Living in the Country

I had to laugh today when a lady was telling me that my neighbours don't live in Paris. They just use the apartment occasionally when they are in the city. I asked her if they live in the country and she said "oh, no, no they live in Vichy". Now, if Vichy isn't in the country then I don't know what is. Vichy is a small town in the middle of France with a population of less than 80,000. I suppose technically that might be considered a city but it's pretty small and not a real city in my books.

The French always seem to have the attitude that only 'peasants' live in the country and no one wants to be considered a peasant. Of course plenty of French have second homes in the country but this is obviously different. They're not peasants. I don't understand what the problem is but for me a city in France is like Paris, Lyon or Marseille. Anywhere like Vichy is just a town.