10 septembre 2007
Weekend North Wales / Nord Pays de Galle
Retrouvez les photos dans l'album "WALES".
22 août 2007
Holiday in Dorset - South England
Retrouvez toutes nos photos dans l'album "Dorset"
Voilà déjà deux semaines que nous sommes revenus de notre mid-week congé dans les sud de l'Angleterre, dans la magnifique région du Dorset, la Cote d'Azur de l'Angleterre.
Arrivés le jeudi soir dans le petit village de Wool (à l'ouest de Bournemouth), pour planter la tente au Woodlands Camping Park (situé à mi chemin entre Wool et Wareham). Un camping réservé aux tentes, un camping calme pour des gens calmes ("A quiet park for quiet people"). Les patrons sont très sympathiques et commerciaux, les sanitaires sont propres et les barbecues sont autorisés, normal on est en vacances !
Voilà pour l'hébergement, niveau sortie : qui dit petit village dit un bon vieu pub pour y manger de la bonne "pub food", moules-frites-bières ! 
Le vendredi matin départ pour Bournemouth, retrouvailles pour Solenne avec la cité balnéaire où elle y a déjà vécu et étudié. Pour ceux qui connaissent pas cette ville c'est un mélange de Biarritz et de Palavas-les-Flots, ya rien à y faire, à part cramer au soleil (faire le toast ou le lézard), manger un wippy, faire un tour sur la funfair (sorte de petite fête foraine). Donc l'aprèm, route vers la jurassic coast ( first natural World Heritage Site in England) et suivre le chemin du douanier. Supers panoramas de la cote calcaire, les falaises...un petit gout de Normandie. Sauf que là la mer est très calme, et l'eau transparente ! Tantative de baignade...17°C à mon avis pas plus.
Ensuite visite du chateau de Lulworth, où était organisé une country-fair (fête de campagne avec pleins d'artisans, des joutes, et des trucs à manger et à boire). Occasion de manger de la nourriture locale : sandwich à l'autruche (ostrich burger) et sandwich au crocodile, que dire que c'est vraiment bizarre le croco, c blanc ça a pas vraiment de gout, on dirait du gras.
Le samedi, promenade dans le port de Swanage.
21 août 2007
Do you speak "Parisian" ?
Paris n'est peut-être pas prisé pour son climat... Mais son jargon peut s'avérer irrésistible. Pour séduire nos amis les Anglais, le comité régional du tourisme d'Ile-de-France leur propose quatre French lessons qui vont du "Et mon cul, c'est du poulet?" (My ass is chicken) à "chanter comme une casserole" (To sing like a saucepan).
18 août 2007
Stonehenge, Eiffel Tower 'disappointing': British tourists
LONDON (AFP) - British visitors have put the boot into some of Britain and the world's best-known tourist attractions, branding the likes of Stonehenge and the Eiffel Tower dismal let-downs in a survey out Friday.
A top 10 list of the "most disappointing sights" in Britain was topped by Stonehenge, the mystical, 5,000-year-old standing stones in Wiltshire, south-west England.
The Houses of Parliament's clock tower, commonly called Big Ben after the bell inside, was included, as was the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London's Hyde Park.
On the international list of let-downs, the Eiffel Tower in Paris is ranked the worst, followed by the nearby Louvre museum and Times Square in New York.
Britain's top 10 must-see sights was topped by Alnwick Castle in Northumberland, north-east England, with the Royal Crescent row of Georgian houses in Bath, south-west England and the reconstructed Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London in the top five.
Leading the world "must-see" table was The Treasury at Petra in Jordan, the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, the Masai Mara game park in Kenya and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Virgin Travel Insurance questioned 1,267 adults for the survey.
"It's easy to be swayed by brochures that opt for the mainstream and focus on cliched tourist sights around the world, but many of them are overcrowded and disappointing," said travel expert Felice Hardy.
"Pick carefully and don't always go for the obvious. Natural phenomena are usually more exciting than the man-made, and can be wonderfully free of tourists."
She branded the Eiffel Tower "frustratingly overcrowded and overpriced" and said Stonehenge was "an isolated pile of rocks in a usually muddy field."
She dubbed the Diana fountain "a colourless wet skateboard park" and added of "Big Ben": "Once you've seen it, you'll know what time it is -- time to go somewhere else."
10 most disappointing sights:
WORLD
1. The Eiffel Tower, Paris
2. The Louvre, Paris
3. Times Square, New York
4. Las Ramblas, Barcelona
5. Statue of Liberty, New York
6. Spanish Steps, Rome
7. The White House, Washington
8. The Pyramids, Egypt
9. The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
10. The Leaning Tower of Pisa
UK
1. Stonehenge, Wiltshire
2. Angel of the North, Gateshead
3. Blackpool Tower
4. Land's End, Cornwall
5. Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain, London
6. The London Eye
7. Brighton Pier
8. Buckingham Palace, London
9. White Cliffs of Dover
10. Big Ben, London
06 août 2007
Holiday Cottage in South of France - Camargue
Le "Gitelodia" www.gitelodia.com self catering holiday house is located in the heart of Saint Laurent d'Aigouze, the perfect holiday accomodation to discover the south of France, the Provence and the Languedoc with your family and friends !
On the ground floor : 
• Large Dining room with fireplace
• Living room (TV, DVD player, video recorder)
• Kitchen (oven,dishwasher, cooking plate,fridge, micro-wave)
• Toilet
• Laundry (washing machine)
• Terrace and yard (outdoor fourniture and barbecue)
• Garage
On the first floor:
• 1 bedroom (1 single bed + 1 double bed)
• 1 bedroom (1 double bed)
• 1 bedroom (1 double bed)
• Bathroom
• Toilet
Saint Laurent d'Aigouze is a village of 2800 inhabitants, located in the heart of the Petite Camargue right in the middle of the cattle breeding domains (black bulls for corridas), and horses.
The Camargue is a natural paradise for the wild animals. We can see herds of camarguais white horses, and many species of bird (flamingo, aigrette, ibis, etc.). The Natural Parc of Camargue, created in 1970, extends on 82 000 ha.
Most of its lagoon, such the Vaccarès pond, are nature reserve. It is well-known to ornithologists of the entire world and can be discovered on foot, on horseback, by bicycle, or by boat all year round.
Surroundings villages and cities
From 4 miles of Aigues-Mortes , medieval city with fortification.
From 9 miles of Le Grau du Roi, its beach, seaport, shops.
From 10 miles of La Grande Motte , beaches, seaport, famous pyramidal buildings.
Les Saintes Marie de la Mer, between sea and the Camargue.
From 16 miles of Nîmes , roman bullring, romans buildings.
From 18 miles of Montpellier , historic interest of the town center, shopping centre.
And then Arles, Beaucaire, Tarascon...
Have a look on the website "Gitelodia"
05 juin 2007
the London 2012 Olympics logo
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has responded to the controversy surrounding the 2012 Olympic logo by joking about the furore.
The
bold, jagged £400,000 brand which is meant to be a modern take on the
Olympic colours took a year's research, including consumer testing.
While
organisers have hailed it as dynamic and vibrant, critics have said it
resembles a "toileting monkey" or a "broken swastika".
Mr Livingstone said he was never going to get into a "sub orgasmic
ecstasy" over any logo. He added that the look of the logo was not a
decision for the Mayor, adding: "These are artistic choices."
Does the logo represent London and the Olympics well? What are the good and bad points about it?
Le maire de Londres Ken Livingstone a répondu à la polémique autour du logo pour les JO de Londres 2012. Ce logo à £400,000 qui est censée reprendre les couleurs olympiques modernes, a pris une année de recherche.
Tandis que les organisateurs le considère dynamique et vibrant, les critiques ont dit qu'il
ressemblait « à un singe en train de se toiletter » ou « à un svastika cassée ».
M.
Livingstone a dit qu'il n'allait jamais entrer dans « une extase
orgasmique secondaire » au-dessus de n'importe quel logo. Il a ajouté
que le regard du logo n'était pas une décision pour le maire, ajoutant : « Ce sont des choix artistiques. »
Le logo représente-t-il bien Londres et les Jeux Olympiques ? Quels sont les bons et mauvais points à son sujet ?
Happy 'Britain Day'?
A national 'Britain Day' could be introduced in a bid to reinforce
citizenship and prevent communities becoming more divided, if senior
ministers get their way.
In a Fabian Society pamphlet, the pair said it was essential to
promote a stronger sense of Britishness and the values that people hold
in common.
Suggestions included a new system of "earned
citizenship" with a clearer points-based path for newcomers to earn the
privileges of settling in Britain.
encore une excuse pour avoir un "bank holiday" et se prendre une cuite...pour la patrie !
30 mai 2007
Ah la bonne fondue !
Que ça fait plaisir de pouvoir s'assoir autour d'une fondue savoyarde (Cheese fondue) à Leeds !
Sans oublier la petite bouteille de blanc qui va avec. Niveau prix c'est correct, 19£ pour 2.
L'adresse : The Waterhole, on great Georges Street, close to the Royal Infirmary and the law courts.
If you think it's got a French feel with its wooden floors and bistro menu you'd be right !
28 mai 2007
Don't be too familiar, French told ou "tutoiement-vouvoiement c koi donc ?"
Here is one of those stories that are difficult to convey to people who
speak only English. President Sarkozy's government has annoyed the
"progressive" sections of the teaching establishment with an order that
school pupils must address their teachers with the formal vous rather than the familiar second person singular tu. Teachers are advised to use the respectful vous to Lycée teenagers in their classes.
he orders are part of Sarko's campaign to
reimpose respect and civility across French society. Since the 1960s
generation threw off formality, some teachers have let pupils tutoie them and most tutoie their younger pupils. Xavier Darcos, the new Education Minister, said on Tuesday: "It is indispensable that children vouvoient their teachers and preferable that teachers do not use 'tu'
with lycée pupils, so that everyone is in their right place." Sarkozy
has also ordered police to stop insulting youths on the troubled
immigrant housing estates by using the over-familiar "tu". Teachers hit back today, accusing Darcos of exaggeration, saying that very few allowed pupils to address them as 'tu' .
The fuss illustrates the confusion over the when to tutoie, with its feeling of instant formality, and when to use vous, with its sense of distance and respect. The matter remains a minefield for foreigners and even muddles the French. Asking On se tutoie? (shall we use tu) is often a tricky moment with a new acquaintance.
Sarkozy, who has brought a cool touch to the Elysée Palace, committed a gaffe of his own when he visited the German Chancellor in Berlin on his first day of office last week.
Angela Merkel dropped German formality enough to call him "Lieber (Dear) Nicolas" but stuck to the formal "sie" not the familiar "du". Sarkozy's matey reply jarred on old-fashioned ears. "Chère Angela... J'ai confiance en toi." (In older English I trust thee not you). Libération joked that Franco-German harmony was still lacking. "They are going to have to start by agreeing whether they use tu or vous," it said.
Blair and Sarkozy, who consider themselves friends, tutoie one-another. Gordon Brown's lack of French -- and Sarkozy's poor English -- will remove the problem because they will use interpreters when Brown succeeds Blair. President Chirac used vous with Blair in public. Blair, who picked up his French working as a Paris barman in the mid 1970s, tutoied Chirac, who is 20 years his senior. Officials put his over-familiarity down to ignorance.
The French spread of le tutoiement is relatively modest compared with some neighbours such as Spain where the singular is almost automatic among people of similar age or social class. Some French couples in high bourgeois and aristocratic families still even vouvoie one-another and their children. For anyone much over teenage years, vous is sexier than tu when flirting.
The French adoption of tu, which is the norm in some businesses, has not been universally welcomed. The conservative Figaro complained on Monday that le vouvoiement had been "laid low by rampant tutoiement spreading from the business world's imitation of les Anglo-Saxons and now invading private life."
There is a contradiction in Sarkozy's preference for using 'tu' with everyone around him (including journalists) but ordering vous
in the schools. The rightwing reformer won office with a
back-to-tradition campaign that blamed the 1968 student revolt for
breaking down French society. "I will liquidate the legacy of May 1968,
with its abandonment of moral codes," he promised in the campaign.
Resistance to le tutoiement used to come from the upper classes. The French Revolution tried to ban vous in 1793, under threat of imprisonment. The late François Mitterrand, whose Socialist colleagues use the comradely tu, was famous for insisting on vous when he became president. An old friend asked if he could still tutoie him and Mitterrand put him down by replying: Si vous voulez. Mitterrand always called his prime ministers Monsieur le Premier Ministre, François Fillon, the new Prime Minister, says that he and Sarkozy tutoie one-another.
The trades unions and other sectors say that the systematic tu -- laid down by some firms in company rules -- is a scurrilous plot against the workers. By insisting that everyone is on intimate "tu" terms, the bosses are robbing unions of their dignity and authority, they say. "It is difficult to call each other 'tu' when you are negotiating pay-rises or defending staff who have been sacked," an official with the powerful CGT union told Tribune newspaper this week.
There has been a backlash against the forced jollity of using tu with strangers. Staff at Club Med and other resort companies have given up their post-60s practice of using an egalitarian tu with their vacationing adults. Now they go half way, using first names but sticking to vous.
So you see, there are no clear rules but if in doubt say vous.
23 mai 2007
Tony Blair S'adresse Aux Français
Tony Blair S'adresse Aux Français
Vidéo envoyée par SARKOZlSTE
Le Premier Ministre Britannique, Tony Blair, adresse un message à tous les français et se félicite de l'élection du 23ème Président de la République Française, Nicolas Sarkozy, depuis le 10 Downing Street à Londres. Version Française.
To see the English Version:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1x3ns_tony-blair-speaks-to-the-french