'Even our horses eat oysters'
,,Even our horses eat oysters,'' they say in Gouville-sur-Mer (Normandy). Now I don't know anything about horses, but I doubt it.
However, it's a fact they've got both oysters and horses in Gouville. Even better, they've put the two together. With horses and carriages, they take you out over the beaches, along the oyster banks. In about 2 1/2 hours, they'll tell you everything you might want to know about oysters.
Afterwards you may particapate in a degustation to taste the oysters. And of course, you get some muscadet to rinse the selty taste away...
Posted by Peter at 07:12 AM [4 reactions]
Speed cameras, yeah. Now what to do?
It's a well known fact French police is increasing its speed traps in high speed. Cameras are everywhere.
However, if you're caught, there's a good chance you will never be punished. According to Le Monde over 60 percent of the speeders escapes punishment.
Main cause: the pictures aren't readable. Further more, Some license plates have false adresses. Some French get away by just don't paying, not to mention the difficulties the French have to get fines paid from foreign car drivers.
Remarkable: the French traffic minister Perben doesn't care. Traffic is lots safer these days, he states: 10.000 people would have been killed without the speed controls.
Posted by Peter at 07:04 AM [3 reactions]
A French Robin Hood with an angel on her shoulder
France has its own Robin Hood. There are a few differences though. The French Robin hood is a woman and thanks to an angel on her shoulder, her story has no violence at all.
Posted by Peter at 07:17 AM [What do you think?]
Courchevel: shit, they arrested the pimps
People are angry in the very mundane ski resort of Courchevel. Police dared to arrest some fine guests suspecting them to be just pimps. Nonsense of course, Courchevel doesn't know such an ordinary type. Worst case, some men still know to traet a gorgious woman. And of course, some gorgious women still know how to to treat a real man. It's a bloody shame the gendarmerie doesn't the difference with pimps and hookers.
Now these fine guests, most rich Russians, are in jail. Among them Mikhaïl Prokhorov, a modest number 89 on the list of richest people on earth. In Courchevel, nobody understands. It's in fact very usual for rich Russians to travel accompanied by beautiful women, they told Le Figaro.: ,,Do we want them to spent their money in switzerland or what?''
Posted by Peter at 07:15 AM [What do you think?]
Good cooking, bad managing
having a Michelin star means you can cook well. Having three Michelin stars means you can cook terribly well.
What it doesn't mean, is that you are able to manage a company.
A French court has ordered three star cook Marc Meneau to close his restaurant l'Esperance in Saint-Père-sous-Vézelay (Burgundy) forever. For a long time, he hadn't paid for social securities for his staff (about a hundred men and women).
Posted by Peter at 07:08 AM [What do you think?]
Be a Parisian, show your humour
Who said Parisians don't have humour? In a new campaign to attract English tourists to Paris, the city not only shows it knows itself, it also uses jokes about the chagrined attitudes of the Parisians.
In the campaign, called C'est so Paris, they explain you don't need to speak French. Just learn Parisian gestures. Even better, use these gestures and Parisians will think you're a Parisian too. Now that's not entirely true. The website promises rude gestures not everybody will appreciate, but fails to give them.
The new website is not heavily loaded with information for tourists, but then again, you already found this site
Posted by Peter at 07:15 AM [What do you think?]
A cabaret not like the others
Paris is famous for its huge cabarets with nearly nude women. However, there is another kind of cabaret. In Montmartre, at the very modest Rue des Saules we find Au Lapin Agile. It hardly looks like a cabaret and you might just oversee it when pasing by, but believe me, it is a cabaret.
For over a century, this was a center of art, regularly visited by (among many, many others) famous people like Picasso and Modigliani. As a joke, the painter Boronali was created here around 1900. His 'Sunset at the Adriatic Sea'was highly praised by art specialists. Boronali however was just the monkey of one of the regular visitors of the Au Lapin Agile. They had attached a brush to the animals tail...
In current days, Au Lapin Agile is still an art center. every evening, singers present the great French chansons for 5 hours non stop. The public is supposed to sing too! And yes, the public does sing...
Posted by Peter at 07:16 AM [What do you think?]
A gendarme is just another human being
Gendarmes must control speed, but deep down in theur hearts they like to speed to. A police officer in Phalsbourg couldn't control his need for speed. Many times, he drove way too fast on Lorraines roads with his motorbike.
May be nobody would have discovered his sins (after all, he knew where control posts were to find), if he wasn't so proud about his racing qualities. According to the TF1 tv station, he attached a videocam to his motorbikes and showd the movies to other officers. Now he's prosecuted for endangering the lifes of other people.
Posted by Peter at 07:17 AM [What do you think?]
We've got snow, we've got a problem
Finally, there's snow. In the French Alps fell about half a meter during the last days. Now, that's a problem too. Meteo France issued an avalanche alarm. Especially above 2.200 meters, the risk is huge.
For two men the warning came too late, L'Express reports. At Les Arcs a 17 year old was killed by an avalanche. In Chamonix, another skier was hospitalized in critical condition.
Posted by Peter at 07:03 AM [What do you think?]
Just another comparer of fuel prices
Last year, we mentioned three French websites comparing fuel prices. Now we have number four: Roulez Eco by the French Department of Finance.
Now what can a government site ad when already three sites are doing exactly the same? easy. It imposed a duty to report all prices and all price changes to everybody who sells fuel. For negligance, fines will be up to 1.500 euro. The other sites need information given on a voluntary base. They're far from complete.
According to TV5, at this moment the Finance Department should have half of all 13.500 fuel stations in its database. However, we can not check that. The website gets to many visitors to function properly.
Posted by Peter at 07:04 AM [What do you think?]
A header doesn't hurt
the French have forgiven Zinedine Zidane. After his famous header against an Italian player in the football world cup, he got a red card, making it impossible for France to win. However, Le Figaro reports he's the most popular French men.
Good old rocker johny Halliday on the other hand is far less popular then he used to be. He fled from France to switzerland for tax reasons.
Posted by Peter at 07:09 AM [What do you think?]
Don't bike at the Mont Ventoux
Suppose, you go to the Mont Ventoux. You take your bike and you drive mountain up like crazy. Then what? Well eh, then you're very exhausted and you've done something very predictable.
Suggestion: hike to the top. It's easier and you will enjoy the imposing surroundings much more.
Want to do something more suprising at the Mont Ventoux? Ski downhill. Ok, the area is not exactly as large as usual in France, but it's enough to have fun for a few hours. BTW, you may also ski in summer over here. Just use rollerskis on the grass.
Posted by Peter at 07:01 AM [5 reactions]
Best wishes for everybody!
Best wishes for everybody!
Les meilleurs voeux pour tout le monde!
Posted by Peter at 12:00 AM [What do you think?]
