest on the ground that is.

No that’s an old meat helmet.

I'd venture a guess and say that like many European countries the population of France is blessed with a different lifestyle, cultural expectations, and not flooded with all the goddawful shitty "junk" food we have in Uh-merika.

That 'figurine' (I love that commercial!) is great!

Because the 'turd' is brown I'm guessing it's WWII and not WWI...

A drunk 'Poilu' is always good company!

Qu'est-ce que c'est ? Laissez-moi seul!

Merde...

I’m pretty sure it has to do with the cities as well. All of the walking they do over there, as opposed to driving around the block just to get groceries must have something to do with it.

Oddly, in the countryside, people tend to be a bit beefier. Nothing like we are over here, but the difference is noticeable.

I think one of the main reasons there are not very many fatties in Eur0pe is they don't drink much soda, or if they do, it usually doesn't contain shitloads of high fructose corn syrup.

Look at the Italians. Their diet consists of tons of carbohydrates (pasta, bread, wine), but you don't see them drinking 4 cokes a day, and so their body processes fat as opposed to storing it. Back in Tennessee, I used to work with this one lady who drank about a liter of Dr. Pepper a day. She was a blimp. She cut out the soda, switched to water, and she lost 50 pounds in no time.

i really don't drink a lot of soda....maybe one or two a week, sometimes none.

and i'm still a fat fuck.

This is true.

If soda companies (candy makers, etc.) stopped using HFCS, per capita consumption would decline.

Good.

Spoken like a man who has no financial stake in the obesity industry.