Motorhoming in France

[Oexmelin]

Markets are great, and will likely maintain your romantic notions that any visit to the local Hyper-Market would crush. Markets will also have pre-made food (like rotisserie chicken), as will "traiteurs", which may be a nice, in-between solution to your lack of cooking implements (I second the idea of a hotplate, especially for 8 weeks - that's not going to be too much weight, and I would pick a hotplate over other, presumably, non essential stuff).

You will find good cheese everywhere, I recommend the local specialties. Chaource in Champagne. Cure Nantais in Brittany. Selles-sur-Cher in Loire Valley. Good camembert in Normandy. Epoisse in Burgundy. Many goat cheeses in the South.  Picodon, in the Rhone Valley.

[Threviel]

Good tips all around. Which Super-Market should I use? I imagine that Carrefour is a somewhat better one. I don't need a superdupergood, but which chains are better than Liedl and Aldi?

[Barrister]

Good tips all around. Which Super-Market should I use? I imagine that Carrefour is a somewhat better one. I don't need a superdupergood, but which chains are better than Liedl and Aldi?

If you're driving around in the countryside, use whatever one is handy.  Don't drive past an Aldi just to try and look for a different one.

[Threviel]

Good tips all around. Which Super-Market should I use? I imagine that Carrefour is a somewhat better one. I don't need a superdupergood, but which chains are better than Liedl and Aldi?

If you're driving around in the countryside, use whatever one is handy.  Don't drive past an Aldi just to try and look for a different one.

Well, yes, if I need milk I'll buy milk. But normally there's a choice, there might be a few that we are passing when moving from one place to another. If an Aldi and a Liedl are next door to each other it doesn't matter. But what chains makes a difference?

[Duque de Bragança]

Good tips all around. Which Super-Market should I use? I imagine that Carrefour is a somewhat better one. I don't need a superdupergood, but which chains are better than Liedl and Aldi?

Most of them.  Those two are cheap though, Leader Price is almost on the same price level as Lidl and Aldi.
Monoprix is pricey. Leclerc are good and cheap but are mostly hyper-markets. Auchan is not bad, not only hypermarkets, cheaper than Monoprix and with a good selection.
Others like Casino or Intermarché are fine too.
Franprix is cheaper than the local grocery but that's all.

About Auvergne and cheese: Saint Nectaire is a name of village in the volcano area so the real as in better may be found there and probably cheaper.

[Syt]

Mandatory reading, btw:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_and_the_Banquet

[Threviel]

Since we are going to go to Verdun I want to prepare properly. I know the general outlines of the battle, but can anyone recommend a good book on it? I was hoping to find a Peter Hart book on it, but he seems to only dabble where UK was involved, which is quite natural. I would like something from the french and/or german perspective, preferably some translated french or german author, but anything goes.

Any tips?

[Malthus]

Mandatory reading, btw:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix_and_the_Banquet

The traffic jam has still not been cleared since then. 

[fromtia]

This sounds like an absolutely fantastic trip and a really wonderful memorable thing to do for your children as well. A friend of mine who lives in the French Pyrenees recently took his children to China by train. yep. Travelling with young children is really good for them I think.

I used to travel in France frequently in the late eighties and early nineties, back packing and riding trains and all that as an unwashed teen. I have only been back once, in 2017 as now I live in the US it isn't quite as convenient.

Avignon is beautiful I have vivid memories of staying there for a week during a theatre festival. amazing.

My French is horrible, but I always make a good faith effort to speak it at all times in France. I was surprised to discover in 2017 that Parisians were much more content to speak English than they were 20 years ago. Lots of really good language apps on the phone now.

Have a great trip.

[Oexmelin]

Since we are going to go to Verdun I want to prepare properly. I know the general outlines of the battle, but can anyone recommend a good book on it? I was hoping to find a Peter Hart book on it, but he seems to only dabble where UK was involved, which is quite natural. I would like something from the french and/or german perspective, preferably some translated french or german author, but anything goes.

Any tips?

Military history is really not my thing, and, as far as I know, the French language historiography is more concerned with the social/memory aspect of Verdun than with the battle itself. One book on Verdun in a prestigious collection is actually a translation of: Paul Jankowski, Verdun: The Longest Battle of the Great War (Oxford, 2014). It was well received by French specialists of the period (and Jankowsk is an American historian of France. I like his research on political corruption).

[Threviel]

Thanks Fromtia, really looking forward to it.

Thanks Oex. That sounds even more interesting. Any tips on a good book handling the social/memory/psychological results of the battle? I don't really have the ability to centrate enought to read heavy academical works right now, so something on the popular side?

[Threviel]

Tomorrow is the big day, on to adventure.

The campervan is fully loaded, probably overloaded, and the kids are hyped up.

The first day we'll take the ferry to Denmark and then another ferry to Germany, we'll be spending the night and possibly next day in Syt's old neighbourhood, a small seaside resort called Grossenbrode.

[crazy canuck]

Bon voyage.

[Zanza]

Have a nice trip!

Syt's old neighbourhood, a small seaside resort called Grossenbrode.

Much closer to my hometown than to Syt's hometown. 

[Threviel]

Have a nice trip!

Syt's old neighbourhood, a small seaside resort called Grossenbrode.

Much closer to my hometown than to Syt's hometown. 

Ohh, I didn't know you were from around there. I thought Syt was from Grömitz or something, but apparently that's also wrong.