Ah fromage – cheese in France is delicious. It is so good and of course so widely available. We live in a region that created the salted caramel, the crepe, and maybe the cider, but maybe not and even so it is very good.

When we first arrived, we frequented the market every week. On Easter Sunday this year we got a really great piece of ham from one of the food vendors. We’ve been buying our holiday meals at the market just because it is easy to do. Luckily for us, market was open even though it was Easter. Unluckily for us, we went after breakfast but before lunch, which meant we were shopping on a not quite empty stomach.

Good for the vendors, bad for the wallet! I didn’t find turkey around thanksgiving last year, so we didn’t have any of that, but there is always good chicken and ham available. There are a few vendors that roast chicken right there at the market. They usually cook the potatoes directly under the chicken so the flavors get mixed together.

I have discovered that the view of France being extravagant, romantic, Paris, wine, cheese, bread, and walks along the river is just a little off. Meals are simple and it’s not the amazingness of a meal that you enjoy but the company you are in. A favorite of ours is a halved baked potato, topped with chopped gam, cheese, and garlic butter. This is such a super simple meal. Of course this is easily made at home, but the line up of the various options at the market makes it too tempting to take home.

My tip is this: you will probably not find your favorite junk food or snack in the store. But that’s okay. Embrace the experience and try new foods. Enjoy new combinations of foods. I love pickles but here there are cornichon’s, which are small not sweet pickles but not the “regular” pickles in the US. It didn’t take long for me to love them.

I love farmer’s markets. When we lived in Washington state there was an amazing year round market that we would shop at. It was always crowded, there were always some kind of performers, and of course the ready to eat food was always so good. We have three markets here, the largest on the weekend and the other two are during the week.

When we first arrived in France, we didn’t know that everything was closed on Sunday’s. I don’t mean banks and other businesses, I mean everything. Grocery stores, the mall, restaurants, everything. But the market, that is open for business. It is usually busy when we go, with lines at the favorite shops. We can find anything from clothes and shoes to purses and toys, food from meats, cheeses, fruits, veggies, even stands that only sell sausage or olives. There is Apple juice made here that is popular, and of course a few crepe stands.

The market is a few blocks long, also taking up a couple of side streets. There may be a performer and it’s usually a clown making balloon animals. There are craftspeople who sell handmade baskets from Africa, a gentleman who does leatherwork, photographers, and more. It’s a full market. We have favorite stands – a great place to get chicken and ham, another that sells a sausage and potato dish, and of course the apple juice guy.

The weather turned to sun around lunchtime today and we were rushed out the door by our youngest as he was very interested in riding his scooter. The walk to the market is quiet, we only pass a few people going home, and as we get closer there are more people. The tram runs less frequently on Sunday’s and the only restaurant we know of that is open is McDonald’s.

My tip is this: find out when the market in your town and embrace it. A couple of hours on Sunday is easily spent walking up and down the street before going to our favorite shops to get lunch and dinner and head home.

When we packed up to move we brought one full luggage each of clothes. The rest of our luggage was full of uniform items, towels, blankets, bathroom products, sewing projects, school books for the kids, and I can’t even remember what else. We did not do an early shipment that the military offers because too many people told me that their express shipment showed up either at the same time or later than their household goods shipment. That just wasn’t worth the risk for me. I didn’t want to do without some things when we were still living in our place in CA (since the express shipment leaves you earlier) and then still not have that stuff in a new place.

Of course what comes with several pieces of luggage of clothes – laundry. The one thing our great hotel did not have was laundry facilities for the guests. The first time we did laundry we took it to a service because we just could not find two different laundromats that people told us about! That was an expensive lesson, but everything came back folded. Bright side right? After that we found the laundromat and hauled our luggage up those blocks and learned a lesson.

What was that lesson? Don’t use the largest industrial dryer even if you are super interested in getting your stuff dry as soon as possible. Even if you try to set it on a lower heat setting, it will fry any lace on any of your clothes

My tip is this: be patient when you are washing and drying your clothes. Take advantage of another country’s kindness and leave your laundry to wash while you look around close by. While we waited for laundry people were in and out starting, switching, and leaving their laundry. I’m sure they lived close by but that was surprising.