France made it on the “fan” list? Seriously?!
When I was in France, I always made it a point to play up being a Texan, they loved it.
If you avoid Paris, France is a nice place and the people are nice country people.
A large part of my family fled/was captured in France back in WWII and I’m fluent in French, since my mother never quite got the hang of Hebrew to the point where she was happy speaking it first.
She always loved the countryside there.
As others have posted, once you get outside Paris, you'll get a much warmer reception.
A while back, I read an account from an American that was repeatedly greeted by elderly women in the South of France. Some were on the edge of tears.
Apparently, they were old enough to remember who liberated them from the Nazi's.
What’s FAR WORSE is our biggest critic just built a 1/10 of a billion dollar mosque here and the Kenyan is attending the opening!!!!! come on folks. I pledge to try my hardest to make it to the opening with plenty of signs, including the 85 percent criticism rate
After all we do honor their fine cuisine:
French Fries
French Bread
French Dressing
French's Mustard
Franco-American Spaghetti-O's
etc.
French politicians running for election make a point of highlighting their support of the US. They like to point out that France has supported the US since before we were a country. I've heard pro-US views expressed by a number of politicians--views they wouldn't utter if France were predominantly anti-American.
American culture influences French culture quite a bit, too. In the 1970s, I spent a year in France as an exchange student. At the time, a big fashion fad was clothing with Fruit of the Loom logos. Of course, the French high school students asked me what it was. I told them it was an underwear brand, which they understood. But when I also explained that the phrase "fruit of the loom" is a metaphorical reference to the product of one's labor, they could not understand. Maybe I couldn't explain it well enough, at age 17.
Yes, France is a wonderful place as long as you stay out of the “international” cities. The smaller towns and villages have very nice people.
Outside of Paris...the French are nice... they love Americans. The country is nice... lots of ‘Nice’ places, especially Nice and Brittany.