Sur la route encore

Even though the French drive on the same side of the road as those of us in the US, some things are very different.  The first time we tried to get to Ikea, we drove right past it but were unable to get to it due to the roundabouts.  The harder we tried, the further away we ended up until we were at least 8 miles away. You can see a destination, but if you take the wrong turn on a roundabout (which is easy to do since nothing is instinctual about roundabouts), you will be headed in a totally wrong direction.  So we spent an hour and a half trying to get back to where we started basically.  Probably the most frustrating experience we have had so far.  Also, the French are notorious tailgaters.  The danger of speeding up is that you can then get a speeding ticket from an automatic camera.  No police stop you and hand you a ticket.  You just receive it in the mail.  A new Scottish friend of ours here just received his first automatic ticket and told us the fines ramp up quite high quickly if you do not pay it expeditiously.  With all this going on and unfamiliar road signs, we decided it was best to procure an automatic transmission vehicle rather than also teaching me how to drive a stick.  Automatics are few in availability, but we were able to locate a slightly used manufacturer driven vehicle.