French Landmarks, French fun learning the language, false friends and braving bed bugs

Wine Museum, France.

Paris

Often voted the world most romantic city and one of the most visited.

Well known landmarks include the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre. 

Places to visit, Disneyland for families. Pere Lachaise cemetery one of the world's most visited cemeteries and the one most visited in Paris. Thousands of graves and famous people have graves, such as French singer Edith Piaf and others who died in France such as composer Chopin and English writer and wit, Oscar Wilde.

Wine

If you are after French wine, Paris has a wine museum. 

The other big and recent wine museum is down south. 

Lost I Translation

If you want the recipe, the word is recette. However, that is not the word for receipt.

recipe is recette

receipt is recu (with a cedilla)

Bed Bug Cautions and Precautions

Any Precautions? check beds for bedbugs and put suitcases on metal leg stands, not on beds.

If you are unlucky, suggested remedies include wash clothes on highest heat, or put in freezer.

To brush up  your French online or in person, visit a French speaking Toastmasters club in Singapore, France, Belgium, Switzerland or Canada. In Singapore the new language learners club is meeting online on Sundays at 9 pm Singapore time. The club meets every Sunday and two Thursdays a month, one Thursday devoted to English language, grammar, spelling and all things educational and entertaining. Each meeting has a language theme with one or two speeches lasting 5 to 7 minutes on the language allocated. However, you can do a speech in any language, providing you provide an English translation. It is always entertaining.

Useful Websites

https://paris-tourism.com/en/museums/wine-museum/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_du_Vin

dictionary.reverso.net/french-english

collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12619161/Travel-avoid-bedbug-infestation-luggage-Paris.html 

PS if you are visiting Singapore or holding an event,

https://allevents.in/singapore/exhibitions

Cathedral Cove, Coromandel New Zealand, the Cave And The Trompe L'oeuil Photo Opportunity

Cathedral Cove, Coromandel, New Zealand. Photo Micknz at English Wikipedia

It's at the north end of the north island.

This is the New Zealand flag. The Australian flag has an exta large star under the flag.


I was alerted to this wonderful place by writer Geoff Parkes who posted this on Facebook.

Spot the author, says Geoff Parkes. It s a classic shot, pretending to hold up the Eiffel Tower or a large building. Yet, although it's not new, it is a surprise and delight every time.


Doesn't this beach have everything, waves, sand, caves, giant rocks. The perfect place for a paddle or a selfie.

If travelling from American or Europe, I suggest you get a flight with a stopover at Singapore and another in Australia.

Useful Websites
Tripadvisor
Wikipedia
Wikivoyage
Wikitravel
https://www.newzealand.com/sg/

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer. She is British and has lived in the UK, the USA, and Singapore. Many more posts on language and sights worlwide.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Filing Photos By Dates - why label, keep or use old photos?

Problem
How to find photos you took years ago, or at an unknown date?

Places And Useful Labels
In my photos system, I have a section called places. This can be very handy. I used to leave my photos unlabelled. Now I tag them with every tag I can think of.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

It's obvious that the Eiffel Tower is the Eiffel Tower, is in Paris, and that Paris is in France. However, if I have a moment, I will label it, with all three pointers. The reason is that, a week or year later, if I am writing about Paris and want a symbol, I can find one quickly.

When you have several photos it is handy to have as much detail in labelling as possible. For example, I might have two dozen photos of a famous building, or even my own garden or balcony. I can see if one picture is a sunset or a daytime or nighttime photo. I can see if it is lawn (green grass), or a rose, or even a tree.

A Rose

Cut Red Rose on table.

But these labels will be handy hours, days or weeks later if I am looking for a picture of a rose, contrasting drought or weeds with green grass, or comparing the pine trees of England with the palm trees of Singapore.

I could label my rose as flower, or rose, or red rose, or red rose in vase or flower container, or red rose on table, to contrast with pink rose in garden.

Pink rose growing in garden in London, England.

 I have to search only one file and everything is in date order, the date of the email. In photo storage, the photos are stored when they were taken.

Downloading Photos
So If I download a free photo from Wikipedia, which was taken at the Notting Hill Gate Carnival in 2017, I would have to recall that it was taken in 2017 in order to find it.

Queen Victoria. Where?

I once downloaded a photo of a statue of famous composer and the photo instantly disappeared. I thought it had failed to be downloaded from the server to my computer.

The Statue of Liberty. When?

For weeks I did not realise what was happening. Then started looking for another Photo and found my statue picture. I finally twigged that my photos were being stored under the date they were taken. The solutions?

Important Dates
Firstly, to notice when the picture was taken from the detailed description in Wikipedia. I never used to take much notice of dates. Now I make a point of noticing every time.

I used to hate out of date pictures. Who needs a picture of their own high street or a shop from five years ago or ten years ago. For a travel writer, an out of date photo, even six months in a four-season country is a waste of time. A snowy scene is useless when you are writing in summer. Unless you are writing about booking a ski holiday for next Easter.

As a travel writer, I used to be selling stories immediately I came back from a trip. I had up-to-date photos and experiences.

Photographer?
You want to label the phtographer to give credit. I also want to know whether a photo was taken by me or by soembody esle. I might prefer to have a statue with a live person beside it.

Angela Lansbury standing by statues in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Statues by railway station in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Statues in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Old Photos - Out of Date?
Now I can see the point of the old photos. You can show before and after photos. Has the new decor of a restaurant improved on the way it used to be a year ago? Will I or you or another reader be able to see that the place they remembered and didn't like has improved for the better?

I was at a meeting of travel industry people at the annual World Travel Market in London. One member of the audience complained that Tripadvisor kept old reviews. He said any review more than a month ago was irrelevant. The chef might have changed. The seasonal menu would have changed.

I disagreed. I had been to a hotel which has a broken window in a bedroom. The owner told me it had just happened and he would fix it. Should I believe him? I went online and discovered that people had been complaining about that and similar problems for years. Nothing got repaired or fixed. If I had only had this week's complaint, I might have thought it was one off. By carefully analysing all the reports over the years, it was clear that those people in the renovated top floor rooms gave the hotel glowing reports. Those in the middle floor rooms were all complaining.

Another interesting point. If all rooms in a hotel are the same size, you don't know whether you will get a good room or a bad one. Since the rooms were different sizes, you could see at a glance that a three-bed family room on the top floor was in good condition. So, you had to ask for and only book if you could get a three-bed family room.

You might think, if the place is run down in some areas, surely you should not give them your business at all. However, if you didn't want to pay twice the price for bland chain hotel room which could be in any country of the world, the hotel with the piano-playing owner, statues in the garden, board games for children, a clientele of bohemian and off-beat visitors to talk to, might be just thing - provided you got the renovated room and not the one with the broken window.

The other point is that I hesitate to say anything bad about a hotel or restaurant. What I think is a small portion might be just right for somebody else. Better to show a photo and let the viewer judge for themselves. My family can't agree on a meal. We have totally different tastes.

The old saying, a picture is worth a thousand words, holds true. An old picture showing the place is just the same, or tally changed, may be very useful.

But how do you find the old picture? We have come full circle.

Author
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, Angela Lansbury. Please bookmark your favourite posts and share links with your family and friends.

Novelty Photos You Can Try - Wearing A Welsh Hat, Holding Up The Eiffel Tower

Problem
How can I do a different personalised photo?

Answer
Put yourself in a picture like this:
1 Wearing a hat at an exhibition.
2. Holding up a building.
Favourites are the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I've also seen similar things done in Cambodia at temples. You can do similar tricks with falling walls.

In Prague, Czech Republic, adults and children alike pose beside a naked man fountain in front of the Franz Kafka museum.

You can also pretend to fight dinosaurs, and do similar trick photos with statues.

Stories
I wanted a photo of myself next to Jemima, the Welsh heroine.When I saw that one model of the Welsh heroine, Jemima, was wearing a hat, I realised I could be photographed wearing the hat.
www.visitwales.com

Travel Tips
https://www.visitbritainshop.com/world/ (trips, tours, offers: London; England, Scotland, Wales)
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk (You get the UK version when you log in from the UK)

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Please share links to your favourite posts.

Angela Lansbury and Welsh hat at The Last Invasion Tapestry museum alongside the library in The Town Hall, Fishguard, Wales. Photo copyright Angela Lansbury.

French Food, Restaurants and Celebrations For Bastille Day, July 14th French National Day - Vive La France!

The red, white and blue of the French flag light up Wembley Arch in London in Sympathy with the French.

Problem
How should I celebrate Bastille Day and where?

Answers
First - what's it all about? The storming of the Bastille, a prison in Paris, capital of France. In 1789. Year of the Revolution. Taxes were high, food prices were high, and King Louis XVI was unpopular, and so was his wife, Marie Antoinette, who was supposed to have said, 'Let them eat cake'.

When I was researching my book of quotations, entitled Who Said What When, I discovered that Let them Eat cake was supposedly said by another unpopular character more than a hundred years earlier. No record of a time and place for Marie Antoinette saying any such thing in her lifetime. The same applies to a lot of famous quotations.

How do I remember which of the many Louis kings was married to Marie Antoinette? Louis 16, and for him and his wife and the rest of France he was not sweet sixteen. In fact on Bastille Day things went very sour for him. He is supposed to have asked one of his ministers, "Is this a revolt?" And he got the riposte, to use a French word, "No, it is a revolution!"

Bastille Day is celebrated in France, Belgium, Canada. If you want to practise your French, it is also spoken in Switzerland and Saint Martin island  in the Caribbean. Many cities have French quarters or French associations.

Romania's capital, Bucharest, has a landmark copy of the Arc de Triomphe and a statue of Charles de Gaulle. The Romanian word for thank you is m e r s i.

Hotels and restaurants and French areas worldwide have had red, white and blue of the French flag, French music, and French food.

In France expect to see military parades and fireworks and lights on public buildings. This year, 2017, American President Trump enjoyed a Michelin meal in the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. The menu featured the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. You could make your own menu if eating at home.

What could you do with red, white and blue? White meringue, with red raspberries and blueberries.

French Wines
Red wines from Bordeaux and white wines and sparkling Champagne.

French Water
Perhaps Perrier water. I recently discovered that Perrier water comes in many other flavours, such as Lemon.

In the UK you can buy a croissant cooked on the premises daily at my local branch of Tesco. Reminders of French and French language are all around in England. For example, you might enjoy:

au gratin, (with cheese)
bain-marie, (double boiler)
ballet,
banquet,
banquette, (long seat usually along wall)
biscuit,
bouquet,
bouquet garni,
buffet,
café,
canapé,
casserole
consommé, soup
chocolate eclair,
coq au vin, chicken with win
c r è p e, (thin pancake)
croissant, crescent shape flaky pastry
croquette, fried cylinder of mashed potatoes or other food in a casing
croque Madame
croque Monsieur,
croutons, diced fried bread, often in soup
duck a l'orange
entente cordiale
entrecôte,
flambé,
French onion soup,
gourmand,
Gourmet,
hors d'oeuvres, starter, literally outside(s) (dishes) of the work(s)
marrons glacé,
menu,
Pains perdue, (bread lost or egg lost sunk in the bread)
pâté
patisserie,
petits pots de chocolat, (small pots of chocolate)
pommes Anna, (sliced potatoes, layered usually with a cheese and cream sauce and onions)
soufflé
terrine
valise,
vinaigrette
vol au vent
and RSVP!

I have been keeping a list of French words used in English and so have other members of my family.

French Music
At some point you might play The Marseillaise. The French songs which come to my mind are the one I learned at school as a child in England, Sur le Pont d'Avignon. Later I loved to hear Edith Piaf sing Je Ne Regrette Rien. You might also like a song associated with food or drink, such as The Night they invented Champagne! Or I love Paris in the Springtime.

You could also celebrate by seeing a show called An American in Paris. It is being shown in London. There has to be a joke in there somewhere. I am looking for it.

Stories
In London the Borough Market area has had French bands. If your budget does not stretch to Michelin restaurants, you could celebrate French food in Cafe Rouge which has branches all over Britain.

One of my favourite French cheeses, Gaperon d'Auvergne. French cheeses are available in London at a grocers' with a chilled cheese room and a café , La Fromageri, which is near Baker Street station and Madame Tussauds. (Madame Tussaud was also French -  and started her career taking waxworks of the victims of the guillotine).

Bastille Restaurants
Where do you find Bastille Restaurants? Place de la Bastille is in Paris.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/RestaurantsNear-g187147-d188456-Place_de_la_Bastille-Paris_Ile_de_France.html
Washington DC has a Bastille Restaurant.
One restaurant is holding Bastille Day event menu on Friday July 14th and Saturday 15th. Another is holding a Bastille Day celebration week until Sunday July 16th.https://www.tripsavvy.com/bastille-day-events-1040032

But you also find restaurants called Bastille in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and in San Jose, Costa Rica.
http://www.labastillerestaurant.com (Belfast, N Ireland)
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g309293-d2479270-Reviews-Restaurant_La_Bastille-San_Jose_San_Jose_Metro_Province_of_San_Jose.html (San Jose, Costa Rica).

Tips
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_Day
www.duolingo - to learn French free on line
www.caferouge.com (French restaurants all over England, Scotland and Wales)
https://www.lafromagerie.co.uk (French food, cafe and cheese shop)
wwww.us.france.fr (official tourist board website)
https://flights.ryanair.com/en-gb/flights-to-paris
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g187147-Activities-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Preserving The Medieval Past - Saving The Curzon Cinema For The Future

Happy About The Cross Rail
The new Crossrail line running East-West across London, England, has provided a vertical peep into the past where stations are being created in a 'well', literally unearthing slices down into the past of different centuries, plus a horizontal tunnel across London, revealing one era geographically. The good news is that increasing co-oeration between archaeologists wanting to save the old, and engineers wanting to build the new, which will be called the Elizabeth line. (Yes, the pun on happy and cross is deliberate.)

The Elizabeth line is a tongue twister and at four syllables a nuisance, too long to say, although I have not had trouble saying Bakerloo. But to abbreviate it to the Liz line might offend purists, after all Liz is slang, and H M THE QUEEN is called Elizabeth not Liz. However, Liz line is neatly alliterative.

Problem
The serious question about the Crossrail line is how do you save and identify what's dug up by excavations?
How do save, should you save historic buildings such as the Curzon Cinema which will be destroyed by the new ticket office? Actor Stephen Fry is campaigning to save the Curzon.

The Americans are good at saving entire buildings and moving them along the street or even several miles. I remember first coming across this concept when it was new to the British, before the days of the internet. It could have been as long ago as the Sixties, or maybe the Nineties. I visited a famous home. It might have been the home of Molly Brown. I and the other visitors were told by the guide, "This is the exact same building, every stone of the structure, the desk and every item in the house is the same, but when it was in use it was 100 yards down the road. It was moved because of the railway (or road) being built.

So, I would like to see the Curzon Cinema saved. Those in charge of finance can decide whether it is more cost effective to move it entirely (losing its position in the nearby Curzon Street), or whether to preserve it as part of a new skyscraper building going up and down, and losing the exterior view from the road (unless it can be preserved by glass, like the glass being built around the Eiffel Tower).

Author, Angela Lansbury, see my books on Amazon and Lulu.com
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Geography Quiz

Here's a geography quiz. I think you'll enjoy this one. I never win quizzes in pubs and find those on my area of expertise, writing, a challenge, even on a Writers' Holiday. However, I did well on this one. I always enjoy a quiz where you have the possible answers presented. I looked at some of the questions about which I could not be sure of the answer and used my knowledge of the language of the country to confirm my decision. I thought they might be trick questions, like a model of an Eiffel Tower being not in Paris but in a model village in Japan, but they were not. See how you get on.

http://anotherquiz.com/can-you-answer-10-geography-questions-(tough)/index1.html