The grocery store effect Part 1 & 2

Part 1
See, the way things are done down here in the South of France are just a little bit different. Definately different than in the US, but apparently different than Amsterdam, Munich, Barcelona, of course London, Glasgow...it's almost as if we are living in a 3rd world country down here in the South of France - some of their ways are so archaic.

We recently took a trip to Glasgow, Scotland. Upon arriving at the airport, we picked up our rental car and began our drive South to the apartment we had rented for the week. We didn't want to get caught in a small Scottish town without a grocery store so we stopped at one outside of Glasgow (see Part 2).

It was an ASDA Wal-Mart grocery store. A real grocery store.
We were both in awe walking through this real grocery store. Sure we had seen grocery stores like this in any of the above mentioned cities we had visited before, but it's always the same reaction upon entering. It's like "wow, i forgot what a real grocery store was like, this is so cool" It's hard to explain the difference really...but French grocery stores are just...different...the food is odd, the packaging makes no sense, the layout of the store makes no sense (baby diapers by the meat department, um, OK).

Part 2 - food hording.
I realize I now experience this anytime we travel...anywhere. I'll admit, we're both kind of picky eaters, not experimental with our food - especially the meats. We even went to Germany and didn't eat a single sausage or bratworst, went to China and didn't eat Chinese food. Whatever, it's who we are and we're ok with that, we don't complain to others about it we simply learn how to adjust. See we're both about a step away from being vegeterians - just without the strong moral conviction that seems to go with it. Sparky is a competitive cyclist so he relies on a low fat, high carb diet. I am completely grossed out by what all is done/eaten on animals - if it weren't for the fact that I'm a Texan and crave BBQ I could probably make it as a vegeterian (I simply just don't think about what meat BBQ is made of, same with lunch meat, and I'm OK). But you would think that no matter where we went it would be easy to stay away from odd animal parts as your only meal - not in Europe. Sometimes it's really hard to just find a sandwich or someone willing to make just plain pasta with no sauce or butter or oil (agast! they always look at us like, why bother, why eat if you don't have oil on it).

So, having been caught in these 'can't find anything to eat' situations several times when we first moved here, I feel I try to hord good food when I find it as we travel. Silly, I know, but I can't seem to get over it.