Motorhoming in France

[Threviel]

How do you mean prepared? I usually mash, well, potatoes that fall apart when boiling. Floury we call them, but what would I be looking for here? By mash I mean adding milk, butter, salt, pepper and possibly other spices and whipping it up to a soft light texture.

For purée, that is purely puréed potatoes, I would use firm potatoes that don't fall apart. Like the one I bought without thinking it through properly. I very very rarely purée potatoes.

[Oexmelin]

The French will use purée de pommes de terre for mashed potatoes, and these will usually indeed be mixed with butter, milk (or cream), etc. And they also prefer floury varietals for mashing. Those you will find in France are Bintje or Marabel - they may behave differently than those you are used to?

[Threviel]

No no, I'm just having difficulties reading labels and therefore I feel a strong need to embarrass myself here.

[Threviel]

I think my wife fell in love in Bretagne. We had the bikes out for the first time and went on a nice trip, visiting Merlins grave and the fountain of youth. Beautiful forests and nice bicycle routes. Unfortunately the forests were mostly private. At home there's a law allowing anyone to enter any land as long as nothing is destroyed, we can pick berries and mushroom everywhere, around here there were big signs forbidding this and that.

We continued on to La Rochelle. Now that was a nice town, we had a shopping day and we took a boat around Fort Boyard, a 19th century fort made famous through a game show. We met a Swedish lady living there, apparently we were the first Swedish tourists she's met since moving there ten years ago.

The flush on the toilet broke, so I had to spend an evening with my head in the hatch fixing it. Not fun.

From La Rochelle we continued down towards Bordeaux, presently we're about 40 km from Cognac, in a town called Saint Jean-d'Angely. We checked in to a nice camping with a big playground cause the oldest boy has his fifth birthday on Wednesday and that's what he wished for. The area seems like it's made for canoeing, lots of small canals and boat clubs. For some reason the camping is full with Dutch. Unfortunately the car has broken down, probably a bearing in the right rear wheel. We could only get a time in the shop for Wednesday, so little Gustav will spend part of his birthday in the repair shop. Then we found some medieval theme park with a castle and all to spend the rest in.

Some notes:

In some campings and rest stops there are asian style standing toilets, more or less a hole in the ground with porcelain around. And no toilet paper.

South of Bretagne the houses changed again, no more slate roofing, now it's ceramic tiles and white houses. More of a Mediterranean feel to it.

We couldn't find a convenient stop in the Vendee made me wonder if it's because of the revolution that ghe place seemed empty or if it's our lack of knowledge.

[Maladict]

Bretagne

[Threviel]

I forgot, we stayed at Quiberon and visited Carnac. Quiberon was ridiculously beautiful. Carnac was impressive, although you can only walk amongst the stones in winter.

And we stayed at Larmor-Baden, planning to visit Gavrinis. Unfortunately there was some kind of festival, so the boat trips were all booked up.

[Duque de Bragança]

Some notes:

In some campings and rest stops there are asian style standing toilets, more or less a hole in the ground with porcelain around. And no toilet paper.

South of Bretagne the houses changed again, no more slate roofing, now it's ceramic tiles and white houses. More of a Mediterranean feel to it.

Turkish-style toilets!  They can still be found, but are disappearing I believe. Toilet paper should be there though.

I would not say south of Bretagne beings Mediterranean France, but yes, south of the Loire, central France begins, a transition area. Only the SE and Corsica would I describe as truely mediterranean. SW being close, though. If you plan to go to SW France i.e from Bordeaux to Toulouse roughly, try ordering a "pain au chocolat".

[Threviel]

So, just as I was about to put dinner on the table Gustav, my oldest, fell very unluckily inside the camper. My wife was carrying him and he was fighting her and somehow he dropped and fell on a step and cut a huge gash in his forehead.

By chance there was a hospital five minutes walking from the camping, so once I got the bleeding under control I ran with him there. A few hours later and he's got two stitches and a band-aid. He's a hard guy, once the bleeding stopped he stopped crying and he actually seemed to like it when I ran with him in the buggy. He was back to his own happy self in the waiting room and he absolutely loved the anaesthetic gas. The doctor gave him the mouthpiece as a present.

And tomorrow is his birthday.

[KRonn]

Poor kid, but glad he's ok from his little mishap.

[Threviel]

The kid is ok, the parents feel bad, but that's life I guess.

We wnt to cognac. That was a nice city. We visited Otard and Hennessy and had a pizza. I learned that Americans apparently shot Cognac and use it as a party drink and Chinese drink it between meals. Pineau is nice, but pommeau is better.

We continued to Bordeaux, to Chateau la Peyraude. They had a place for motorhomes. Very nice place, camping in the middle of Bordeaux amongst the vines was very fun.

Now we're at Lascaux. We have already visited Rouffignac and Font de Gaume. Highly recommended, now I finally see why they say that cave art is of high quality. Fantastic in 3d. Tomorrow we go to Lascaux. We went in with some American tourists, as always very friendly and polite. I eavesdropped and they were veterans of Vietnam and Korea. One dude was two weeks late for WWII. Very interesting and a nice contrast with the brits we've met, one of whom was friendly (presumably because he needed help) and the rest ignoring or dismissive of us. 

Some notes

Cakes and patisseries are really sweet, too sweet for my taste. Possibly because of the general diet of chocolate and brioche bread.

There is no or almost no rye or barley flour. Nor any flakes of oat. The french eat wheat and almost only wheat. They must eat too few fibres.

[The Larch]

Still looking for Swedish groceries?

[mongers]

The kid is ok, the parents feel bad, but that's life I guess.

We wnt to cognac. That was a nice city. We visited Otard and Hennessy and had a pizza. I learned that Americans apparently shot Cognac and use it as a party drink and Chinese drink it between meals. Pineau is nice, but pommeau is better.

We continued to Bordeaux, to Chateau la Peyraude. They had a place for motorhomes. Very nice place, camping in the middle of Bordeaux amongst the vines was very fun.

Now we're at Lascaux. We have already visited Rouffignac and Font de Gaume. Highly recommended, now I finally see why they say that cave art is of high quality. Fantastic in 3d. Tomorrow we go to Lascaux. We went in with some American tourists, as always very friendly and polite. I eavesdropped and they were veterans of Vietnam and Korea. One dude was two weeks late for WWII. Very interesting and a nice contrast with the brits we've met, one of whom was friendly (presumably because he needed help) and the rest ignoring or dismissive of us. 

Some notes

Cakes and patisseries are really sweet, too sweet for my taste. Possibly because of the general diet of chocolate and brioche bread.

There is no or almost no rye or barley flour. Nor any flakes of oat. The french eat wheat and almost only wheat. They must eat too few fibres.

Thanks for the interesting update, glad the trip is going well.

[Duque de Bragança]

There is no or almost no rye or barley flour. Nor any flakes of oat. The french eat wheat and almost only wheat. They must eat too few fibres.

Rye bread = pain de seigle is pretty much available everywhere. I like it, buy once in a while. 
Barley bread = pain d'orge is more uncommon though

[Threviel]

I was a bit unclear, I was talking about flour, being a home baker. And of course there are all kinds available for natives, but I did not see that much variety in the minuscule flour shelf in the otherwise well stocked hypermarket. The wheat flour I bought seems to be of very high quality on the other hand, makes excellent pancakes. 

There are some few kinds of not pure wheat bread in most supermarkets, but it is a distinct minority. Amongst the pre-packaged stuff I've found german style roggenbrot one or two times.

Bakeries are hit and miss, sometimes excellent, sometimes a very small selection.

In smaller shops there are american style toast or baguette available.

Natives that know where to go when might of course have a different experience.

[Duque de Bragança]

Understood
Supermarkets are not the best place for bread. But then I also do not buy flour to make by bread.

As for bakeries and pastries, that's true. The closest to my old home, I only go for éclairs ; another one 5 min on foot I go for croissants and bread etc.