I have just returned from a wonderful week of riding the in the French Pyrenees. It was my first trip to Europe since August 2019 in the Dolomites. Covid put all non-essential international travel on hold for almost two years. I might suggest that cycling in Europe constitutes essential travel, but I doubt the CDC would agree.
Speaking of the CDC, look what came they came out with about 5 days before I flew to Toulouse. And while I was in France the State Department chimed in too.
CDC said stay home. I went anyway. 
State Department issued this soon after. Too late, I’m already there!
There were some added complications. My CDC vaccination card got me a boarding pass at the airport and was sufficient to satisfy my hotel in Toulouse. But during our trip France put new regulations into effect requiring le pass sanitaire before you could check into a hotel or eat at a restaurant or cafe. Le pass required a QR code, and it wasn’t clear how I was going to use my CDC Card, which had no such code, to get the French version.
My favorite touring company, 44|5, came to the rescue! Before the trip John and Gerry had us all send copies of our CDC Cards and passports to them. John found a French pharmacy that would enter the information into the French system. So we had our French passes on paper when we started the tour, a day before the new French requirements went into effect. Gerry advised us to download an app that would allow us to scan our paper versions into our cell phones and create a digital wallet which would allow us to show our pass when requested.
And requested it was, at least at all the places we stayed or ate at. Walk into a cafe wearing a mask, and before you get shown to a table you pull up the pass QR on your phone and the host takes their phone and scans it. There is a reassuring ‘beep’ that says you are good to go, so you get seated and immediately the masks come off and stay off for the duration of the meal. Which is not rushed in France.
Same thing when checking into a hotel, except there the masks stay on whenever you are inside the building, unless you are seated at a bar or restaurant or breakfast table. Why masks are necessary in deserted hotel hallways but not necessary in crowded restaurants is unclear, but this conundrum is certainly not unique to France.
There was some question about how the French would react to the pass sanitaire requirement. There were large protests about the issue, and long lines outside pharmacies for shots when it became apparent that if you wanted to sip an aperitivo you were going to need a QR to do so. At one hotel a potential restaurant customer (not an American) took exception to the requirement and a debate (in French) with the hotel owner ensued. The innkeeper was adamant: no pass, no meal. Thanks to Gerry listing in and translating, I know that the owner could be fined 1300 euros for a violation.
A CDC Vaccine Card got me into France, but it wouldn’t get me home. Reentering the U.S. required a negative Covid test within 72 hours of boarding the flight. 44|5 came through again. Gerry made appointments for us at the Toulouse airport the day before our flights home. He escorted us to the testing station and handled the check in. 15 minutes later, four Americans had their negative tests in hand. And fewer euros in those same hands; we had to pay 42.50 euro each (about $51) for the test.
I’m negative! And $51 poorer. But what if it had come back positive, as a breakthrough case? Don’t want to dwell on that… 
There’s an app for that!
So those are the current rules on the ground for travelers to France and French citizens. We followed them and got places to sleep and eat (very well by the way) and were able to fly home. Stories about the riding and eating will follow, stay tuned…
Rich Freggiaro Cycling Blog 