France, I’m sorry. I’ve made light of you many too times and questioned why you do things in what seems to be the strangest of ways. I take it all back after visiting the Italian island of Sardinia. Looking for…
Tag: animals
You just don’t see this in the city
Some things are a bit different here in the countryside of France. For instance, how many cities offer a calf as a prize? Here in La Clusaz, it’s a regular thing. You might remember the raffle last year, and now,…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: animals, competition, cows, culture, farming, fete, French language, La Clusaz
Ten reasons to visit Prapic
Hidden near Gap is the tiny, aging village of Prapic. Once a thriving town on a main Roman route before Christ, the village has survived centuries despite rockslides and avalanches from the peaks all around. So massive are those peaks that…
Accidentally visiting a dog museum
You might remember the fluffy St Bernard puppies and dogs I visited a few weekends ago at the Barry Foundation. A friend with a dog as big as a St Bernard had heard about the open day and was armed…
Visiting the original St Bernard dogs
Did you know that Saint Bernard dogs were originally called Barry dogs? I learnt this when I visited the Barry Foundation in Martigny, Switzerland last weekend. The foundation was only set up in 2005 to continue breeding dogs like the…
The importance of French pronunciation
French can be a tricky language when it comes to pronunciation. For mysterious reasons, the basic rule is that the last letter of a word isn’t pronounced. For example, ‘un croissant‘ is pronounced without the ‘t’. However, if it’s made…
Great weather for drying washing
A new layer of snow has enveloped the Alps, but only after three solid weeks of sunshine, raising temperatures up to 22°C here in Saint Jean de Sixt and melting a lot of snow. These are perfect examples of how…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: animals, cows, culture, driving, landscape, local, St Jean de Sixt
Haggling in your second language
I recently came back from a week in Morocco, where I was able to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the cities. French is the second language in Morocco — a country where the locals are comfortable speaking many different…
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: animals, culture, French language, Morocco, shopping, strangers, translation, travel
Pet care in France
Here’s Squeak the kitten in a photo I took a few weeks ago. The wrapper he’s playing with is another story that I’ll talk about closer to Christmas. Today, it’s all about pet care in France. Soon after I took…
France for Aussies
Having lived in France for years, I’ve become used to the culture and the way day-to-day life is carried out. Things don’t seem as odd or as charming as they used to, and certain aspects of the French culture that…
