Category Archives: Uncategorized

French customs, French language, Hungary, Portugal, Sightseeing, Uncategorized

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: Visiting Lisbon – Parliament House in Budapest – Being Polite in French

March 4, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 2 Comments

This week’s Blogger Round-Up takes us to Lisbon in Portugal with Jenny and John in Brittany, a place that is definitely on my shortlist while Adelina from Pack Me To visits the inside of the Parliament Building in Budapest which we didn’t see on our visit to Hungary last summer. Margo Letsz from The Curious Rambler, whom you met last week explains the importance of being polite in France, which you may remember from my post on bonjour. Enjoy!

Things to see and do in Lisbon, Portugal

by Jenny and John in Brittany, who recently left Stockport, England to live in France where they are renovating a house to create a B&B.

Lisbon is an amazing city, there is so much to do and so many places to visit, I am not going to go into much detail as the pictures say more than a thousand words.

The one thing I would recommend though is to go on the trams, we did not work them out and just jumped on one we saw, you can pay on the tram or get a day pass (the day pass is highly recommended as this allows you to travel all day and costs approx the same as two rides when you pay on the tram).

We travelled to the end of the line and then back again, the tram ride is fascinating as at times you can touch the buildings you are passing it gets so close. Read more

Inside the Hungarian Parliament Building

by Adelina from Pack Me To, a Chinese American who’s been traveling for as long as she can remember and has lived in the Netherlands and Hungary. She loves telling stories, and eating and exploring her way around the world.

Visiting the Parliament building in Budapest has been on my to do list for a long time. I had seen photos of the inside of the Hungarian Parliament building, which looked spectacular, and I wanted to see it for myself. A building that looks so magnificent on the outside is sure to look glorious inside right? I was not wrong.

I had a bit of a false start on my visit to the Parliament. The first time I went, I was informed that the tour for the day was only 30 minutes long instead of the regular 45 minutes, but the price was the exactly same. I decided to go back another day. Read more

It pays to be polite in France

by Margo Letsz from The Curious Rambler, who lives in Nice, France where she likes to bask in the sunshine, study the French language and blog

At this café in Nice, France, minding your manners can significantly reduce the price of your coffee.

Of course, this was meant as a humorous way to remind customers to be polite, but it’s a great illustration of the French attitude toward good manners.

In France the “courtesy words and phrases” are very important and NOT optional. Fortunately, they’re easy to master, but if you can’t manage them in French, at least say them in English. More than likely, the French will understand you and think that you’re a polite person who doesn’t speak French – which is, of course, much better than being thought of as a rude person who doesn’t speak French. So if you want to be polite in France (and I’m sure you do), here are some easy words and phrases (along with my attempt at phonetic pronunciation) to help you on your way. Read more

Blois, Flowers & gardens, Uncategorized

An Orchid Exhibition and our Perfect New Neighbours

March 3, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 3 Comments

I was delighted when I discovered we had orchids in our garden in Blois. I had thought they were strictly tropical plants but it turns out that France has quite a large number of wild orchids and our region alone has about sixty. We have found three different ones in our little wood. So when Susan from Days on the Claise, who is quite a specialist in the field, suggested we go together to an orchid fair in Blois, I didn’t hesitate.

All the orchids on display were of the cultivated variety of course. I learnt that it’s virtually impossible to grow the local orchids. Either they turn up in your garden or they don’t because they need a special kind of fungus to grow. So I’m very honoured that orchis mascula and two other varieties I have yet to identify, have chosen our garden.

Purple orchis in our little wood in May last year

I also learnt the orchis mascula, or purple orchis, derives its name from the testicle-like formation underneath the roots. In English, it’s also called Gethsemane because it is said to have grown at the foot of the Cross and received drops of blood on its leaves!

Purple orchid leaves with their blood spots in February

Mr and Mrs Previous Owner have an orchis bouc (bouc means billy goat) in their garden, so-named because of its smell. In English, it’s called a lizard orchid, which is much nicer! It has the most amazing flowers and grows to be very tall.

Most of the exhibitors at the Orchid Exhibition were Dutch with a couple of local growers thrown in. There was a stunning collection that drew a very large crowd and also an excellent poster exhibition where I learnt all sorts of interesting things. Vanilla, for example, is an orchid, to my amazement.

I think these look like dolls on a stick, like the ones we used to get at the Show when I was a child in Australia

When we are living in Blois permanently and I have found the best location in the house for my cultivated orchid collection, I’ll venture into some more exciting ones. At present, the only ones that I get to rebloom are phalaenopsis or moth orchids.

My latest reflowering moth orchid in Paris

After the orchid exhibition, the first thing we saw as we got home was that our new neighbours had moved in. The moment of truth! Chicken yard or not chicken yard ? I went into our vegetable garden pretending to be checking out the sorrel (it being the only thing growing at the moment) and saw a friendly-looking blond woman a few years younger than us.

Mrs Previous Owner's photo of their lizard orchid. The stem is as long as the flower and you can see they've staked it. — Mrs Previous Owner’s photo of their lizard orchid. The stem is as long as the flower and you can see they’ve staked it.

I waved and she came over the say hello. She and her Spanish husband both have grown children and are at work all day. The chicken coop will eventually be turned into a garage and they had already been informed that they would need to keep their willow pruned so that it won’t damage the new slate roof of our barn.

We both called our husbands over and by the end of the conversation we’d established that we were all the perfect new neighbours! Great relief all round.

Another excellent piece of news is that I have also found a Portuguese cleaner for the gîte which opens again in April. It turns out that she used to own the house next door, and that her husband, also Portuguesue, actually built the house himself. Thank you Mr and Mrs Previous Owner for the tip!

French language, Uncategorized

Friday’s French – mondain, mundane & banal

February 27, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 8 Comments

“She’s very mundane”, a bilingual French-English speaker said to me recently, obviously thinking that mundane means the same thing as mondain. To start off with, in English, we wouldn’t use mundane to describe a person, but rather something more abstract such as life or existence. Mundane means dull and ordinary or relating to ordinary life on earth rather than to spiritual things.

Mondain, on the other hand, relates to the social life of what the French now surprisingly call people and what we call celebrities. It also refers the social habits of the bourgeoisie in which relations and conversations are always superficial.

What my friend really meant to say is “She’s a socialite”. Whenever we want to express the idea of mondain, we nearly always need to have society or social in there somewhere.

Elle mène une vie mondaine = She’s a socialite.

Il a le goût pour la vie mondaine = He has a taste for society life (or the high life).

Ce festival est l’évènement mondain de l’année = The festival is the society event of the year.

“Mundane”, on the other hand, probably needs a different translation every time.

On a more mundane level = au niveau pratique

Mundane task = tâche courante

A mundane concern = préoccupation terre-à-terre

I’ve kept “mundane existence” for last because it’s a bit trickier as it has two meanings. A mundane existence can refer to a non-spiritual existence in which case it would be une existence terrestre or profane. However if we’re just referring to the fact that it’s dull and ordinary, we would say une existence banale ou une vie banale.

Speaking of banal, that’s another word which doesn’t mean quite the same in French and in English. Actually, it’s not the meaning that differs so much as the usage. Banal in English means commonplace or trivial, which is more or less what it means in French, particularly when it refers to a lack of originality. However, in English, we don’t say people are banal as we do in French; we say they’re ordinary or run-of-the-mill.

Un personnage peu banal = an unusual character

Une conversation or une idée banale = a trite or banal conversation or idea

Une vie banale could also be translated as a humdrum life.

Une grippe banale = a common case of flu

And to finish up, here’s a very common expression in French: Ce n’est pas banal.

How would you say it in English? And maybe you have some other examples (with their translations!) of mundane, mondain and banal.

Closerie Falaiseau, Flowers & gardens, Lifestyle, Retirement, Uncategorized

Early Spring and Ponderings on our New Life

February 24, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 6 Comments

It’s been the strangest winter. I don’t think the temperature has gone below zero more than a couple of times and there has been absolutely no sign of snow. As a result, spring seems to have come a couple of weeks early.

Our house at the moment, with pansies and bulbs on the railing, the last of the winter jasmin on the left and our evergreen honeysuckle on the right.

We are in Blois for a month this time, the longest period yet so it feels more permanent. Things are starting to get more organised but I’m still finding it hard to reconcile my translation work and doing more interesting things such as gardening.

Jean Michel cleaning the moss. Our new paving stones are waiting to be made flush with the ground.

Also, having one person working and the other free to do what he wants with his time is not easy. Not that Jean Michel is lazing around – quite the opposite. Among other things, he has chopped firewood, completed the electricity in our upstairs kitchen, made two roof ladders and cleaned the moss off one of the roofs.

Crocuses and pansies against the front fence

But we are having to adjust to a different pattern. In Paris, Jean Michel gets up earlier than me during the week – often around 7, and has his breakfast alone. I get up around 8.30, get dressed, have a quick breakfast and am in my office by 9.

Primroses on the way up to our little wood

Here, if we get up at 8.30, I’m not sitting in front of my computer until closer to 10 because Jean Michel needs to take his time in the morning. I’ve been making an effort to get up at 8 but I only gain a half an hour and I’m tired! On intermittent fast days, it’s much easier as we skip breakfast. We’ve talked about it together and Jean Michel is also frustrated because he is a morning person and has the impression that he’s wasting his whole day if he doesn’t get up until eight (but he hasn’t suggested getting up earlier).

So I’m trying to schedule our two fast days for Monday and Friday and maybe I won’t eat on Wednesday mornings either. Then on the other two days, as soon as I’ve finished my breakfast I’ll leave him to it instead of taking time over tea together. The weekend’s not a problem of course.

Jean Michel also has a short nap after lunch and goes to sleep before I do at night, so all in all, I’m not getting enough sleep, and am exhausted! I hope we’ll have solved the problem soon. At least having a whole month in Blois means that we can get into better sync before the final move in October.

The fact that it rained most days last week didn’t help either. We were nice and wet by the time we finished the market on Saturday morning then spent the afternoon chasing after things like bottle racks and mats to scrape the mud off our shoes. By that evening we were feeling a little jaded.

View of Trinity Church from the top of the hill overlooking Vendome

However, Sunday dawned fine and sunny and after a leisurely breakfast, we drove to Vendome which is really pretty. Clouds came over around midday, to our disappointment. But by the time we had finished a very good lunch at Le Rond de Serviette, the sky was blue again and we walked up the hill to see the stunning panorama.

The daffodils I bought from the Red Cross stand on Place Colette and replanted — The daffodils I bought from the Red Cross stand on Place Colette in Paris and replanted in Blois

We arrived back home just in time for a late tea and macarons in front of the fire. It felt as though we were on holidays because it’s exactly the way we used to spend the day when we stayed in a gîte with a fireplace in winter before we bought Closerie Falaiseau.

Our local orchids are looking good. They'll bloom — Our local orchids are looking good. They’ll bloom in April.

Oh, and I nearly forgot – the annoying neighbours with the poultry yard have packed up, lock, stock, barrel and chickens. We couldn’t believe our luck! We expect that someone else will move in soon, perhaps at the end of the month. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

French language, Uncategorized

Friday’s French – aimer & adorer

February 13, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 9 Comments

How could I not talk about aimer on Valentine’s Day?

My first French boyfriend, many moons ago, told me that je t’aime beaucoup was not as strong as je t’aime on its own which seemed very strange to me. I already knew that je t’aime bien means “I like you” rather than “I love you” but I was surprised that je t’aime beaucoup didn’t mean “I love you very much”.

I was therefore equally surprised the first time Jean Michel said Je t’aime beaucoup. I explained what I had been told but he said he’d never heard of it. Yet my Collins/Robert bilingual dictionary says that aimer beaucoup means to like very much or to be very fond of. So who am I to believe?

Il l’aime d’amour means he really loves her. Elle est amoureuse means she’s in love. Il l’aime à la folie means he’s crazey about her or he adores her. Ils s’aiment means they love each other or they’re in love. Elle est amoureuse (de lui) = She’s in love (with him).

If je t’aime bien means “I like you”, how do you make the distinction between like and love when you’re not talking about people? For example, how would you say “I like chocolate” as opposed to “I love chocolate”? Well, you could say J’aime bien le chocolat or j’aime le chocolat and j’adore le chocolat.

There is no mistake about the last one – it means you’re a chocoholic (which incidentally is an accro au chocolat, accro being short for accroché meaning addict). J’aime bien le chocolat means you can take it or leave it and j’aime le chocolat means you like eating chocolate.

J’adore is one of the expressions that you hear all the time in French so much so that it is easy to forget that we don’t use “adore” in English in the same sense. You adore your children (well, most of the time), you worship the Lord (if you’re a believer) but you can only love chocolate.

J’adore le cinéma. J’adore le fromage. J’adore tout ce qui est français. J’adore sa façon de s’habiller. J’adore tremper mes tartines dans le chocolat chaud (I love dunking my bread in hot chocolate). You could go on forever …

If aimer is followed by mieux, it means “prefer”. J’aime mieux lire que d’écrire = I prefer reading to writing.

Love, of course, is amour but love at first sight is a coup de foudre or stroke of lightening, which is much more graphic, isn’t it?

All my love, Patrick = bises, Patrick while love and kisses or xxx = bisous, gros bisous ou grosse bises. However, if you want to say “Mark sends his love”, you’d say Marc t’envoie ses amitiés ou Marc t’embrasse, which is stronger.

In French, passion is often used to express love, but surprisingly, it usually applies to a hobby or passtime. Le théâtre était sa grande passion = the theatre was her (or his) great love. Sa première passion a été le foot = His first love was football.

He is the love of my life = c’est l’homme de ma vie but football is the love of her life = le foot est sa grande passion. Don’t you think that’s funny?

And here’s a proverb before we go. Love me, love my dog = Qui m’aime aime mon chien.

Croatia, France, French customs, Uncategorized, Weekly Blogger Round-Up

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: Colmar in Alsace – Zadar in Croatia – Saint Valentine’s Day in Paris

February 11, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 3 Comments

In this week’s Blogger Round-Up, Carolyn from Holidays to Europe takes us to Colmar, which is one of my favourites places in Alsace, with its picturesque canals while Chasing the Donkey gives us an insider’s tour of Zadar in Croatia with it’s famous Sea Organ. To finish off, Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris gives us lots of unique ideas for Saint Valentine’s Day in Paris. Enjoy!

A Short Guide to Colmar, France

by Carolyn from Holidays to Europe, an Australian based business passionate about sharing their European travel expertise and helping travellers to experience the holiday in Europe they have always dreamed of

With only a couple of days in the Alsace region of France, I didn’t have much time to spend in Colmar but in the few short hours I was there, I quickly realised why it is such a popular town with tourists from all over the world – it is absolutely gorgeous!

Thanks to its history as a major trading post and river port in the 16th Century, Colmar is one of the prettiest cities in France. Wealthy merchants built spectacularly colourful houses alongside the canal, and even today, centuries later, they ooze charm. With a mix of French (the window shutters) and German (half-timbered facades) architecture, the houses of the former trading areas of Colmar are a reminder of the heady days when wine from the neighbouring Alsatian vineyards was shipped along the canal. Read more

What to see in Zadar

By Chasing the Donkey, a Mum & wife, now Australian expat who packed up her very typical Aussie life in May 2013 and shifted it along with her Croatian Husband and Son to rebuild the old house they inherited in Croatia & make it their home.

Be sure to to make a stop in Zadar if you plan to explore Northern Dalmatia, it’s a great destination to spend time in, its a great choice to use as a base to see Plitvice, Paklenica or Krka National Parks. So, what should you see while you’re in Zadar? We’ll there is no doubt that you’ll enjoy drinking coffee overlooking the Grand Roman Forum that is over 2,000 years old and the Church of St, Donatus among the many sights – but I guarantee you’ll end up being drawn to 2 of Zadar’s most unique attractions. The Sea Organ & the Greeting to the Sun. Read more

Love is in the air: lots of unique ideas for Valentine’s Day in Paris

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

Whether you’re single, married or divorced, there’s a lot happening in Paris on February 14:

Feel like a star – For Valentine’s Day, the RATP is offering you and the person of your choice a FREE glamor shot. Five Harcourt Studio photo cabins will be available from 12:00 – 6:00 pm at the following stations: Gare de Lyon, Denfert-Rochereau, Villejuif-Louis Aragon, La Motte Picquet-Grenelle and Jaurés.

One minute to “spread the love” at the Louvre: At precisely 14h14 (2:14 pm) on February 14, a flashmob will gather in front of the pyramid at the Louvre to kiss their lover, best friend, stuffed animal, dog or bicycle. Couples, families, friends – everyone is invited to share a minute of love. KISS Flashmob in Paris event page. Read more

Art, French customs, IT, Uncategorized, Wine

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: Overalls for women now legal in France – Great party trick

January 28, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 2 Comments

This week’s Blogger Round-Up is a spin-off from my post on the disappearance of père de famille. Bellanda from Bellanda in Paris tweeted a post explaining that women are now legally allowed to wear overalls in France, while Tim from Invisible Bordeaux responded with a famous example of an exception to the rule – Rosa Bonheur. On another fun note, Chrissie from The Riviera Grapevine shares a great party trick that involves bubbly. Enjoy!

It’s no longer a joke! My overalls were not only illegal in Paris … they were illegal in all of France!

by Bellanda from Bellandainparis, a New York presently living in Paris, doing what she loves: writing/screenwriting, painting, photography & social media managing.

The last several months, I have been joking that wearing my overalls in Paris might be considered illegal. Little did I know how right I was!

Ever since that very first day I ventured out into the streets of Paris wearing overalls, there has been ongoing banter on Twitter and Facebook about the fact that this could possibly be illegal. There were some of you who gasped with laughter saying, “No, you didn’t?” There were others who said things like, “Good for you! Be yourself and be proud.”

In my defense, and yes, I somehow think wearing overalls… more exactly wearing paint stained overalls in a city where people only wear jogging/sports attire if they are actually running, does indeed need defending. Read more

ROSA BONHEUR: THE WORLD-FAMOUS BORDEAUX-BORN ANIMALIÈRE

by Tim Pike, an Englishman in France who, when not writing Invisible Paris can often be spotted riding a vintage yellow bicycle or strumming a guitar. He has also conceived a set of self-guided walking tours around Bordeaux which are available for iDevices.

One of the most illustrious of Bordeaux’s daughters is Rosa Bonheur who, throughout her life which spanned much of the 19th century, became a world-renowned “animalière” and is regarded by many as the most famous female painter of her time.

Rosa Bonheur was born Marie Rosalie Bonheur on March 16th 1822 at 29, Rue Saint-Jean-Saint-Seurin (now 55, Rue Duranteau) in Bordeaux. Her father, Oscar-Raymond Bonheur, was a landscape and portrait painter and frequented Spanish artist Francisco Goya during the four years the latter spent in Bordeaux up until his death. Read more

The Party Trick I Wish I Had (And a recommendation for a fantastic wine bar in Piedmonte)

by Chrissie from Riviera Grapevine, a Sydney girl living in Nice with an insatiable thirst for the wines of the Var, Alpes Maritimes and Liguria. She happily sells, drinks and blogs about wine.

Recently, whilst indulging in a spot of social media browsing, I came across this gem of a YouTube clip shared via LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter or some other format which all us members of the bloggersphere should apparently be mastering for self promotion!

Now, this is one party trick that I think would seriously impress. Opening a bottle of bubbly with the glass that you’ll serve the liquid in! Class. Especially with a certain nonchalance as conveyed by the guy in this clip. Surely this is a more realistic skill to master than learning how to saber a Champagne bottle with a sword?

Yet I know I could never pull it off. I’d shatter the delicate glass on impact, like a magician who fluffs his tricks. Read more

French language, Uncategorized

Friday’s French – exit bon père de famille

January 23, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 3 Comments

You may remember another Friday’s French post where I talked about bon père de famille used in the context of a safe investment. Well, the expression is about to disappear!

A bill on equality between men and women is being discussed in the national assembly at the moment and an article introduced by the Greenies calls for the elimination of the term en bon père de famille which appears no less than fifteen times in current legislation.

Denouncing the expression as being désuète (old-fashioned), particularly with the changing face of the nuclear family, the environmental MPs have suggested raisonnable (reasonable) as a replacement.

The expression comes from the Latin bonus pater familias which existed in Roman law.

We can only applaud the initiative as being … more than reasonable!

Food, Travelling, Uncategorized

Weekly Blogger Round-Up – Travel Insurance – Bergamot

January 21, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 5 Comments

Just a short Blogger Round-Up this week as I am still under the weather: Carolyn from Holidays to Europe talks about the importance of travel insurance and Sylvia from Finding Noon explains what a bergamot is. Enjoy!

A Real-Life Travel Insurance Experience

by Carolyn from Holidays to Europe, an Australian based business passionate about sharing their European travel expertise and helping travellers to experience the holiday in Europe they have always dreamed of . Carolyn also has a house to rent in the south of France.

Every time I travel overseas, whether it’s for work or pleasure, I always take out travel insurance before the trip. No-one likes parting with money for something that they may never use, however I have always believed it’s one of those necessary evils that you just have to pay for. In twenty-five years of overseas travel, I’d never made a claim – until my trip to Europe in 2010.

Our family had set off for a four week holiday in Europe – carefully planned between the end of our eldest son’s Year 12 exams and Christmas. As always, I had our itinerary meticulously pre-planned. All travel and accommodation arrangements had been pre-booked and paid in advance as I don’t like to leave anything to chance. We spent the first week in Paris and then another in the south of France and were just about to head to Switzerland, northern Italy and Slovenia when disaster struck! Read more

This morning’s cuppa

by Sylvia from Finding Noon, an American living in Paris who appreciates fine art, good music, succulent food, and breath taking scenery

Earl Grey is my favorite tea. It has been my favorite tea since I first tasted it, so long ago that I can’t even remember when. When I went through my purist Chinese tea and scorned any other flavored teas, I still loved a good Earl Grey.

Its the bergamot flavoring that I really love. What’s a bergamot? Its an orange! A tiny little orange from Southern Italy and it taste very much like a lemon. They don’t use the acid fruit of the citrus, but the fragrant oil that is in the skin. Read more

Architecture, France, French customs, Italy, Paris, Renovation, Uncategorized

Weekly Blogger Round-Up: Renovating a château – Visiting Southern Italy – No pants in the Paris metro

January 14, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 4 Comments

Welcome to this week’s Blogger Round-Up. Three posts caught my eye immediately this week. The first, by Janine Marsh from The Good Life France, tells the story of an Australian couple who have bought a château in the south of France to renovate. It is a stunning project and I wish them luck and the finance to carry it through! Liz from Young Adventuress lures us to the less-known south of Italy, starting with Positano on the Amalfi Coast and ending with Matera. And I couldn’t resist the write-up on this year’s no-pants subway event by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris. Enjoy!

French Château Rescued from Ruin

by Janine Marsh from The Good Life France, an independent on-line magazine about France and all things French, covering all aspects of daily life including healthcare, finance, utilities, education, property and a whole lot more.

How many of us dream of owning and renovating a French chateau? A palace that was lived in by French aristocrats, where the rich, powerful and famous partied and where every room reveals a story from the past?

Karina Waters is from Perth, Western Australia where, in what “feels like a previous life now” she worked in corporate and tax accounting and lived with her husband Craig, a surgeon and their two children. In 2011 Karina and Craig decided to buy a home in France. They had lots of French friends who on their first viewing trip in the region of the Dordogne did their best to come up with ideas for “what would suit an Australian family”. Karina and Craig spent a week looking at the houses their friends had chosen. Karina says they were all “renovated, clean and neat, ticking the box for a quiet life”. She returned to Perth “frankly disappointed”, her ideal home would be more “shabby chic, rustic, petit chateau style” and she hadn’t seen anything that came even near that description. Read more

Postcards from Southern Italy

by Liz from Young Adventuress, a globetrotter currently in New Zealander who likes to zig while the rest of the world zags, travelling, eating and blogging her way around the globe

Maybe I’m wrong (please tell me if I am) but after spending some time in southern Italy, I’ve realized a few things, the first and foremost being that it doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Rome, Florence, Venice, and all those great cities and regions of the north get heaps of love from us foreigners, and for good reason, they rock. But what about the south? Read more

“There’s a place in France where the ladies (and men) wear no pants” – No Pants Subway Ride 2014 in Paris

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

Metro line 1 is notorious for pickpockets. Every couple of stops, there’s a public announcement in at least four different languages warning passengers to keep a close eye on their belongings. If you happened to be riding the metro from Charles de Gaulle – Étoile in the direction of Bastille at approximately 3:45 pm yesterday, it might have occurred to you that the pickpockets had been busy stealing more than just wallets. In honor of the third annual No Pants Subway Ride in Paris, many of the passengers were traveling trouserless. While participants without bottoms read newspapers, studied route maps or nonchalantly chatted on cell phones, astonished passengers tried their best not to stare at all the exposed limbs in the middle of winter. Read more

Things to see and do in Lisbon, Portugal

by Jenny and John in Brittany, who recently left Stockport, England to live in France where they are renovating a house to create a B&B.

Inside the Hungarian Parliament Building

by Adelina from Pack Me To, a Chinese American who’s been traveling for as long as she can remember and has lived in the Netherlands and Hungary. She loves telling stories, and eating and exploring her way around the world.

It pays to be polite in France

by Margo Letsz from The Curious Rambler, who lives in Nice, France where she likes to bask in the sunshine, study the French language and blog

A Short Guide to Colmar, France

by Carolyn from Holidays to Europe, an Australian based business passionate about sharing their European travel expertise and helping travellers to experience the holiday in Europe they have always dreamed of

What to see in Zadar

By Chasing the Donkey, a Mum & wife, now Australian expat who packed up her very typical Aussie life in May 2013 and shifted it along with her Croatian Husband and Son to rebuild the old house they inherited in Croatia & make it their home.

Love is in the air: lots of unique ideas for Valentine’s Day in Paris

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

It’s no longer a joke! My overalls were not only illegal in Paris … they were illegal in all of France!

by Bellanda from Bellandainparis, a New York presently living in Paris, doing what she loves: writing/screenwriting, painting, photography & social media managing.

ROSA BONHEUR: THE WORLD-FAMOUS BORDEAUX-BORN ANIMALIÈRE

by Tim Pike, an Englishman in France who, when not writing Invisible Paris can often be spotted riding a vintage yellow bicycle or strumming a guitar. He has also conceived a set of self-guided walking tours around Bordeaux which are available for iDevices.

The Party Trick I Wish I Had (And a recommendation for a fantastic wine bar in Piedmonte)

by Chrissie from Riviera Grapevine, a Sydney girl living in Nice with an insatiable thirst for the wines of the Var, Alpes Maritimes and Liguria. She happily sells, drinks and blogs about wine.

A Real-Life Travel Insurance Experience

by Carolyn from Holidays to Europe, an Australian based business passionate about sharing their European travel expertise and helping travellers to experience the holiday in Europe they have always dreamed of . Carolyn also has a house to rent in the south of France.

This morning’s cuppa

by Sylvia from Finding Noon, an American living in Paris who appreciates fine art, good music, succulent food, and breath taking scenery

French Château Rescued from Ruin

by Janine Marsh from The Good Life France, an independent on-line magazine about France and all things French, covering all aspects of daily life including healthcare, finance, utilities, education, property and a whole lot more.

Postcards from Southern Italy

by Liz from Young Adventuress, a globetrotter currently in New Zealander who likes to zig while the rest of the world zags, travelling, eating and blogging her way around the globe

“There’s a place in France where the ladies (and men) wear no pants” – No Pants Subway Ride 2014 in Paris

by Mary Kay from Out and About in Paris, an American by birth, Swiss by marriage, resident of Paris with a Navigo Pass for the metro that she feels compelled to use

from the Tropics to the City of Light