Just a quick word about ID here in France: foreigners are required to carry either a "carte de sejour" or a "carte de resident" which are both dandy photo ID cards, but they are not valid if not accompanied by the ID card holder's passport. When I recently had to apply for a new American passport--which is now done by mail--I was without a valid passport for over 10 days and could possibly have been thrown in jail if I'd been asked to produce my ID during the time my new passport was being processed. Used to be that one could renew a passport at the embassy in Paris and have the new one in about half an hour and now it takes a week and a half. The embassy employees claim that it's for our security, but I have doubts when I'm the one who takes all the risks! ID cards? Sure, no problem, but they should be good enough to identify someone without having to haul out a thing like a passport too!   

cheers,

Aux