not directly relevant to you, but I spent 2 nights dossing in a park in Toulouse on the way to and from a party in Cahors - the people in Toulouse seemed pretty nice and I had no problem hitching (this was 20 years ago, so may be of no relevance)
I can't remember which park it was
The party lasted a week - the hosts father was a director of a brewery and we had a whole pig to cook and eat
I thought I'd get in first and talk about myself before people started posting useful replies