I can't agree with you, when I came to Norway, 38 years ago, with French as my mother tongue, Norwegians loved it when I talked French. They often asked me questions about wine and I had to repeat that I was Belgian and Belgians drank beer! :-)
What I know, though, is that the Frenchmen aren't very keen at speaking English. Some tourists don't like it. The think is, the French language is very strict and a Frenchman will perhaps not speak English until he or she masters it perfectly. We, Belgian French speakers, are used to hear all kind of language mixture. You won't get a language problem in Brussels! :-)
I also advice anyone visiting France, to engage a conversation by a few French easy words. The chances are that your interlocutor speaks better English and will suggest to go over to that language. What nobody likes is, the arrogance to expect everyone to speak English. This being said, having lived some years in Spain amongst Englishmen, those are perhaps the most clever to talk the local lingo.
France is a glorious country rich in culture and heritage .France is one of best tourist destination in the world .Lots of people visit France every year across the globe .If someone asks there is heaven on Earth , its just France ,France and France .
they were involved in a lot of wars and the hate turned into a kind of hereditary enmity
although germany for example signed a contract with france sometime in the 1980s or so (i can't remember the year) that stated that they encouraged learning french in germany and vice versa, a bilingual tv network, student exchanges and other youth programs, ...
I'm British and I love France
I don't think that's true. Almost everyone I've ever met who's been to France has loved it.
