Blogs from France, Europe - page 1271

Summer One Day...Winter the Next October 23, 2007 We have now been in Provence for three weeks. We have settled in nicely. We have our favorite boulangerie (baker), boucherie (butcher), open market, as well as super-Marché (super-market). We love our mas and our hosts. Ian and Pierre have made us feel so welcome. We love Bruno and Bricks, their dogs. Bruno comes to our door every morning, knocks….not kidding…comes in for visits….tries to bum a snack and then goes about his way after figuring out that snacks are a no go! The dogs really help us as we miss Clover so much! We have had a very busy two weeks. We had visitors much of time. My aunt and uncle, Bill and Diane, spent a week here at Mas St. Antoine. While they were here we ... read more

Hello everyone, Well, Peter and I have had a wonderful week in Paris and have travelled on to Monfalcone in the north west part of Italy (very close to the Slovenian border - so it can be very cold especially at night) where we have stayed for the past four days with Peter's Aunty and Uncle - all of the cousins and relatives have been lovely to us, showing us their town and the sights, not to mention feeding us loads of FOOD. So, expect us to be fatter when we return!! So far the weather has great for us - lots of sunny days (sometimes chilly) but no rain. We caught the Eurostar from London to Paris and that was our first experience with the French language. When we arrived peter saw the taxi line ... read more

So this was it - Paris, our final destination, the icing on the cake, a glorious finale to 4 months of travelling, 4 of the most fun and exciting months of our lives. Well, that was the script anyway. When I was lucky enough to land tickets to the Rugby World Cup Final, it was all set up - now the All Blacks just had to do their bit, and make the final. They of course choked against the French, and after knocking us out, the least the French could've done was make the final themselves so as to create a brilliant atmosphere at the Stade de France. But alas, it was England vs South Africa, neither of which, needless to say, I particularly liked ;-) It was about 5.30pm when we arrived at Gare du ... read more

"Les petits Français," as they are often called here, which would never work in English - "little French people." Differences: Every child has two trousses - pencil cases. It's a cylinder about an inch or two longer than your average pencil and is big enough to hold about 20 pencils. Each student has in one a regular pencil and pens in black, blue, green, and red. In the second, markers and/or colored pencils, as well as at least one dry erase marker, as each student also has his or her own mini dry erase board instead of using scrap paper. The pens themselves. Many students have normal pens, but an equal amount have those old-fashioned ink pens - you know, like you'd see in some historic film with an old man writing by candlelight, the ones ... read more

According to the Lillois (people who live in Lille), it usually isn't cold until the end of November, and even then, 0°/32° is about the coldest it really gets, and it usually doesn't stay like that. However, I have been informed that this year (at least for the moment - they say it isn't going to stay like this), winter is giving us a particularly harsh preview. This morning, I felt that oh-so-familiar cold burning sensation with each breath on my walk to the metro and from the bus stop. As I walked to my school from the nearest bus stop, I saw several people starting their cars and scraping the windshields and windows. Heureusement (luckily), I like winter... However, I am definitely going to need a more substantial coat, my winter scarves, and some better ... read more