I can't find regular M&M's here either - though a while back, I did see they were offering maroon package ones that were called "special dark".And a friend of mine who works for IntermarchŽ said that they've been reluctant to use the self-checkout caisses because of the French tendancy to always try and cheat The Man. In the tests that they ran, too many people tried to steal stuff, so it just wasn't worth it for them to do it. I mean, they still have to pay people to stand at the end to verify people's purchases, so it's not like it works out any cheaper for the company.And did you get your speeding ticket while you were driving to see the ch‰teaux? Or maybe to see the in-laws? Because in the country side, there are tons of 70kph zones on the two-lane roads, usually when you're going through a lieu-dit where there only 3-4 houses so they don't want to make you slow all the way down from 90 to 50. They're super annoying, but they're everywhere in Bretagne and le Pays de la Loire.

I feel a bit special because they've had those "check yourself out" lines at the Auchan in Le Havre for almost a year now. That said, we never go to Auchan, so I've used it all of once, but yeah.I am pretty sure that they didn't grant amnesty for parking tickets last year either. Maybe there was construction or something of the sort where he got the speeding ticket? David got one in a construction zone one day at 5 in the morning where there was no one working. They are sneaky.What's up with the bus to the American cemetary thing? When we went we just drove up and parked in the parking area...And Natalie should not get depressed living in CAEN, she could be in LH!And because I know Katia loves to hear about where we listen to the podcast, today I listened while exercising on our exercise machine! Good times!

hooray for the plain m & m's! when I come back to Brussels and you come visit you can stock up :-)One of my credit cards has a puce but it doesn't work in Euro chip readers.

Hi! Newish listening, I am still working my way through back episodes. Hearing the chocolate conversation, I actually had to pause the podcast to type up my 2 cents.I had heard a story (maybe a year ago?) on NPR about the history of chocolate in the US that said that the slightly "off" flavor of american milk chocolate was originally from the pastuerization process in the original Hershey factories. The milk was heated higher than in most European processes, who tended to pasteurize longer but with lower heat which works just as well with less difference to the flavor. (High heat will denature the milk proteins making them curdle slightly as will small amounts of acid such as vinegar.)BUT Hershey was revolutionary for making chocolate affordable for the average person in the US. So everybody got used to it tasting that way. I know that I have gone to school with other Americans who have felt that dark chocolate, for example, "wasn't real chocolate" (which is pretty funny). A quick google does not come up with any verification of this story however.