Summer in the City of Lights

Bonjour tout le monde!
It's summertime, and what are Parisians to do?  How about going to the beach without leaving the city? From July 19 to August 17, the quais that run along the Seine are transformed into one long beach, complete with sand, deckchairs, ice cream vendors, and even concerts!
The beaches can be found in three areas: Louvre/Pont de Sully, Port de la Gare and Bassin de la Villette.  Each area has a different focus, so everyone can find something to do.
From the Louvre to the Pont de  Sully - about three kilometres - there are open air attractions such as tai-chi, boules, and roller blading.  Not in the mood for exercise? Deckchairs are out for your relaxation.  This year, the plages are on two sites - the walkway George Pompidou plus the terraces and open space in front of City Hall, and the Bassin de la Villette.
At the Bassin de la Villette, the newest addition to the Paris Plages there is a water sports complex with row boats, pedal boats and kayaks.  When finished with the physical exertion, beachgoers can get something to eat at quai side restaurants, or perhaps join in a game of boules.
So, imagine packing up friends and family with beach towels, swimsuits, maybe some water gear for kayaking, and then taking the metro to the beach!  Activities start at 9:00 am, and go until midnight.  
Here is a link to the page that provides all sorts of information on the beaches of Paris. Perhaps it is enough to make you hop on a plane to check it out?  Or, maybe you want to start planning your beach adventure along the Seine in 2015!

http://quefaire.paris.fr/parisplages

An amazing opportunity

Bonjour tout le monde!
I used to travel with students to Europe. I had a blast.  People used to tell me that it seemed like so much work, but not really.  I just thought of my group as one giant family.  Depending on the size, we could be like the Duggar family (more than 19), or just a mom, dad and 7 kids - an intimate group. It was a pain sometimes, usually when it was necessary to get everyone together, or when it was time to go to bed. However, I used to wonder who got more out of the experience, them or me.  I think that I got to know these kids better and on a different level.  Did they like to eat certain things, how adventurous were they, were they willing to go with the flow without question?  I guess that "getting my bluff in early" with my one rule - Don't embarrass me - worked for the most part, and I really only had one trip that came close to disastrous.
Now I travel with adults, which is the same and different at the same time.  I don't have to answer the same question more than twice, and we usually get to meeting points on time.  Then again, I don't have to keep up with them, since, well, they are adults!  And they get my jokes. We have more time to explore, and sometimes the wine comes with dinner!
I am taking a group of adults to the South of France and Paris this September.  Since I have been talking about this for awhile, you have heard all about it, but didn't act in time to assure your spot on the tour.  Well, sometimes you are given a second chance because just yesterday, TWO spots have opened for the September 18 tour!  Come with me, and an experienced tour director for 10 days of beautiful and historic sites, great food, and fun companions.  This opportunity is for you, and you don't even have to live in the Los Angeles area to take advantage.
Don't wait - you know that you wanted to come before, so let's go!  Call Go Ahead Tours, 800-438-7672 and ask for Britney Everett today!

En route on the Airbus 380

Tuilerie Gardens, Paris

The Eiffel Tower from the best kept spot in Paris (but I can show you)

The Promenade des Anglais in Nice

A beautiful town in southern France

Great wine!

Delicious meals (sooooooooo good)

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Word Crimes - This is great from a grammar point of view!

A blog post from LinkedIn

Bonjour tout le monde!
I guess that I have been a member of LinkedIn long enough to become a contributor.  I can never pass up an invitation like that, so I wrote about myself.  Pourquoi pas?
Here it is:
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140707231837-29999217-life-after-the-classroom?published=t

Let me know what you think!

Tourist Faux Pas

Bonjour tout le monde!
I have met many people who tell me that I get good treatment in France because I speak the language fluently.  I have heard their stories of how the French are so rude, and how they are treated in stores.  My first questions is, "Did you say hello?"
Saying 'Bonjour' is one of the most important things that anyone can say in France.  It sets the tone, tells the salesperson that you're tuned into cultural clues, and is really, really polite.  Even if you can't say anything more than that, you will be treated well, almost like a local.
Today, I ran across this from www.thelocal.fr (which, by the way, is an awesome website) about what the French think about tourists.  The first one is pretty funny - Don't get robbed - as if it is tourists' fault that they get pickpocketed. But then again...
Take a look, and then in the comments section, tell me which one jumps out at you...
http://www.thelocal.fr/galleries/travel/twelve-things-tourists-to-that-annoy-parisians

The Eiffel Tower as seen from Montmartre

Oops! What did I just say?

Bonjour tout le monde!
Being a world language teacher is always interesting.  One of the most challenging things we have to teach our students is that not all words and expressions go from one language to the other, and that it doesn't always work to use a familiar word and 'Frenchify' or 'Spanify' it.
The most interesting expressions have to do with being excited, as in 'excessively affected by emotion', but in most romance languages, excité means to be aroused.  I would always encourage my students to find another way to express their great emotion.
Tampon is another good word.  Students don't like to use it, although if you've been through immmigration at any international airport, you have had your passport stamped, or tamponné.  
Other fun words that are faux amis are préservatif (a form of birth control), attendre (to wait for), and douche (a shower). Of course, that is just the tip of the iceberg (or glaçon)
Do you have any favorite faux amis?  Please share in the comments section  

http://io9.com/not-every-familiarword-in-a-foreign-language-is-your-fr-1594409523?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

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D-Day 70years later

A visual of the D-Day Landings

Bonjour tout le monde!

American Cemetery in Normandy

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landing on the Normandy beaches.  Dubbed "Operation Overlord" by the Allied forces, over 9,000 men lost their lives that day.  In French, D-Day is le Jour-J, and marked the start of renewed Allied fighting against the Germans.   Many of our memories stop at June 6, but the Allies didn't enter Paris until August, 1944.  In between, the fighting and bombing continued between the two sides, leaving many towns, cities and villages in ruins.
Such was the case with the town of Caen, which lost many buildings that dated from the Middle Ages.  They rebuilt, then constructed the Caen Memorial Museum.  I have visited the museum at least three times, and each time I learn something new.  When you visit the museum, as you go through, you see original footage from the day, plus huge mechanical montages that show how the Allied forces worked hard to force the retreat of the Germans.  Now it is possible to go through a museum that has artifacts from the fighting that started in Normandy and ended in Paris two months later.
Here are some photos from one of our visits to the landing area of Omaha Beach, which included the Point du Hoc, where huge depressions in the land show what the entire region looked like during the war.

Omaha Beach

A part of the Cemetery memorial

If you make it  to the Normandy area, make sure that you see the museum in Caen, the Point du Hoc, and also the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach.

For more information on the Museum in Caen:
http://normandy.memorial-caen.com/

Photos of D-Day then and now:
http://golem13.fr/70-ans-liberation-de-paris/

Flags flying at the American Cemetery

Point du Hoc

Looking into one of the German bunkers.

I think this was a gun placement (a BIG gun)

the Monument of the Point du Hoc -
erosion has it now behind a fence to protect visitors