Botany

I don't know why it surprises me to find so many recognizable plants and trees. France has a similar enough climate overall to the middle US. Cottonwoods, willows, and loads of sycamores. One park in Bordeaux -- Quinconces -- has over a hundred of them laid out in a grid.

Sycamores in Place des Quinconces

There is also loads of pokeweed growing alongside the roads. And black raspberries in the ditches near the hotel in Bordeaux. Omaha's black raspberries ripen in July, but the ones here in French appear to be just now ripening. Some of the stems still had a mix of red and black, although it might be nearing the end because the black ones were starting to shrivel. And these aren't as sweet as the ones in Omaha, but that might be because the season is almost over. Or maybe they are a different species.

Black raspberries near the hotel in Bordeaux

This next picture isn't strictly botany. More like construction. But I found it curious how they use flexible drainage pipe to protect the trees from construction damage.

A protected sycamore on Papin Boulevard in Lille

...doug