One does run into some interesting old cars that are still on the roads here. The most amazing one by far is this Ford Model T just parked on a road one day near our home in the suburbs around Paris. It was simply stunning to see just parked by the road. It was in perfect condition and certainly would fit right into a museum setting.

As can be plainly seen here in the picture the wheels are actually made from wooden spokes. Of course the interior of the car is spartan but as with the outside it was all original and in like new condition.

We never had a chance to meet the owner. The car hasn’t been out again either. But this summer we will be on the lookout. I’d love to find a way to cajole what I expect is an old Frenchman to at least give my kids a ride around the blog in this old beauty.

Another random sighting was this strange little car called the Dauphine and made by Renault from 1956 to 1967. At the time I took the pictures I thought it just looked like a neat old car. Little did I know that it was chosen instead as “the 9th worst care of the millennium” by the fine gents over at Car Talk. Accordingly they noted that the car was “truly unencumbered by the engineering process.” In a similar condemnation by Time they noted that the care “could actually be heard rusting.”

Now of course this is an amazing illustration of just how much the French love to hold on to these old cars. It seems that any version of the Renault Dauphine should have been placed on the junk heap decades ago, but here is one in perfect condition sitting in the parking lot at the mall. So someone has seen fit to maintain this car over all these years despite the fact that it need over 30 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph and has a reputation for breaking down all the time. That’s a will to preserve if I ever saw one!

All this doesn’t mean you won’t see mostly new and late model cars on the roads here. Improved gas mileage is a big reason people buy new models given that gas costs around $7/gallon for regular.

We have what anyone would consider a very good shop near our home which can be seen in the photos here.  There are indeed many varieties of the most basic types of cheese.  Goat cheese alone comes in dozens of varieties that vary by origin, age, texture, and shape.  A complete list of cheeses can be found on Wikipedia but commercial sites like Fromages.com has a complete and very informative cheese library which goes into every type of cheese showing it’s characteristics, origin, and even preferred wines for pairing.   If you don’t speak French it won’t be easy to get help in most cheese shops outside of Paris. However you can always point.  For hard cheese choices like Comte and Mimolette are very good and low risk.  The older ones are better, at least up to a point.  One of the best goat cheese varieties is often referred to as La Pyramide due to its shape.  It tends to be a drier and firmer goat cheese but when done well it is also surprisingly creamy.

Most cheese shops also have special cheeses “a la maison” that offer a bit more adventure.  These often have extra ingredients like nuts inside or layers of different cheeses.  Raisins also often make an appearance on the outside of special cheeses. Beyond cheese one will typically also find fresh yogurts, breads, crackers, a dessert or two and even a limited selection of wines.

There are famous cheese stores in Paris and once we find a useful link to them we’ll post it here.  But the best way to discover a fine cheese shop is by looking around.  They are all very good to excellent compared to what you might find elsewhere and probably about 1 in 10 are especially good like the one shown here.  The differences are hard to describe but when you walk into one, you just know it.

Our goal is to inform, illuminate and have some fun with the topics we find interesting. If we discover strange manhole covers we may just document and write about them.  Same goes for pasteries, butchers, hardware stores, monuments, attitudes, politics, companies, parks, bars and so on.

When we discover particularly good books and other resources we’ll provide reviews and links to send you ever deeper into the world of France.