Friterie!

So we had driven the length of France, from Menton to Nice to Aix, through Provence and Burgundy, to Paris, Chartres and points further north, almost to Calais, and not once did we see a frites stand nor frites truck, something we used to see a lot, going back to '79. We had some decent frites at Bistro Paul Bert in Paris, but nothing along the way. Finally, just a few miles short of the coast, I spotted a friterie, we made a U-turn ("when possible") and headed for it. Having spent enough time in Flemland, we know our frites, and sauces. The best French frites are a distant third to Netherlands and Belgium, but a French friterie is well worth a stop, for the institution if not the food. (Maybe it's the proximity to Belgium that explains the appearance of friteries...we later saw quite a few near Calais).