chips....
You probably know this anyway if you have tried using a credit card at a 24/24 fuel station in France, but if you are using british/US creditcards in france be aware that they do not always work. All French cards have a chip in them and you need to key in a 4 digit PIN to have them accepted, just as you would at the bank hole in the wall in the UK, except everywhere you use it!! However, british cards usually just have a strip, and this does not always work, even if the establishment can manually swipe the card. Plus, even if your card has a chip, it may still not work, as two of my cards have chips, but only one works at petrol stations....
This does not happen at large establisments, but on several occasions even when handing the card over for someone to manually swipe I have had to explain that my card is valid and they need to call the credit card company about how to make it work because it does not have a chip etc.........
I guess Im saying that it pays to take some Euros with you whatever, just in case.
Regards, SD..