What do you think makes a trip to France so much different than other places in the world? What I think is even astounding to me, as someone who's lived here for 16 years, is how each region really feels so different. So yes, you're in the same country. There's a semblance of shared values, of course, across the country.

But beyond that, geographically, gastronomically, in so many other ways, culturally, each region really feels like it could be almost its own country. But the great thing is that it is so easy to get around here. Most of everything you want to see and do can be accessed either by train or by a quick flight.