latest.jpg Find out what's new!

What makes France such an endearing and infuriating country at the same time?

Why are the French a people that you love one day and hate the next?

Come here every day and you may find out...

• Front Page
• FAQ
• Email me
• RSS Feed
• Subscribe
• Add to Technorati Favs
• Add to Google Home
• Tell a friend

Live search:
  • » Last 20 Posts
  • » Recent comments
    • Vasyu: OgikG3 Vasyu testit vasyu.net
    • Karlette: Can you please tell me how you add youtube videos to your blog.
    • Alain Q.: I thought that writing a blog about France implied a minimum knowledge of the subject, or at least, a...
    • Fernandez: No worries. Apparently, each only had 1/4th the thickness of a single pair, leaving them translucent when...
    • lolo: Now, come on, do you really find this “racist” and “politically incorrect”??? If out of...
    • Alain Q.: Sorry to bring up this point again but this picture is rightly named as you can see ” rodeo...
    • General Pepper: magnifique! the actress at the very end is very beautiful Pauline Laffont, daughter of Bernadette...
    • General Pepper: $24 WOW, that’s a giv’away. Must be made in China.
    • Alain Q.: Napoleon Bonaparte was called Bonaparte when he was a general. Then he became emperor under the name of...
    • Lauren: Leon turns 60…
  • » Archives
  • » Categories
  •  

    Blog Stats
    Last updated on August 23, 2008

    3,063 posts
    996 comments
    53,997 spam comments intercepted

    Google PageRank: 0/10

    Frogsmoke badge

    Feel free to use this badge on your website or blog. How?

    Archive for 'Country & Travel'

    No meat, no fish, but lots of flesh

    The New York Times goes to La Zucca Magica in Nice, and discovers that vegetarianism is far from synonymous with asceticism:
    Zucca has few equals among well-known Western restaurants serving no meat or fish. Nor are there many that can so readily satisfy omnivores, because Zucca’s owners, Marco Folicaldi and Rossella Bolmida, believe in sizable portions, […]

    Roommate Tips

    If you’re looking for a flatshare in Paris, you may want to check out newroommate.co.uk.
    They even give you useful translations, such as Do you smoke? Est-ce que vous fumez?, and a list of “What you should know about the French Roommates“, including this one:
    “The French do not speak very well English, even the […]

    ‘Ollandais Go ‘Ome

    I often mock the Dutch for driving over 1,000km for their annual dose of French weather. It seems they can just as well stay where they are. According to this map, the temperatures in Holland are now as high as they were in France just 10 years ago:

    Click image for original Dutch article
    Holland Warms To […]

    Hadrien’s Walk

    Tomorrow, 17-year old Hadrien is starting a 1,200km walk across France, together with travel companion Camomille, an 18-month old cow. Since cows are not used to walking long distances, the duo will limit their daily distances to 20km, and have one rest day each week.
    The total periple will take at least four months, during […]

    France by Numbers: 42%

    The French are feeling the squeeze: 42% of them are not going on holiday this summer. In 2005, the number was still below 30%. One in two blame it on reduced spending power. Hotel reservations are down, and restaurateurs see more tourists sitting on a bench with a sandwich than behind a plate on their […]

    How tall is the Eiffel Tower?

    Everybody knows the pictures of people pretending to hold the leaning tower of Pisa. This is an original vintage variation, shot in a different place (click for bigger):

    I have no idea how old this photo is and who made it. Anybody?

    Versailles: the pièce de résistance of modern gardening

    The Guardian finds out how the head gardener at the Palace of Versailles is defying traditionalists and dragging the magnificent grounds into the 21st century.

    Read the story | Don’t miss the picture gallery

    Finding your inner Frenchwoman

    Telegraph travel writer Stephanie Plentl heads to France for a holiday that teaches the tricks of Gallic chic – and discovers that it all begins with matching underwear (3:31).

    Read full story

    Mindboggling Paris Panorama

    Hyper Photo must be one of the most spectacular panoramic websites I’ve ever seen. Click the image to start the show. Then use your mouse and keyboard to play around. Don’t forget to click the windows in the towers. Can you spot the naked lady?
    HT Paris Daily Photo

    Carla Bruni’s Hideaway Declared No-Fly Zone

    View larger map
    It looks like the Sarkozys have given away their summer holiday address. The airspace around Cap Nègre (in the southern-French Var department) has been declared a no-fly zone between 15 July and 15 September. It’s the location where the Bruni-Tedeschi family have a pretty little villa.
    For paparazzi keen on a shot of […]

    French cities through a British camera lens

    Take a tour of French towns and cities through the lens of students from the London College of Communication.

    In a link up between the college and the French Tourist Office, 22 students visited 22 cities during four days in April to make a photographic report and produce the France.e.motion website.
    Cities such as Lille, Versailles, Nice […]

    Far from Paris: New Caledonia becomes World Heritage Site

    The World Heritage Committee has inscribed 19 new cultural sites and eight natural sites to the List. One of them is the Lagoons of French New Caledonia:

    The Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems comprise six marine clusters that represent the main diversity of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in the French Pacific […]

    Obama Embarrassed Americans Cannot Speak French

    Barack Obama gives a lesson on language and offensive American behavior. He’s embarrassed that Americans cannot speak French when they go on their trips to France.

    He needn’t worry — poor language skills (among other qualities) have just put the French at the top of the list of obnoxious European tourists.

    360 Degree Vertigo

    Quite impressive: click the image to start the Eiffel panorama, then use your mouse to manipulate the view.

    How to look silly when in France

    Americans are lucky people. Before they travel to France they can buy exactly the outfit from Amazon.com that makes them mingle invisibly with the locals.
    These Bohemian French Berets are really trendy in Paris — everybody wears them:

    And if you go to the Riviera you can’t go wrong with this French Sailor Beret:

    They’re all under […]