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Christmas Greetings

December 24, 2010 by John in France

The Christmas tree lights are blinking at me. The presents are impatiently waiting under the tree. The fridge is full of Champagne! 

Tonight in Paris (24th) the presents will finally be opened, and the Christmas feast will be devoured before well satisfied stomachs will make their way to midnight Mass. The magic of Christmas has arrived, and this gives me the chance to

 Wish you and your loved ones

A Merry Christmas

and All the Best

for the Holiday Season

Thanks for joining me on my travels through France during the year, and I look forward to sharing more stories with you in 2011. For those travelling over the next weeks I wish you a happy and safe journey. For 2011 I hope that you have lots of safe and wonderful travel adventures.

Sur cette vieille de Noel je profite de ce blog de vous présenter tous mes meilleurs vœux pour le Noel et pour une soirée d’exception entourée par vos proches. Pendant le nouvel an j’espère que vous faites des découvertes magiques n’importe où dans le monde, et j’attendrai bien de partager avec vous mes histoires et mon passion pour la France en 2011.

Christmas Decorations in Galleries Lafayette

A shop window near Rue des Abbesses, Montmartre

Posted in France, Paris, Tourism, Travel | Tagged , | 4 Comments »

Christmas in France

December 16, 2010 by John in France

How many of you spend Christmas in a different place away from home?

My family has always had ours in Christchurch (NZ), moving from our own home to the homes of our siblings.

A few years ago my family travelled to France for several months, so that we could experience a northern hemisphere winter.  I concluded with the view that Christmas was made for the Europeans! In the southern hemisphere the month of December is manic as we have schools and businesses winding up for their summer vacations. Everyone wants their work completed “by Christmas”. There are school break-ups, work social events, everyone wants to have a party before people disperse for their summer vacations, and everyone is busily preparing to go away for a three or four week holiday. At the same time you are trying to do some Christmas shopping for your nearest and dearest, which involves driving on the roads which are already chocker with people going to school break-ups, attending work social events etc. etc.!

In France we did not have any of these stresses. People just enjoyed Christmas for Christmas’ sake. They went to the magical Christmas markets in a leisurely manner. There were no work events, no school break-ups, no stress!! So you wrap yourself up in a winter coat, wrap a scarf around yourself and head out into the streets to see the decorations, to stop at the corner seller with his glasses of “vin chaud” (warm mulled wine). Then you walk past the oyster sellers, always with a queue of people selecting these delicacies to take back to their apartments. You have the time to consider and prepare a feast, time to choose your chocolate Buche de Noel (chocolate log cake), and to select your seafood platter, and to leisurely browse the wine shelves.

So back in New Zealand, it’s summer. It can be very hot. Very busy!  The arrival of 26 December is almost a relief!!

For me the thing that I most appreciated in France was being able to think about Christmas without the extra pressures. But at the end of the day, what more would you want, as long as you have your family around you. Joyeux Noel!

For other writings on Christmas I especially point out this article by Norbert from GloboTreks who writes about the joys of coming home for Christmas. As well you should enjoy reading what Caz Makepeace  from yTravelblog.com has to write about her experiences of Christmas Day.

Decorations in Riquewihr, Alsace

Christmas street decorations

Houses decorated for Christmas

 

Decorations in Colmar

That's me with my son in Eguisheim - trying to keep warm!!

 

One way for Santa to arrive - in Colmar!

Posted in France, Holiday, Travel | Tagged , | 16 Comments »

Snow in Paris

December 9, 2010 by John in France

You sit in the window as the feathery snowflakes drift slowly to the ground. You become transfixed watching in awe as these flakes try to defy gravity as they make their way to the ground. You call out to your family to come and watch. “It’s snowing!”

You crowd around the window watching this spectacle in front of you. You watch first the bikes struggling, then the pedestrians in the street struggling whilst still wearing their elegant Paris shoes, then finally it’s time for the cars to struggle.

We’ve got to go out and enjoy this! You go outside, you scrape up some snow in your bare hands and throw a snowball at your nearest and dearest – several in fact! Then just to finish off you get a handful of snow and shove it down someone’s neck under their clothes!! Victory! I hate it when that happens – to me!!

You go back inside, to the warmth of your apartment, leaving your sodden shoes inside the door. Feet are frozen, cold and damp! You rush to the window again. “Oh isn’t it beautiful, but if this keeps up we’re going to be in trouble”.

Well over the last 24 hours it’s been snowing in Paris, and now they’re in trouble. There has been around 15cm of snow through the Paris region, and the roads are chaos. Last night there were 160km of traffic jams around the main roads and on the ring road. As well many train lines were closed, and the metro was significantly disrupted making peoples’ return home seemingly impossible.

But then the sun comes out, and the whole place seems like a scene out of a fairytale! It’s as if someone has thrown bucket loads of diamonds over your neighbourhood. Everything sparkles! If you can keep warm and not need to travel around for the day this is one of the most wonderful views. What is it about snow?

I love Paris in the snow!

 

Snow at St Germain Cafe, Paris

A wintery day in Paris

A sunny start to a snowy day

Posted in News, Paris, Tourism, Travel | Tagged | 16 Comments »

Global Warming France

December 2, 2010 by John in France

What: You are invited for a Drinks Party, 18 May 2070 at 17h00.

Where: Alibar Bar on the banks of the Seine River, Paris

Dress: optional

Refreshments and Hors d’Oeuvres served

 Anyway it’s now December 2010, and it’s snowing outside in Paris, and it’s as cold as a Nun’s kiss!

 I’ve just been reading this week the results of ONERC, the French ministry responsible for the research on Global Warming and how it can affect France, as well as the future planning required to cope with any possible climatic changes through to the year 2100.

A cold winter day at the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris

 A recent report released by ONERC states that they expect Paris in 2070 will have the same temperatures as in the south of Spain, and that the cold winter weather currently sweeping through Paris and France will be a thing of the past as this century comes to an end.

 I spent the summer of 2003 in France, when it was quite normal to have weeks on end of 40 degrees Celcius (104 deg F). I love the heat, but the effects of this heat were catastrophic in France with between 10,000 and 15,000 deaths recorded. Summers like this are going to become more and more “normal” and indeed governments will need to make provisions in order to cope with these changes.

 The government report also publishes some interesting figures that surprised me:

 Wine Harvest.

The wine harvest (vendange) in Champagne now commences two weeks earlier from when it did 20 years ago – this is a trend, not a one off inconsistency. In the Rhone Valley in the Chateaunuef du Pape appellation the wine harvest now begins on average three weeks earlier than they did 50 years ago. Another interesting fact here is that the alcohol content over this same period has increased by 0.8% – no doubt keeping some readers happy!

 Winter Frosts.

For those in the northern hemisphere, winter frosts are what you would expect now. Interestingly in the south of France in Toulouse they are having four days of frost less than experienced 10 years ago, and in the north in Nancy they are have 5 less frosts per winter than 10 years ago. When you are at home without suitable winter heating frosts can be most inconvenient but they also provide a valid control in orchards and vineyards for insects etc.

 So now heading back to the future you will want to know what to expect when you join me in May 2070 in Paris. Presently the average maximum temperature in the “City of Love” for May is 13 degrees Celcius (55 deg F), but when you join me it will be about 17 degrees Celcius (62 deg F). So it should be quite a pleasant evening outside on the bars that (by then) will all be lining the Seine River – we can muse at the families out fishing in the river, and all see if anyone can remember what a frost was like.

 So, put a note in your diary! Look forward to seeing you there!

Posted in France, Holiday, News, Paris, Travel | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments »

Formula for Learning Languages

November 26, 2010 by John in France

I have been brought up in New Zealand. Here we speak two languages – English and Gobbledygook.

New Zealand is situated on the other side of the world, far from most of the world’s population so really only needs these two languages! We have enough problems hanging on to the bottom of the globe, without having to learn any more languages.

Seriously though, English has been the language for us until we started getting overseas tourist coming here, before the Lord of the Rings, who spoke other languages. We even started getting road signs in Japanese. For most Kiwis travelling to France or elsewhere, to ask for anything in a restaurant/bar all they have needed to do is speak English in a very loud voice and they expect that they would be understood – for some reason volume control seems to be their answer!!

I have developed an interest over the years in learning languages and many years back decided to learn Japanese, and of course wanted to master the French language as well.

Even though Babelfish on the internet offers great translation services, there is nothing like the real spoken word – you only need to ask people like Winston Churchill or Oscar Wilde, or try a chat-up line in a bar overseas to realize that Babelfish has limitations!

Learning other languages offers friendship across international borders. Kiwi lad (my son!) parties it up in Paris!

Over the years I have developed a formula for learning a foreign language should you be considering it. To reach an intermediate level you need 250 hours of tuition – sorry that seems a lot but it’s true. BUT to reach an advanced level you only need 320 hours of tuition. So getting to an intermediate level seems like a huge mountain but once you’re there, you just have a small step left to become advanced at your chosen language.

I remember a young Kiwi lad of only 18 years old who was uncertain what he would do with his life. He told me he wanted to be a ski instructor in France. “But do you speak French”. “No” he sheepishly explained. I encouraged him to go to Paris where he could become an advanced speaker in 320 hours! Due to the costs he chose to stay long enough to attain an intermediate level only, i.e. 250 hours of tuition. Being at school for 8 hours per day, for five days a week, he would be at an intermediate level in under 7 weeks. I received a call from him after a few weeks, saying that he wanted to continue until he was at an advanced level i.e. until he had done 320 hours of tuition. I heard nothing from Cedric following this. Then one day, many years later, I was travelling up a ski lift at Coronet Peak in NZ, when I saw a ski instructor taking a class that looked just like Cedric. I called out in French, thinking that if he didn’t speak French he wouldn’t reply. He immediately turned around, and waited for me to ski down to him. He spoke French like a Parisian, and had gone on to become a ski instructor in France!

Coming from Anglophone countries we can become very insular about learning other languages. Especially when one sees in Europe that most young people now speak two or three languages, not including Gobbledygook!

Learning another language opens doors, and provides a richness that is unimaginable to those who only speak one language.

Advice:

For learning French in Paris I warmly recommend France Langue, and in a city near you there may well be an Alliance Francaise branch to contact.

Posted in France, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments »

Stop – It’s Time for a Lunch Break!

November 19, 2010 by John in France

I’m fairly easily pleased when it comes to many things. But for me one of my greatest joys is a leisurely lunch with a glass of wine!

I’ve just come across a blog article by Ben from Adventures with Ben, who recounts the time that he visited Zimbabwe and had the best Chicken Sandwich he has ever had – in Zimbabwe of all places.

Well I’ve just been staying in a glorious rental home in the picturesque village of Caromb, in Provence (France). We’d just had a very leisurely start to the day with a coffee and fresh fruit for breakfast followed by a one hour walk through the vines and olive trees on a small lane joining Caromb with the nearby village of Crillon le Brave – the most memorable local road around.

Following the return to our home it was almost time for lunch – I hadn’t thought about food for a couple of hours, so it must be time! We decided not to go out to the market or shops but to make do with what was in the kitchen.

Let me set the scene! It is 28 degrees (82 degrees F), no wind, we are bare-footed, and the lunch table awaits us under the shade of the grape vine covered pergola. Beside us is the petanque playing area and then the crystal clear blue swimming pool, and beyond that the vines and our view over the famous cycling landmark of Mont Ventoux. As well I have my wife Andrea and son Alexander with me! Heaven!

This is our lunch. A tomato salad with vinaigrette and basil, as well as charcuterie and an assortment of cheeses. A bottle of chilled Rosé (some of you may call this “Blush”) is a compulsory addition to any lunch table. To me this dish is a dish from the Gods – no cooking, no preparation required apart from cutting tomatoes, and ripping basil leaves. Now for me if you have the right ingredients you have a treat! When I am not in France I am in New Zealand, and in NZ the tomatoes that are available to us are predominantly hydroponically grown and lack the flavors. In Provence when you walk through a market the tomato screams at you from 50m away “pick me, pick me!” – the flavors of a Provençal sun ripened tomato are intense.

This is the simplest meal you could ever prepare, but the tastiest as well. Look at these photos and be transported to a world of decadent flavors. Can you taste it?!

Perfect lunch in Provence!

Tomato and Basil Salad in Caromb. Sunny Day. Chilled Rose wine. Perfection!

I’m no chef but if you want to create this at home you just need your tomotoes and basil, but you do need a vinaigrette or just a good olive oil drizzled over the salad. Do you have the ideal vinaigrette? My perfect vinaigrette you can make as follows:

  • Get a glass jar with a lid
  • Pour in Olive Oil 150ml
  • Pour in a Vinegar (White or Red Balsamic) (75ml – always half the amount of olive oil) or even just Lemon juice.
  • One Garlic Clove finely chopped
  • One teaspoon each of salt, sugar, and (grainy) mustard
  • Put the lid of the jar back on and shake as if you were making yourself a cocktail!! Pour over your tomatoes and savour this piece of paradise!

Then add some charcuterie and a selection of cheeses, and when washed down with your chilled Rose wine, any worries you have will have gone! Bon appetit! Now what’s for dinner!?

Posted in France, Holiday, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 15 Comments »

Shop Window Surprise – Provence

November 12, 2010 by John in France

Don’t visit this town, there is nothing much to see!

This is what I often read in travel guide books when I look up “Carpentras”, located in Provence in the south of France.

Carpentras is a town 35 minutes’ drive to the north east of Avignon. It has an enormous market on Friday morning which is worth visiting, with 100s of colourful stalls spread through the town. But I don’t know whether I’m becoming a little middle aged or something but I love going to this town on a non-market day – everything is so much quieter, where you can see where you are walking, you can hear and see the water fountains, and you have the shops to yourself!

Carpentras is a local town without the normal tourist shops. It has some wonderful sights, and I was especially taken by a visit to the local Jewish synagogue – the oldest in France. This town has a richness of history that will astound, especially with its unique links to the Vatican from the end of the 13th century.

I’ve just been exploring in Carpentras and I came across a shop which astounded both my wife and me! Every now and then you stumble on something that truly surprises you, that makes you feel good about life, that makes you smile. JOUVAUD is such a shop, such a place!

If you are travelling in Provence then add this shop to your itinerary. Go to Carpentras, have lunch in the centre square overlooking the fountains, then go to Jouvaud for a coffee and dessert, and even to do some shopping to finish off a perfect day!! Perfection!

Jouvaud - Delicatessan, Cafe, Shop!

Picture Postcard in Cafe Jouvaud

You must visit Jouvaud in Carpentras or Tokyo!

Shabby Chic at Jouvaud in Carpentras

Shopping at Jouvaud in Carpentras

Treat yourself to a Dessert and Coffee in Jouvaud, Carpentras! You won't regret it!

Posted in France, French cuisine, Holiday, Tourism, Travel | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments »

2419D

November 4, 2010 by John in France

Not a very inspiring title I know.

It’s the number of a 1913 railway carriage in a white stone building on the edge of a leafy glade in Compiègne, near Paris.

Made of dark wood with brass fittings, the carriage stands enshrined in its ‘carriage-house’ like a ship in a dry dock, far from the railway tracks.

But why is it there?

French Tricouleur Flag

By the autumn of 1918, with an allied blockade biting deep into the civilian population and her troops being forced back towards the homeland, Germany was in a dire position. She sought an honourable armistice that would (hopefully) stabilise the government and stop the revolution that threatened.

In early November 1918 a politician, a diplomat, a soldier and a naval captain set out to negotiate an end to four years of destructive warfare.

After a difficult journey from Germany to Belgium and into France (latterly with a French escort who took them through the most devastated areas) they arrived at Tergnier in Picardy. There they boarded Napoleon III’s private train for an undisclosed location.  

Earlier, the chief engineer of the Nord railway, M. Arthur-Pierre Toubeau had been asked by the French government to find a discrete location where two trains could be accommodated parallel to each other. He suggested a clearing in the Forest of Rethondes, near Compiègne where an emplacement had been built for huge railway guns.   

And so on the morning of 8th November 1918 the German delegation felt their train stop and, looking through the windows, saw another train about a hundred metres away – that of Supreme Commander Allied Armies, Ferdinand Foch.

Over the next three days Foch and his team of senior allied commanders imposed armistice terms designed never to allow Germany to threaten France again.

Although the fighting stopped on 11th November (henceforth celebrated as Armistice Day) it took a further six months for a peace agreement to be signed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The resulting war reparations crippled Germany.

The railway carriage went back into service with the Compagnie des Wagons-Lits, before being attached to the Presidential train. Between 1921 and 1927 it was exhibited at Les Invalides until moved to a specially constructed stone ‘carriage house’.

In 1940 France fell to a new German army and Hitler wanted to humiliate the French nation – much as Foch had wanted to do to Germany two decades earlier. Hitler had the railway car broken out of the carriage house and moved to the exact same spot where Foch’s train had stood.

On 22nd June 1940, he sat where Foch had and listened as the surrender terms were delivered to the French representatives. When the French agreed to sign, Hitler curtly left – posing only for a quick photograph – exactly as Foch had done.

Shortly afterwards he ordered the complete destruction of the site and the memorials around it. Strangely, only Foch’s statue was allowed to remain.

The railway carriage was sent to Berlin along with a memorial to Alsace-Lorraine and a huge inscription citing the ‘criminal pride of the German Empire’, where it was exhibited in the Lustgarten (Pleasure Garden) until 1943. After Germany’s surrender the stones were discovered and returned.

But what of 2419D?

As the bombing of Berlin intensified it was moved to Crawinkel in central Germany. Here its SS guards, under orders not to let it fall into Allied hands, blew it up and buried the pieces.

Restoration of the site was completed in 1950 and a sister railway car from the same batch (2439D) was renumbered and placed in the restored carriage building.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

This article was kindly written by one of the readers of my blog, Richard Maddox. Richard brings to us his knowledge and his youth-like enthusiasm, and we hope to enjoy more of his well considered articles on important historical matters through Europe and France. If you don’t want to miss his articles make sure you “subscribe” to this blog – which means you’ll get emailed the latest articles that are published!

Posted in France, News, Paris, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | 26 Comments »

Life in 24 Frames Per Second (Part 2 of 2)

November 1, 2010 by John in France

You may have read Sarah’s Part 1of 2 of “Life in 24 Frames per Second”. Here is Part 2. This article culminates in a trailer of her documentary “Making Of”. Watch her film trailer and be inspired. This may well be a story about you – the making of you! A young girl falling in love with life in Paris, with all its struggles and joys. Enjoy.

Two months into my cinematography exchange at the prestigious Louis Lumière Film School in Paris I came to the realization that I’d nothing to ‘document’ my new life in this effervescent city. My life was essentially a documentary in itself, as banal as it may have seemed.  I wanted all my friends and family to be part of the adventure – the beginning of our careers, the paths to our dreams and trying to make it in the world when everything seems to conspire against you. So, for the next year, eight of France’s most aspiring filmmakers took to the challenge to document their lives, for me, for a little film called Making Of.

Making Of: celebrating and documenting life, love, and living your dreams.

Set against the iconic backdrop of Paris, these filmmakers, from all cross-sections of society, open up and share their lives, their stories, and where they all want to be in ten years time. What strikes me as amazing is that this time in ten years there’s no reason that any of these people can’t be the next generation’s Spielbergs and Scorseses. There’s nothing stopping them. There’s nothing stopping you either from becoming the next top models, painters, doctors, filmmakers, professors, philosophers, sportsmen, writers, or actors. I’m not saying that we have be at the top or become the next Scorsese, Speilberg, Leibovitz, Michelangelo, I’m only saying that there’s no reason why we can’t be.

Screenwriting classes: learning the tricks of the trade.

We all have to start somewhere, beginnings are so important. We all have at some time planted a seed for our future. When it starts to sprout, we have to celebrate its small steps towards a new life. When it starts to whither we have to make sure it doesn’t die off. When it blossoms beautifully, we have to smile proudly and acknowledge its achievements. Every day, every step of the way we have to nurture this seed, this idea, this hope, this dream.

Of course there are things in life that can stunt the growth; be it a surrounding environment, a lack of stimulation and light, and the inability to overcome adversities during the growth process. But if we have done everything within our possible abilities to take care of this seed, and it still dies off, at least we can say loud and clear that we tried, we continued trying, and it didn’t work out.

Some of these filmmakers could be household names, their names glittering in neon lights in movie theatres worldwide, they could similarly end up in aviation, pharmaceuticals, or web-design. But the aviators, the pharmacists, and the web-designers haven’t necessarily thrown away their dreams; they have merely changed them, their priorities and realities shifting slightly.

Mikael Gaudin-Lech: a friend, an inspiration, a future household name??

Making Of penetrates to the core and central mysteries of growing up, of life; where will I be? What will I do?  Who will I become? No other art form can capture so magnificently the hopes, dreams, struggles and fears than documentary can. With the mere means of a Panasonic Handycam and a bunch of disposable cameras, this project is still an intimate celebration of those hopes, those dreams, and that love we have for the people in our lives. In the eyes of these aspiring (and inspiring) young filmmakers you will all be able to see the passion that exists, or once existed in your own hearts, and remember that in the screenplay of life you can in fact choose your own ending.

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspires to help that person realize his dream.”

                                –Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist

 

Making Of: the film, the exhibition by Sarah Reese.

Due for April 2011 release. I’d love to receive your comments about Sarah’s film trailer. Would you like to see the full documentary?

Trailer can be viewed on http://www.vimeo.com/16220569

Posted in France, Holiday, News, Paris, Travel | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments »

Life in 24 Frames Per Second (Part 1 of 2)

October 27, 2010 by John in France

Article and photographs by my daughter Sarah Reese. Sarah has been living in Paris pursuing a career in film. In the second part of this article she will share a trailer of her film “Making Of” which follows the lives of a group of young film-makers in Paris. If you are not “subscribed” to this blog, it would be best to click on “sign me up” so that you don’t miss this uplifting story of love, perseverance and hard work.

 

My love affair with France began when I was eight. I was in the back of my family’s rental car with my younger brother singing at the top of our lungs to the Spice Girls album Wannabe which had just shot straight to the top of the pop charts worldwide. We made up hand actions, giggled, and played happily with the plastic penguins we’d just got free with our Kinda Surprise eggs. The French countryside flashed past our eyes and straight into our hearts. There was no going back – we became part of France and France became part of us.

It wasn’t just France I fell in love with though. It was the smells, the sounds, the colours and the images that enveloped us. It was like stepping into the depths of an Impressionist painting – a world swirling with textures and colours. I think it really began there – my eye for colour and my undying love for images. It all started there.

In the South, I remember the way the cool autumn breeze gracefully caressed the rows of lavender at our friends’ idyllic farm. In Brittany I remember watching the pork sausages cook on an open fire in a local restaurant ready to feed our hungry mouths. In Paris, I remember looking at the worn cobblestones in front of the Notre Dame and wondering just how many people had stepped on them over time. Lots, I guessed. I also remember watching the countless number of cars circulate around the Arc de Triomphe thinking, “By Joes I hope they’ve got insurance.”

It all started there. The images of an eight year old, the fragile treasures of childhood. It was the beginning, the beginning of my personal movie theatre.
Little did I know, a mere thirteen years down the track I’d be living in France, living the dream, falling in love, and planting the seeds for a career in the cinema. With a Panasonic handycam to document it all.

END OF PART ONE

Sarah hard at work at Louis Lumiere Film School, Paris

France: colour and a thirst for life.

Brittany: finding beauty down every street.

Posted in France, Holiday, Paris, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

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