Paris in July 2017 ...... the Finale!

Here it is, the final few days of Paris in July 2017. Its been a delightful month of dedicated posts to many different things we all love of Paris, Franch and French culture. I regret that I have not had enough time to visit all of your posts, or to have even read the books on my TBR pile... but I know many of you have had a chance to visit and support each other during this blogging event.

So as the sunsets on the Eiffel Tower, I'm going to invite final reviews, commentaries or "best of" posts....  you could nominate another bloggers post as one of the best, or review a series of posts, or even post a link to one from the past. I will hope to get some time to do a few visits this week.. 

Paris in July ...... ma post en Francais...

Les chocolates pour La Quatorze Juillet 

Ca fait longtemps que je n'ecrit pas en francais, et maitenant j'essayera sans dictionaire. Si vous avez des corrigions pour moi, si vous plait les me donner.

Bienvenue a Thyme-for-tea, mon espace pour les contemplations de la vie... pendant le mois juillit, je celebrerait Paris in July avec mes amis qui a bloggers comme moi.

J'aim beaucoup la vie Parisienne  (ou quelle que chose j'imagine il est) mais je suis habite en Australie que etait tres loin de Europe. Chaque annee je m'emerse dans la fantasies de le culture francais.

De temps en temps je lis les histoires de la vie en France ou regarde les films qui a fait au France. Parfois, je mangera ou cuisinier les nouriture francais... ou bois les vins de francais.

Cette année il est tres difficile pour moi de passe beaucoup des temps faisions qulle que chose francais, parce que je suis une etudient (MBA) avec les devoirs et ie suis tres occupe avec mon travaille et des autre activites.

J'ai au les reves de lire trois livres, mais..... je n'ai fait pas.... peut etre apres l'examen..

Sans la doubt, ni lisent ni cuisinier, ni regardent les films ou mangent les croissants,  j'ai au beaucoup des amusements avec vos posts tres interessant et tres diverse. Merci..

Paris in July 2017 - Week 4 - final

My French Dreams....

How many other tragics are there out there? Who else has a bookshelf like this one? All my dreams of speaking french fluently one day are resting on this shelf.... oh, yes, and on my tablet where I have multiple apps like Speak French by Podcast... On my phone I have one of those online radio apps, that allows me to listen to french radio and french podcasts. I do try...  Just this week, I've been listening to the Tour de France on french radio in french - and fairly proud to say I understand most of it.

Anyway - for Paris in July 2017 - I promised myself I would do a post in French - so I've only got this week left to do that.. I will.

And as the month is coming to its close next weekend, we have one more Mr Linky.. post your new Paris in July links here... I'm really looking forward to seeing what's to come!

France's entry in Eurovision 2017

One of my Paris in July aims was to listen to more French music but I didn't really know where to start, when one of my friends noted she had really enjoyed Frances entry in this eurovision competition. Here is it - both a really energetic piece and a great video...



For some of my readers, you may not be familiar with Eurovision. It's an annual song competition between participating countries, where ABBA became an international sensation. Its been in existence for 62 years.

I was never quite sure why Australia followed, or even participated in this competition, but this explanation is quite helpful.

 Australia first competed in 2015 when it was invited to participate in a gesture of goodwill for the show’s 60th anniversary and its ‘Building Bridges’ theme. The country, which has a strong Eurovision following, has since remained in the competition, both confusing and upsetting many fans. The simple explanation as to why Australia is in Eurovision is that SBS, its host TV broadcaster, is part of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which oversees the organisation of the contest; in essence, this qualifies them for entry.

 This years French entry was selected... by the French broadcaster France Télévisions, in collaboration with their television channel France 2, who internally selected the song "Requiem" performed by Alma and written by Nazim Khaled to be the French entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine (Wikepedia)

Le Foret de Troncais et Les Chamignoux

 So here's another chapter in the unplanned trip to France in 2002. We were cycling (cheapest way to live when unexpectedly on holidays) according to the TV news weather map - avoiding mountains!!  We ended up here - somewhere in Allier, near Montlucon. It was beautiful country, very french.

 Cycling through villages with amazing views in ancient streets.. we just couldn't believe how lucky we were.

 Constantly taking in the new and different... my partner was intrigued by the ancient architecture.

 Cycling meant having all our travel gear on the bikes... as this was an unplanned trip we had to do some sorting, rearranging and ended up with our little 'Bob' trailer. It worked a treat (as long as I wasn't towing it).

 When we decided to come to this part of the world, we booked a gite (local farm house for rent) and then started riding towards it. The gite was located in the village of Les Chamignoux near le Foret du Trancais. It was such a highlight of our trip.. we loved it!

 This was our Gite... white stone collage with red wines.

 

Time to play with fires in cozy corners... 

 

 And like any good French village - they had hunts!

Located near the Forest of Tronçais (Forêt de Tronçais) we enjoyed walks, rides & picnics. This is a French national forest, a forêt domaniale, comprising 10,600 hectares in the Allier, managed by the Office national des forêts. Its oaks, planted by order of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister of Louis XIV to supply the French navy, constitute one of the principal stands of oaks in Europe. The oaks of Tronçais, representing some 80% of production, are prized for the barrels coopered for cognac and the great wines of Bordeaux.

I will share another special story from this part of the world in next weeks edition. 

Paris in July 2017 - Week 3

Here comes Week 3 of Paris in July 2017. I've been having a great time visiting all the posts, and there have been lots! Just like the button I've selected for this week, there have been many different varieties of contributions. From reviews of great classic books & authors (thanks Mel U), to books & documentaries on Van Gogh & his brother Theo.. music & video clips, like the one I'm going to show again here cos I loved it..(thanks Mae)... to visits to french gardens (Jeanie) & museums, & crazy french fashion(thanks Esme).... our love of things Paris & french is broad & deep. Its so special to find a community to share it with.

Mae shared this link last week and I thought I'd post it here in celebration of Paris and le Quatorze Juillet .
 
24 words for Paris 2024 from Cokau Lab on Vimeo.

 Now here's this weeks Mr Linky... its helpful to put the name of your post in the NAME box with your name in brackets, and then the link to your current post in the link box.. There have been some issues with Mr Linky, and if you would prefer not to use it, use my comments section instead.

Musee du velo

Back in 2002, my partner and I packed up, left home on a journey, and ended up in France on bikes! We fell in love with France on that trip (although my Dad reminds me I fell in love with France with I was 3 too). Landing in France was unexpected and unplanned, so we had no expectations. Each day turned out to be a new adventure.

On this particular day, my partner was in 7th heaven.... a collection of all things Bikes! This museum was in the country, somewhere around Cluny, a town we ended up staying in for over a week just because there was so much to do there.

My regular followers will know, we are Tour de France fans (and Tour Down Under). So it was especially gorgeous to find this corner of the Musee devoted to some of the Tour's history..

Check out the collection of Biddons (drinking bottles) along the top of this wall! (what scares me, is that we have a growing collection just like this - we get then from the side of the race each year!)

For those that enjoy watching things evolve - here's some different bikes that were clearly in a state of trial. We don't see many of these around today.

I'm not sure I could master the Penny Farthing, and I admire those that did (and still do). When we see a Penny Farthing these days, it's out of place and appears uncomfortable - but I'm told, back in their time, they were a machine to reckon with!

I quite like this poster... off she goes with him chasing her. What fun! Cycling has certainly brought some fun times into our household. I recall this accidental trip to France with some fondness, as cycling was the cheapest way we could do it. I wasn't particularly bike fit or savvy then - and we certainly didn't know much french then either. But we made our way around some lovely areas of France and got fit at the same time!

I believe this musee was a private collection open to the public. We were very lucky to find it, and to have the time to enjoy all there was collected here. I've just found more information here about the Musee du Velo... If you're ever in the area, I'd recommend a visit.

Paris in July 2017 - here comes week 2

Bonjour Paris! Hasn't that first week been amazing? Thank you all - we've had some really interesting posts about authors, books to be read, famous children's characters, places we've visited in France, french music, french chocolate.... and so much more. I particular enjoyed Deb from ReaderBuzz' post on her favourite posts from previous Paris in July events... Its always nice to revisit things we thought were special in the past....

I'm sorry I didn't actually get a post up in past week, but uni assignments come first. Now that's handed in, I can engage a little more here.

Don't forget, this week the French celebrate Quatorze Julliet - what will you be doing? I think our local Alliance Francais is having a moving night and drinks, and then I will celebrate with my french class mates  over a dinner next weekend. Love to hear all about it..

Here's this weeks Mr Linky!