Road traffic

Here, a lot of things happen quite differently than in Germany: As a pedestrian, you are primarily confronted with heavy automotive traffic in cities, and pedestrian crossings were only a suggestion until 2011 – drivers were only required to stop once the pedestrian was already on the way. Red lights are generally ignored, and everyone just crosses when the way seems clear. It takes a bit of courage to navigate through here.

Opening hours
We are used to stores being closed on Sundays – in France, however, many are open at least in the morning. In return, almost everything is closed on Mondays here – this applies not only to museums (where almost everywhere is closed on Mondays), but also to shopping opportunities and restaurants. In general, there is no law on store opening hours in France, so the opening times can vary quite a bit from store to store and from region to region. A quick look online is advisable to avoid finding yourself in front of closed doors.

Language
People have become accustomed to getting by with English everywhere: In France, however, it's better to brush up on your French before the vacation, as most people simply do not speak English. Of course, you can always quickly use a translator on your phone, but it would be better to prepare for this "language problem" in advance.

Food
The land of culinary delights has a major deficit in one area: vegan or vegetarian food. The foundation of French cuisine is meat, fish, and cheese, making it almost impossible to find a dish without animal products in a restaurant. Even in large cities like Paris or Marseille, one finds only very few cafés that offer milk alternatives like soy or almond milk.