WISE OWL
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I have just come back from France today.
The French value land and care for it as it is one of their major resources. It is a strongly agricultural country with a varied relief.
France is very much like other countries in that there are towns of various sizes and many small villages dotted in the countryside, but you can drive miles without seeing any dwellings at all. Every parcel of land is used for agriculture, or green fields where cattle and sheep graze. The agricultural land in certain areas has extensive crops of one kind such as wheat, corn, sunflowers, root vegetables, lavender etc...depending in which region you are in and there are vines grown on sunny slopes which yield grapes that produce a large variety of wines depending on which soil they are grown. There also are beautiful forests, and roads and fields are hedged with a variety of trees of all sizes. People have dug a network of shady canals that link the main rivers with one another on which barges carry wood, machinery, wine and various sorts of materials across France .The French have built a remarkable network of motorways , but basic roads are good too. Their railway network is excellent with fast and clean trains that run on time.
Because it is a country with a long history , it is dotted with castles which range from feudal to splendid Renaissance buildings and, 17th century chateaux and gardens, 18th and 19th century mansions, but there also are very old ordinary buildings with exposed beams or rough stone, and houses built of red brick. In the mountains many houses are built out of wood and logs. Almost every agglomeration has a church with a tower or a steeple which can be seen from quite a distance, and sometimes several. The Gothic and Romanesque cathedrals with some magnificent carvings in and out are numerous and known the world over because they truly are magnificent.
In the countryside the outstanding features, because they are large or very tall, are enormous silos to store grain and, in recent years, the progressive introduction of wind farms to produce electricity. Also because some areas have no ground water there are high water towers.
At one point there were many isolated villages and farms being abandoned by some of the population as young people wanted to settle in towns but now the tide has turned and even derelict houses have been rebuilt, and there has been a return to rural locations which are considered healthier. Towns are a mixture of styles and periods with some houses that may look somewhat tatty from outside, but there also are many spanking new dwellings, and of course quite a lot of modern architecture, as so many buildings were destroyed during the two world wars and were rebuilt as blocks of flats, some rather ugly and others breathtakingly handsome. The French tend to group industrial and commercial warehouses and hypermarkets buildings on the aprroaches to towns, whereas in towns there are many small shops in existence such as butchers, bakers, florists, greengrocers, fashion boutiques, hardware stores, book shops and antique shops etc....Houses are much cheaper than in UK as a result of which many people from England have sold their houses and moved over to retire in France, buying old properties and doing them up.
The French are very nationalistic and they take pride in their towns and villages which they make a special effort to improve with flowers and trees. Many villages compete for stars awarded for "villes fleuries" or "villages fleuris" and even small villages have artistic wrought iron lampposts and original statuary. Streets are clean and have very little litter. Towns spaces that are used for markets etc... are swept or washed by municipal cleaners.
Their factories are modern and clean.They build all sorts of things from cars to planes, and they make very distinctive and interesting furniture and household goods.
The food in France is fresher than fresh, and their animals are well tended and produce first class meat .Their dairy produce are second to none and they keep well .Their vegetables are flavourful and varied . Markets are awsome.
The French are environmentally conscious and started recycling and trying to make better use of natural resources before many other nations. |
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