I didn’t say I have never been; I toured the country in a rented Saab 9-5 Turbo back in 2002. It was a trip I thoroughly enjoyed but I just choose not to return. If that benefits you in any way...cool.
Thank you for that! I'm glad you enjoyed your visit; I feel much the same about the UK though it seems I will have to return. There are things I don't like about France (for example they way overheat their buildings -- maybe it's their *cheap* nuclear energy), but I hold the French in fairly high regard.
And their wines... even the cheap stuff in the bouchons is pretty good by my (American) standards.
IMHO we should be making friends with the French (my frankophone wife might exclude their ladies *\;-), not denigrating them. They're not like us, but much closer than, say, the Saudis.