Two Worlds only Hours Apart

This year for our annual summer family vacation Margot, Glosette Girl and I packed into a plane and hopped across the pond for a France/Swiss double combo! Bonjour! Wie geht es dir! While the original focus of out trip was Switzerland, whenever we go to Europe we look for an excuse to visit one of Jen's besties, B, and her family in Béziers, France. So with the help of the magical Interweb we figured out the logistics and started our Swiss adventure with a side trip over to Southwest France.

Margot with B's lovely kids, M, O, and N

It's amazing how different France is to Switzerland! Some observations about the area of France we saw:

• Food and wine is really well priced.
• Standard food: bread, cheese (of all kinds), charcuterie, regional fresh fruits (melons, nectarines, plums).
• Night rules! Everyone eats dinner late, and even kids stay up to 11 pm or midnight on a regular basis. This was especially important during our visit as Europe was in the midst of a heatwave, which made walking around during the day a challenge.
• Politics is much more a part of everyday life. We noticed announcements of local political activity were prominently mentioned in local weekly magazines.
• People aren't that tall. At 5'11" I felt like the right height!
• Stylish yet at the same time a bit rough around the edges.
• Overall, the country has a feminine feel.

Minerve: one of the prettiest villages in France

In comparison, here's what I thought about Switzerland:

• Food and wine expensive! $20 hamburger? Yes, please!
• Standard food: bread, cheese (with focus on Gruyere, elemental of course), and much less fresh fruits and veggies.
• Day rules! Everyone in the mountains people grab their hiking gear and get out during the sunlight because night is for sleeping.
• In the mountains it feels like it was 90% tourists.
• Lots of tall people! ...I felt short :(
• Germanic language is like "almost-English". You think you can read it...until you realize you can't.
• Masculine feel.

Lovely, rainy Bern - the federal capital (but not capital city!) of Switzerland

I think what blows my mind the most is just how different where we were (France) is to where we are (Switzerland) considering the two locations are only three hours apart. In Canada, you would still be in the same old boring province after driving in any direction for three hours. I'm sure it must be challenging to live with this much diversity in such a small geographic space sometimes but wow those Europeans are lucky to have this much at their fingertips!

Places like this really do exist outside Disney movies!