Confusing the Holiday Seasons?
It’s 6pm in the afternoon. A warm summer afternoon. My favourite time!
Christmas Greetings
The Christmas tree lights are blinking at me. The presents are impatiently waiting under the tree. The fridge is full of Champagne!
Christmas in France
How many of you spend Christmas in a different place away from home?
Snow in Paris
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!”
Global Warming France
Anyway it’s now December 2010, and it’s snowing outside in Paris, and it’s as cold as a Nun’s kiss!
Formula for Learning Languages
I have been brought up in New Zealand. Here we speak two languages – English and Gobbledygook.
Stop - It's Time for a Lunch Break!
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!
2419D
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.
Life in 24 Frames Per Second (Part 2 of 2)
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.
Life in 24 Frames Per Second (Part 1 of 2)
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.
Striking Accord?
Striking has been a national pastime for the French. If ever anyone is unhappy with anything then the first action is to strike.
Flying by Train!
With trains there is no need for airport transfers from the central city to the airport, and no reporting times two hours before your flight.
Shop Window Surprise - Provence
Don’t visit this town, there is nothing much to see!
Dinan - our very own Dreamland
Christopher Nolan’s much-awaited, mind-bending blockbuster Inception sucked me into a dreamland far, far away.
Market Appraisal!
There's something about the French way of life that involves people planning their days around the village markets in France.
Speedos - do you wish you were blind?
We were staying with our family in the lovely village of Venasque, in the Vaucluse district of Provence.
Earthquake shakes my emotions!
Nearly twenty years ago I made a definite decision that I was to set up a business based on my loves.
The Lost Children of Paris
As we walk around Paris we can learn something more at every step we take.
Cancale - The World is Your Oyster
Cancale lies effortlessly on the coast just east of the popular Saint-Malo in Brittany. It is like stepping out of reality and into a painting.
Coffee Lovers Mmmm!
“I’ll have a coffee thanks” is a question heard regularly throughout the day in France.
Paris and The Beach
Golden sandy beaches, palm trees swaying in the summer breeze, little giggling children running around in their bathers, pina coladas on ice with petite paper umbrellas… so where in the world is Carmen Santiago you may ask? Paris. Duh!
We will Remember Them.
Another building, another photo?? Travelers to Paris wander the streets with their cameras at the ready, taking photographs of the magnificent buildings and structures that envelope them. It's hard not to become mesmerised by the sheer beauty in front of you.
Beggars - to Give or Not to Give?
You are walking down a street in Paris and there is a man kneeling on the footpath holding a sign that says “J’ai Faim!” (I’m hungry?). What do you do?
August 15th – Time to Feast!
There are twelve national public holidays in France. That’s almost one per month, but in May there are actually three of them! The next public holiday on the calender is 15th August.
Celebration of the Arts Tour 2010!
To entertain you here are a few photos from my recent escorted tour from Paris, through northern Italy, to Croatia.