Insights into the French way of life and European travels by an Australian living in the Loire Valley
Header photo: Blois in spring, 2016. All photos on website copyright by Rosemary Kneipp unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved.Sign up for the latest posts below and don’t forget to click the confirmation email link:
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Author Archives: Rosemary Kneipp
Wait for the Ice Saints – Il faut attendre les saints de glace
There is a saying in France that you have to wait until after the ice saints – 11th, 12th and 13th May (Mamert, Pancrace and Servais) before you plants tomatoes and flowers like Busy Lilies. Well my tomatoes are fine … Continue reading
Happy New Year 2019
This is my absolute last chance to write my New Year post and wish you all a wonderful 2019, as tomorrow is the first day of February. I have an exciting year ahead – I am going to retire on … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Blois, Cycling, Cyprus, France, Germany, Poland, Uncategorized
Tagged cycling in germany, cycling in Poland, new year wishes
19 Comments
Friday’s French – acte de naissance, extrait d’acte de naissance, copie intégrale, birth certificate, entry of births
In my work as a sworn translator in France, the document I am asked to translate and certify the most often is the birth certificate. In France, it comes by various names: acte de naissance, extrait d’acte de naissance, copie … Continue reading
The Akubra Saviour
We’ve just arrived in Malta for a week of sun and exploring. It is 1°C when we leave Blois at 5.20 am and 15°C when we arrive in Valetta at 1 pm. After checking out our rental apartment, Marina View, … Continue reading
Friday’s French – place, endroit, lieu
Place sounds like is would be an easy word to translate from French to English and vice-versa. Well, it isn’t. Only rarely does it mean the same thing in both languages. I can think of a couple of situations where … Continue reading
Posted in French language
Tagged endroit in english, lieu in English, place in English, place in French
5 Comments
Happy New Year 2018
It’s nearly mid-January and I have only just found the time to write this new year post. Even though we have up until the end of January in France to do so, it’s still better to wish people a happy … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art, Blogging, Closerie Falaiseau, Cycling, Cyprus, Eastern Europe, Flowers & gardens, Hungary, Loire Valley, Romania, Slovenia, Travelling
Tagged blogging in France
15 Comments
Friday’s French – courant, current, actuel, actual
These are more of those look-alike words that the French call faux-amis. We’ll start with courant which has a few different meanings. We’re only going to look at adjectives here. Les dépenses courantes d’une maison, for example, are ordinary or … Continue reading
Posted in French language
Tagged actual in French, actuel in English, courant in English, current in French, Friday's French
6 Comments
Roses, Chambord Gardens and a Birthday
I think I should begin with an explanation about why I haven’t posted since the begininng of June! It’s very simple – lack of time! I used to post every day when on holidays but realised that Jean Michel had … Continue reading
Cycling in Slovenia – our power bikes pass the test!
We’re in Malibor in the north of Slovenia, a country known for its hills. We ask for a bike map from the tourist office and study it. In Malibor, there are cycle paths everywhere so we assume that outside the … Continue reading
