Blogs from France, Europe - page 1556

So, here's a brief update. I did a bit of traveling the past two weekends, to Toulouse/Albi with a friend, and then a solo trip to Collioure/Perpignan. Now it's crunch time for exams, so I won't be venturing far from home until the holidays. I dream of skiing... Anywho, enjoy the pics, and I should write a real update soon, with more details!... read more

Since I've been getting a lot of emails from concerned people, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm fine in Paris. There have been riots for the past 14 nights in Paris suburbs to the north/ northeast of the city and in several other cities, but there is no danger in Paris itself. In fact, if I hadn't read the newspaper or gotten emails I wouldn't know anything is happening! I live in one of the southwest districts of the city, so I'm nowhere close to the violence. Really the only problems in Paris are along the RER line to the airport, a public transport like the metro. It also seems like everything is dying down a lot since car burnings over the past few nights keep dropping and the Prime Minister has now ... read more

Les Trois Chateaux 7/10/05 - This morning was the coldest it has been so far (except for Chamonix), it was about 5 degrees at 8am. It looked like it could snow, rain or clear up, it was one of those days that cannot decide how it wants to continue. I took a short drive to the village of Eguisheim, which is famous for being the home of Pope Leo, in around the year 1029. There is a church in his honour, plus many statues and as you can tell the village is very proud of it’s ancestor, even if his claim to fame was so long ago. Short distances into the mountains, above Eguisheim, are the ruins of a number of castles, which date back to the days even prior to Pope Leo’s times. The castles ... read more

Well I suppose those of you who read the news deserve some word from this end of the world. I don’t really know what to say. If you really want to understand the underlying psychology and attitudes, I suggest you rent La Haine, or HATE. I’ve seen it in Blockbusters and independent movie stores. I couldn’t believe when I read this in the New York Times: "This is just the beginning," said Moussa Diallo, 22, a tall, unemployed French-African man in Clichy-sous-Bois, the working-class Parisian suburb where the violence started Oct. 27. "It's not going to end until there are two policemen dead." New York Times, Craig S. Smith, published: November 7, 2005 There seems to be a very tit-for-tat mentality that was represented very well in that film. I warn that the film is ... read more

One of the excursions from CEA was to the Normandy and Brittany regions to visit Rennes (the capital of Brittany), St. Malo and Mont St. Michel. Rennes is a nice-enough town. It has a beautiful parliament building that was recently rebuilt after a fire for a gigantic amount of money (I can’t remember exactly how much). Another interesting thing here is that signs appear in French and Breton (see the picture). St. Malo is on the coast of the English Channel. It used to be an important wealthy area, mostly because of the profiteers (a nice French name for pirates) who were based there. They were famous for being fierce and taking things from ships around the area. The people there don’t like them to be called pirates; apparently there’s a difference if you board a ... read more