Live in France? Join us for a gentil thread

[TheAccidentalExhibitionist]

So how about a lovely supportive, information sharing thread for us mumsnetters living in France?
I've been here for two years, this is my second time living here so 4 years in total.
I have my moans about France, the paperwork, the driving but other than that I love it

Ooo yes, Regional Crepes R Us.
Rice pudding, blood sausage or tripe in Normandy. Foie gras or goose fat in the Perigord..
Add your regional variations here....

Pieds et paquets crèpes??? (boak)

petit she wants to do a good degree but not necessarily become a lawyer - so UK keeps her options open. Having said this she will apply for Sorbonne/Kings College but last year there were 3000 applicants for 20 places!

Anyone want to weigh in on the 'shopping on Sundays' debate? Am really annoyed that casto and Leroy merlin are now being forced to close on Sundays in my area. DP and I are doing up the kitchen, and since we both work full time with long commutes the weekends are the only time we have to do it. Saturdays are already a mad rush to go to supermarket, do other shopping errands, get DSS to and from activities etc. Now we are going to have to add DIY planning and shopping to that list! So frustrating as the workers want to work, the public want to shop, the bosses want to open, it seems like it's only those damn syndicats that are hell bent on putting a spanner in the works...

riverboat - do you not have internet supermarket shopping? TBH I barely set foot in a supermarket these days - I get all my routine shopping done on houra.fr (delivered at 7am) and use the market for the fresh stuff. The market being open on Sunday morning.

We only have click and collect (still saves time!) out in the sticks, bonsoir, although Carrefour City is open Sunday mornings.

river It definitely takes adjustment but I can see if you're trying to get a project done and your Saturdays are crammed then no longer having Sunday opening is a real pain.

I think one of the best things about France is that it is closed on Sundays. I would be upset to see that change.

I'm torn; I like the possibility of getting shopping done on Sundays, and I know it allows lots of students, for instance, to work and earn some cash, but at the same time I like the fact that in France Sunday are still different to other days. Slower, more family-oriented.
I get more het up about how much I'd like to see smaller shops open longer in the week (I can't get my head around them having lunch breaks from 12-3pm), than about Sunday opening, TBH.

No internet food shopping here. I think you can click and collect from Caen, but that is a 100km round trip. I am not too fussed about Sunday opening because I am retired, but would want it if I was working. Round here the shops close on Monday too. I did laugh when there was something in the local paper on longer opening hours and one shop owner said, "customers have got to learn that they can't have everything they want"...
I think the whole area of internet shopping is woefully underdeveloped and must hold back businesses here. None of my neighbours will pay anything on line.

We're lucky in that supermarkets in Luxembourg are open on Sunday mornings so we can shop then. I like quiet Sundays but agree that it doesn't make economic sense to close so much. If the staff are willing that is.

Interesting. On-line shopping is well-developed in Paris - we buy an awful lot of stuff online - supermarket but also électroménager from Darty, cultural stuff from FNAC and Amazon, underwear and other routine clothing, furniture...

The problem with online shopping in the supermarkets I've looked at is that there is nothing like the same range available as in store. Especially things like meat, world foods and fresh produce. My closest supermarket is superu,and last time I looked the range online was woeful. Maybe I should look at other supermarkets.

Also probably part of the reason that I am pro.Sunday shopping is that the whole idea of it being a family day is just unfeasible for me: Dp's family is on the other side of France, mine is in the uk, and we only have DSS eow. Fine if people want to spend Sundays with their families, but I feel really patronised by the law deciding unilaterally that Sunday, arbitrarily, has to be a family day for everyone.

I think on-line food shopping is very restricted to large population centres in France - we are quite rural, but only 50km away from Paris and there is no online delivery to us from the main hypermarkets, only click and collect.

Shops around here are open on Sunday mornings, and some of them, Sunday afternoons too because we're in a special tourist zone. I wouldn't mind shops opening, but only if the workers really have the option to work or not, and I don't think that's realistic as once Sunday opening becomes the norm Sunday work will, too.

I love online shopping, but quite a lot of companies only deliver to a collection point.

Apologies for the change of subject but can anyone suggest some fun things to do with a 2.5yo in Paris for 3 days in January? She loves animals, books and running around but is a bit timid around other children, especially when doing physical activities (i.e. on her own she enjoys all the toys in the playground, but when other kids are running around, falling over, pushing each other around, she is worried and stands to one side watching, so I think soft play may be a disaster).

My local Carrouf Market does click and collect and they were dire the couple of times I used them. The choice was okish as long as you're not demanding but the actual physical selection of fruit and veg was shoddy (over ripe and sometimes going off for example) and there were always items missing and in some cases charged for. Took me so long going in and arguing with them after every shop I gave up and went back to my usual haunts. Carrouf is overpriced anyway.

Hmm, toddler in Paris. In January. Tough one. I'm not going to take my two other than to visit friends until they are a little older. The parks are good for running around in but I don't see Paris as being particularly toddler friendly. The Jardins de Luxembourg have a nice carousel and there are good puppet (like Punch and Judy) shows in the Buttes Chaumont but I am not sure if they are all running in January.

Sorry, don't really have any advice.

2.5 year old in Paris - Parc Monceau has a very small merry-go-round that is ideal for this age group. Open on Wednesdays from lunchtime and in the afternoons - 4pm onwards ASFAIK. Also two sandpits, one in the playground (so full of big DC) and another, smaller one near the lake. And pony rides in the afternoon.

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know any home educating groups in France? Especially south of France? We live in London at the moment, but I would like a bit of an adventure. I HE my DD who is 4.5.

Thanks!

Re. Toddlers in Paris, would the jardin d'acclimatation be any good?

I'd take the 2.5 year old to the menagerie (zoo) located in the jardin de plantes. I went there in the summer and it was lovely.

lapumpkin yes there is a strong home schooling contingent in Toulouse in the south of France. I've been trying to find the Facebook group, but I think it may be a closed group. If you want more info, PM me with your email and I'll try and put you in contact with a home schooler who is in the group.

Brilliant thanks for these ideas!

By the by it was food week at my DD's nursery and they had a meal from a different country of the world each day this week. They had parents and local restaurants help with the menue and did Chinese, American, Israeli, Morocan and a 'degustation' of cheeses at an outing at the local farm! So they are trying to be more international.

Sorry I can't help Booboostoo. But can anyone help me? I posted on the FB group but it's busier here: can anyone recommend fun things to do in Bordeaux and anywhere good to eat? DCs are 12, 10 and 7. ThAnks.

Booboostoo - Disney? I know it's outside of the city but is great for little ones.

Better for that age is Jardin d'acclimatation. Much cheaper and closer, as well!