This article is classified "Real"
Go ahead! Yes! Give them what they deserve! (The most all-around advice
ever to be stated, it is all too true here as well....)
Background:
HitchHiking in France is tough - anyone that tried it knows it.
Solution:
Try to learn some french before going there - or trust your luck to find
someone capable to understand you. Act like a native, with a baguette in
the armpit and a beret.
The other way, which is a lot less time consuming and very popular among
Americans, is to act just like at home -- pretending to be in Des Moines,
Iowa. This is not recommended. Chances are that you will be treated like
an alien, one of the most disgusting kinds... (you ever see Jabba the Hut
from Star Wars??)
Food:
For a hitchhiker nothing is as important as a cheap meal among chums.
France is the ideal place to go.
As mushrooms pop out of the ground in a well-manured field, the cafes, bars,
and restaurants appear out of nowhere - everywhere. The best places to go
to are recognizable by the lack of fine, nicely printed menus by the
entrance.
The best places (for a hitchhiker, or any other adventurer) are the
restaurants that are situated in narrow lanes where no one ever has to
go. Therefore not many people know of the existence of these small, really
cosy restaurants. Especially not the tourists.
Check out a place called Fourqueux; this is a place where you can find some
real frenchies, a good meal for a small amount of francs.
L'arab-du-coin:
(Literally: "The Arab of the Corner" - that's what it is.) In each block in
any decent city of France there is an Arab with a little shop selling
everything. It's open every day of the week, and almost 24 hours per day.
The wares he trades range from milk to vodka, cucumbers to peanuts,
toothbrushes to cutlery... you name it, he has it. Furthermore - the size
of the shop is often about the size of two or three phone-booths placed one
against another.
What to eat:
As a hitchhiker, the choice of nourishment is somewhat delimited by the
absence of a kitchen.
The best food-for-the-franc ratio goes to:
1) Baguette - traditional french bread. Most bang-for-the-buck!
2) Yop - liquid yogurt - to drink.
3) Camembert - cheese, for the bread.
4) Wine - all sorts, from disgusting 20c/liter to really good...
To find this really cheap, go to a supermarket. If it is closed, go to
the closest arab-du-coin, he is always open.
Good Luck, and happy hiking!