I wanted to know how a nectary is built so while in "Edit Town" I went to Champs-les-Sims (I have spent very little time in the vacation worlds in general because I HATE QUESTS, sorry I had to get that off my chest). I noticed that most lots couldn't be entered with the build/buy symbol, which I thought was odd (I believe I had poked around in a vacation world before and was able to do that, but I am not sure). I couldn't for example enter the big nectary at the top of the map, but the game allowed me to enter the "Abandoned Nectary" off to the side. That one has no nectary objects but a pile of used barrels in an outbuilding. Then came the big disappointment. I couldn't get back out of the lot! The only way I know to exit a lot I've entered in build/buy mode while in Edit Town is to go back to the Edit Town button, and every time I did that I got an error message that I couldn't save while in a vacation world, I must go back to my home world first...which I could not do because my sim was not actually in Champs-les-Sims. He was back in Adventureland (a mysterious world that showed up I think with patch 1.69, almost exactly Sunset Valley only with less stuff in it and only two residents to begin with. A couple house names seem to be different, I can't swear to that, and I think that some decorations are a bit different too). I had to quit without saving, which was not a big loss as I had just saved before opening the world, but I ad intentions of learning how to make a nectary, and building one, before quitting for the night!

Anyway, I am left with several questions:

--am I supposed to not be able to Edit Town in Champs-les-Sims without traveling my sim there?
--is it a known problem that one gets stuck and unable to exit while entering a lot in build/buy mode while attempting to Edit Town in Champs-les-Sims without traveling the sim there?
--is there anything I can do about this mess?

--by the way, what does an empty lot symbol with a golf flag on it mean in map view in Champs-les-Sims? There were an awful \lot of them, and not all of them were empty lots. I was guessing Base Camp, but why so many? And the ones that had structures on them did not look like Base Camps. Are they vacation home lots?

--I've seen instructions for building a nectary in one's home, but I want a community lot one for my sim to visit. How do I do that? No, I don't want to send him to Champs-les-Sims. I have a dislike of vacation worlds from my early forays into them.

Thank you so much again. What I meant is-- well, klet me describe what I did, step by step.

-While my sim was at home watching TV with his baby, I clicked "Edit Town."
-From the map screen of Edit Town, I clicked the Eiffel Tower.
-Come to think of it, Champs-les-Sims loaded as if we were traveling there (with the green bar and the "tips"). I possibly also got a confirmation question as if we were traveling ("are you sure you want to go to Champs-les-Sims"?--something like that, which I didn't think about at the time).
-I got a map screen for Champs-les-Sims which looked like the Edit Town map screen for my sim's homeworld, not like the livemode map screen (i.e., Tagger not active, the UI and navigation both like the Edit Town versions).
-At this point I noticed I couldn't enter most of the lots with build/buy, which I know how to get around now, thanks for that.
-I discovered that the Abandoned Nectary had an option to be entered with the build/buy button on the info panel that pops up when you look at a lot, so I did. All I did while in that lot in that mode was to look the lot over, going into all the rooms, to see what was there (not much). I didn't use a cheat function, just the usual commands that show up in the regular UI, mostly because I didn't know about the cheat function and now of course I want to know more about that.
-Normally, to get back to live mode while editing a lot, I click the "Edit Town" button again and get back to the Edit Town map screen, and then I use the "Return to Game" button at the top of the map screen, and I get the option to save at that time. I have never found any other method. Is there any other?
-But this time, when I clicked on the "Edit Town" button, I got the error message that I couldn't save until I returned to the homeworld, with no suggestion as to how that was possible. Since I didn't change anything anyway and the whole junket was for information gathering I wouldn't have minded returning without saving, but there was no visible option for that either. I had no choice but to force a crash of the game.

I am on the infamous patch 1.69, and I am using the mysterious Adventureland as a homeworld, but I don't think they are likely reasons.

But the thing was, that it would not go to the map screen. I could not continue from the error message at all. I was stuck in the lot with no way to return to my game.

Well, the good news is that I'm an unobservant idiot. I was choosing "edit town" from the three-dots option menu, instead of using the skyscraper-looking "edit town" button from the graphical UI. I could swear I have always done it this way, but apparently one must use the graphical button while in France. Now to try to reproduce some other problems I've been having while I'm at it, and then back to a proper game with mods in.
Thank you very much, as usual!