Degas and the nude exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris

An exhibition that is well worth going to!  Drawing nudes is the basis of any artistic training. A walk around this exhibition will really make you think, lots of drawings and paintings of women getting out of the bath and combing their hair.

The show is at the Musee d'Orsay and is only on until 1st July so there is not much time left if you haven't already seen it. Metro stop is Solferino on line 12, RER stop in Musee d'Orsay on line C. 

More information from Degas et le nu exhibition. More information on the Musee d'Orsay at Musee d'Orsay.

Modigliani exhibition in Paris

An absorbing collection of works of art, including portraits, nudes, drawings and sculptures are on display at the Pinacotheque gallery in Paris.

The works were owned by French art collector Jonas Netter and also on display are letters between Netter and artists such as Modigliani and Chaim Soutine.

The remarkable exhibition also includes work by Valadon and Kisling. All were artists made famous by Netter.

The exhibition is dominated by Modigliani who died at the early age of 35. The next day his wife, overcome with grief and nine months pregnant, committed suicide by jumping out of a top floor window.

Modigliani was known mainly for his portraits. Here is one of his landscapes. 

The exhibition is on until September 9, 2012. Entrance is 10 euros.

The Pinacotheque is in Place de la Madeleine.

Metro stop: Madeleine.

Lines: 8, 12 and 14.

Link to exhibition information at Pinacotheque museum, Paris: Modigliani exhibition at Pinacotheque.

The guillotine and Place de la Concorde in Paris

Place de la Concorde was originally named Place Louis XV after the king at the time, and a statue of the king stood in the square. However a few years later during the revolution the statue was torn down and the square was renamed Place de la Revolution.
The guillotine was installed and public executions abounded, including the beheading of Marie-Antoinette and King Louis 16th.
During the reign of terror in the summer of 1794 more than 1300 people were executed publicly in the square, allegedly.

A gruesome scene: the beheading of Louis 16th at Place de la Revolution, now called Place de la  Concorde.

After the turmoil of the revolution the square was renamed Place de la Concorde, the word concorde indicating the new era of harmony between people.

An impressive obelisk and two very beautiful and ornate fountains adorn the square which is located at the end of the Champs Elysees, with the Tuileries Gardens at the opposite end.

The obelisk was a gift from the Egyptian government and centuries ago it stood at the entrance to the Luxor temple. It is decorated with ancient hieroglyphics.

The spectacular fountains have an obvious water theme and feature statues of the Greek God Triton, messenger god of the big sea and father of Poseidon. There are also statues of naiads, Greeks nymphs who are bound to fresh water such as streams, wells and brooks.

Food and wine in the Vaucluse, Provence.

The Vaucluse department of Provence is known for its fine wines and fantastic Provencal foods. The three main wine appelations are the Cotes du Rhone, (named after the river) the AOC Luberon (named after the area) and the AOC Ventoux (named after the mountain.)

The sunny, warm climate makes it the perfect place to grow specialist grapes for wine making.

For those interested in wine, which is probably a good many of us, more can be found out about making wine, the history of wine and hopefully about drinking it, at the Vinter museums throughout the Vaucluse. Many Roman and other historic sites in the area, notably in Vaison-la-Romaine and Beaumes de Venises, have fascinating links to this most popular of drinks. 

More information from Wine museums in the Vaucluse

One of the best things one can do on a holiday in France is to spend hours wandering around the local markets. The food markets in Provence are really stunning. Some of the best Provencal produce includes melons from Cavaillon, strawberries from Carpentras, pungent black truffles, black and green olives, cherries and asparagus from Lauris.

More information from food and wine in the Vaucluse and also from The markets of Provence

King Louis XVI of France.

Louis XVI aged 20.

Louis Auguste was born in the Palace of Versailles in Paris on 23 August 1754. At the age of 15 he married a very young Marie Antoinette, who was just 14. He became king  in 1774.











Distinctive Louis XVI style furniture, known as neo classical, became very popular during the king's reign.

A Louis XVI chair, which is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The Red Rock village of Roussillon.

Built from ochre rich rock dug from the surrounding area Roussillon seems to glow from the top of a hill in the Luberon area of Provence. The brightly coloured local earth and rock has been put to many uses over the centuries. The Romans used it in pottery glazes and the bright yellows, reds and oranges were used as dyes in the textile industry for hundreds of years until the 1930s.

Centuries of erosion and quarrying have left strange but impressive rock and cliff formations in and around the village. A walking trail - Le Sentier des Ocres - leads through this red landscape. 

You can visit a former ochre mine/factory which has been turned into a museum and shows how the ochre was made into pigment. The Conservatoire des Ocres et Pigments Appliques is on the D104 outside the village in the direction of Apt. L'Usine d'ocre Mathieu.

Also known as the Colorado Provencal, some of the scenery in the area is reminiscent of Australia's red centre.

Playwright Samuel Beckett, who wrote in English and French, lived in Roussillon between 1942 and 1945, where he helped the Resistance by hiding arms in his garden. He mentions the village in Waiting for Godot when Vladimir tells Estragon that everything there was all red. While the two tramps wait for Godot, who of course never turns up, the unlikely subject of the vendange (wine harvest or grape picking) and red Roussillon in Provence crops up. Theatre of the absurd indeed.

Officially one of the most beautiful villages in France, as given the stamp of approval by Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, an association set up in 1982, which aims to:

"avoid certain pitfalls such as villages turning into soulless museums or, on the contrary, "theme parks". Our well-reasoned and passionate ambition is to reconcile villages with the future and to restore life around the fountain or in the square shaded by hundred-year-old lime and plane trees."

The association has approved over 150 villages, which have to meet certain criteria, in 21 regions and 69 departments.

Truffaut's Les 400 Coups - one of the best films of all time

                                 


Les Quatres Cents Coups was an important New Wave film, released in 1959 by Francois Truffaut. Literally translated the title means the four hundred blows, but in French the term means raising hell. The film centres around 12 year old Antoine Doinell, who lives in Paris with his mother and father. Totally misunderstood by his indifferent parents, teachers and most other people, Antoine's life lurches from one disaster to the next. Set against a magnificent 1950s Parisian backdrop, the film pulls on the heart strings without being sentimental.
The New Wave movement was a group of film makers, which as well as Truffaut also included Jean-Luc Goddard, who broke away from the classical way of film making and created a new less formal style.
Watch the trailer then watch the film!

Christmas Markets in France

Christmas Market in Strasbourg.

It's not too late to go to a Christmas market in France. Food, drink, lots of beautiful and original gifts to chose from, music and of course lights!  Below is a list of a selection of Christmas markets with dates. 

Amiens 25 Nov to 24 Dec.

Avignon 1 Dec to 30 Dec.

Arras 2 Nov to 24 Dec.

Bethune 27 Nov to 31 Dec.

Caen 26 Nov to 24 Dec.

Lille - 19 Nov to 24 Dec.

Mulhouse 24 Nov to 29 Dec.

Strasbourg 26 Nov to 31 Dec.

The Eiffel Tower

What one thing do people most associate with France and in particular Paris? No not frogs legs or garlic - the Eiffel Tower. The 1,063 foot iron tower stands majestically in the Champs de Mer in the 4th arrondissement and can be seen from virtually all over the city. At night you are reminded of its presence by a sweeping light beam which rotates from the tower around into the far reaches of the city.

The tower was built in 1889 as the entrance to the World's Fair, (Exposition Universelle) which was held on the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and consisted of many shows and attractions.

For the first 41 years of its life la Tour Eiffel was the tallest building in the world, but then it was beaten by the Chrysler building in New York which was finished in 1930. Of course both have now been superseded.

The building is the most visited paid monument in the world. Visitors can either walk or go in the lift to the first and second floors and can go by lift to the top floor. Needless to say the views are spectacular.

Metro stops: Line 6 to Bir-Hakeim, Lines 6 or 9 to Trocadero,
RER Line C (yellow) to Champs de Mer/Tour Eiffel.

Link to Paris Metro Map

I think therefore I am

Penser - to think.


je             pense
tu             penses
il/elles      pense
nous         pensons
vous         pensez
ils/elles    pensent


The verb penser is a regular "er" verb. I think, you think, etc, etc.

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin.

Frenchman August Rodin sculpted The Thinker in 1902 out of bronze and marble. The statue has become a symbol for philosophy and depicts a man in deep thought, battling with an internal struggle. The statue was originally intended to be Dante in the front of the gates of hell, as described in his epic poem The Divine Comedy. The Thinker is now in the Musee Rodin in Paris, more information at Musee Rodin.


It was French philosopher and writer Rene Descartes who said I think therefore I am, or as he originally put it "je pense donc je suis" (present tense first person of penser and etre,) in the early 1600s. Descartes is a very important figure in the field of philosophy and was also an influential mathematician. He is credited with the introduction of analytic geometry, which then led on to the discovery of calculus. 

The verb être

être - to be

je           suis

tu           es

il/elle      est

nous       sommes

vous       êtes

ils/elles    sont

The present tense of the verb être - to be. I am, you are, etc, etc. It really helps if you know the most commonly used verbs, helps when you are trying to speak French that is. 

Almond branches in bloom by Vincent Van Gogh.

The BBC has a brilliant site for help with learning French at BBC/languages/french

People First Not Finance

PEOPLE are out on the streets in Nice this week, making peaceful protests against banks for causing financial and economic crisis.

The protests come a few days before a meeting of finance ministers and banking big-wigs of the G20 nations in nearby Cannes. One protester made the point that the so called leaders of nations don't really care about the people, but only about the financial world.

People have come from Germany, Italy and Spain to voice their disgust at corporate greed.

Going to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre

Mona Lisa - possibly the most famous painting in the world

The Louvre is the largest art museum in the world and if you spent a minute looking at every painting it would take you four months to get round! So it's best to do a little bit at a time. There is usually a queue outside to get in, especially at peak holiday times. The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is normally surrounded by a mob of tourists with cameras. It's possible to elbow your way to the front so you can actually see the painting, which is covered by glass and actually quite small.

Da Vinci started painting the Mona Lisa in Florence, Italy in approximately 1503 and finished it shortly before he died in 1519 after he had moved to France. The painting has had an interesting life and has spent  time in the chateaus of Fontainebleau and Versailles. It was also on the wall of Napolean I's bedroom in the palace at the Tuileries in Paris, before it finally came to rest at the Louvre.

The look on Mona Lisa's face has fascinated people for centuries.

At the time of writing it cost 10 euros to enter the Louvre, with under 18s free.

The Paris Metro

The metro is a very good way to travel around Paris. It is simple to use. Once you know the station you need to get to you need to find out which line number it is on. But it is extremely important that you work out which direction you need to travel in. You need to look on the map to find the last destination that the train you want is going to. So if for example you are at the Gare du Nord and you want to get to the Gare de l'Est you will see that both stations are on line 4, which is deep purple, so you look from the Gare du Nord on the map run your eyes past the Gare de l'Est and see that the end of the line is Porte d'Orleans, so that's the direction you want!
In the metro stations there are lots of signs pointing to the different directions, so you follow the sign which says Porte d'Orleans, (remembering it's line 4) all very simple. Once you know that you can work out how to get all over the place, changing trains wherever you need to.

Helpfully outside metro stations it usually tells you which lines that particular station is on. Here at Place d'Italie you can see it's on lines 5,6 and 7.
Click here for a brilliant Paris Metro Map

Bastille Day! The Storming of the Bastille - July 14th

"Prise de la Bastille" (the taking of the Bastille.) 1789, by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel.

The Bastille was a fortress built in the 14th century as part of the defenses of Paris, but it was later turned into a very uncomfortable prison. It held political and religious prisoners and writers. It was also well known for locking up people who had had a lettre de cachet served against them. These lettres de cachets were bought by the wealthy and those in power and were used to imprison people who they wanted out of the way. There was no appeal against them.

Hardly surprisingly the bastille was stormed by the people and burnt to the ground on July 14, 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution. Nothing of it remains. Where it once stood is now Place de la Bastille with a column to mark the spot.
There are many cafes, bars and concert halls in the area.

French Food: Moules Marinieres and Moules et Frites

The French take food very seriously. In other words you can usually find really fantastic food in most cafes, restaurants and brasserries.

A very popular and common dish served all over the place is Moules Marinieres. This is the shellfish mussels, cooked in white wine, or sometimes cider, with onions, garlic, cream and a variety of herbs such as parsley, thyme and bay leaves.

Moules marinieres usually arrives at the table in a large steaming pot. You will also be given a dish to put the shells in and a saucer of lemon water to rinse your fingers afterwards. Yes you have to get in and take the mussels out of their shells, but it's very easy, you can use your fingers, a fork, another mussel shell, or just bite it out even.

Moules et Frites or  Moules Frites can be found on menus all over France. It's moules marinieres served with chips, or french fries, depending on what you call them.

  

Frenchman Tsonga knocks Federer out of Wimbledon

Tennis history was made yesterday when Frenchman Tsonga beat six times Wimbledon champion on Centre Court.

In a pre match interview Tsonga had said what happens when you chase a chicken? It runs away. What happens when you chase a lion? It roars and chases you and he said he was a lion. Oh no no we all thought this is Federer the unbeatable at Wimbleon, but Jo-Wilfried showed he is a lion!

A spectacular match, made all the more exciting as Federer was two sets up before Tsonga fought his way back to victory.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was born in Le Mans in 1985, to a French mother and a Congolese father. Le Mans is one of the towns you drive through or past if you are making your way from the channel ports at Calais/Bolougne to the Vendee on the west coast of France. Tsonga now lives in Switzerland. 

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the French Open

Camping in France

A mobile home holiday in France is an affordable way to take the whole family away for a few weeks of sun and fun. Even during the school holidays it won't break the bank and if you cross the channel by ferry or tunnel you'll have your own car with you, giving you the freedom to literally go where you want.

Many camp sites in France provide a combination of space for tents, caravans and tourers also mobile homes which come equipped with everything you need. A mobile home is usually more spacious and comfortable than a caravan.

If you haven't taken the car or the kids to France before you might prefer to book with a tour operator, such as Canvas Holidays. They arrange everything for you, such as the channel crossing, the mobile home or camp site booking, provide a route planner and kids club. Their camp sites can get busy in the summer holidays, but there will also be other British families and kids for your children to make friends with.

If you plan to tour around France and visit several sites there are guides such as  Alan Rogers The Best Campsites in France  and the Michelin Camping Guide France which list details about sites. It's always best to book during the school summer holidays. You can also book a mobile home directly with many camp sites.

Many camp sites in France are in fantastic locations, near beaches, rivers, lakes or in beautiful countryside. Larger sites have swimming pools with slides and lots of entertainment and activities. There are endless sports and other activities also available at many sites, such as canoeing, sailing, football and tennis. Table tennis seems to be everywhere, along with washing machines, cafes, restaurants and bars. So there is something for everyone.

If you take your own tent, electricity is widely available and clean wash blocks with hot showers are the norm.

Staying in a mobile home is a bit like staying in a miniature house. They have all the same things inside and are very comfortable.

Tennis - The French Open at Roland Garros in Paris

The top names in tennis have arrived in Paris for the French Open this week. The tournament, held at Roland Garros, is a major grand slam event and the most important clay tournament in the tennis calendar.

Although the clay surface can lead to long rallies the tennis at Roland Garros is highly entertaining. In fact long back of the court to and fro's can be just as thrilling as serve and volley, even if you have gone off to make a cup of tea and come back to find it's still the same point. 

Roland Garros, Paris.

Five times winner in the last six years, will Rafael Nadal keep his crown? Novak Djokovic looks like a threat, but he has looked like a threat in Grand Slams before and not seen it through. Roger Federer is also in the mix, but Rafa is very at home on clay and at the French Open - much the same as Federer on grass at Wimbledon, although of course Nadal has knocked him off his throne twice - so we shall see. But then again Federer did win the French two years ago. 

Roland Garros is on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement. As with other Grand Slam events you can arrive as early as you can in the day and queue up to buy a ground pass. This will allow you into the grounds, and outside courts though not the show courts. However there is usually the chance to buy tickets later in the day for play after people have gone home and handed their tickets back in.

There is a vast range of places to stay in Paris, from reasonably priced hotels to inexpensive apartments to of course top end luxury. 

Of course if you have got as far as the French Open the whole of Paris is there before you to see whatever you want.

The following metro stations are convenient for getting to the French Open: Porte d'Auteuil, Michel-Ange Auteuil, Michel-Ange Molitor and Porte de Saint-cloud.

You can find all the latest news about the tournament here Roland Garros. Click here Paris Metro Map for a map of the metro.

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Who is at the Cannes Film Festival this year?

                                                      Cannes.                               Photo by Gilbertus

The Hollywood stars have descended on Cannes again this week for the annual film festival. And with them they have brought the usual gossip, scandal, glitz and glamour.

Films this year include The Tree of Life, starring Brad Pitt, who at a press conference seemed rather worried what his children would think of his portrayal of a very strict father. He hopes they will see him as a good actor. Yes Mr Pitt they will know you were acting and will think you were good. Sean Penn stars alongside Pitt.

La Conquete, (The Conquest) a biopic of French president Nicholas Sarkozy, has gone down fairly well with the critics. Meanwhile his wife, model turned actress Carla Bruni Sarkozy plays a museum guide in Woody Allen's latest film Midnight in Paris, which has not received good reviews.

Then Danish film director Lars Von Trier caused trouble when he said he was a Nazi at a press conference, getting himself banned from the festival. Von Trier has apparantly behaved badly before at Cannes and also got lots of attention then too. His film Melancholia is allowed to still be in the contest.

The contest will be judged by a panel, chaired by none other than the great American actor Robert de Niro.

Other big names in Cannes this week are Jack Black and Angelina Jolie, who do the voices in Kung Fu Panda 2, and Mel Gibson, who stars with a puppet and Jodie Foster in The Beaver.

Others in town are Sean Penn, who plays an aging rock star in This Must Be The Place, and Keifer Sutherland, who appears in Melancholia.

Leonardo di Caprio, John Hurt, Uma Thurman, Ronnie Wood and Naomi Campbell are also in Cannes. Along with Antonio Banderas, who is promoting his film The Skin I Live In, about a plastic surgeon.

Cannes seems to be mainly known for the festival, yachts, cruise ships and wealth. But it is a pleasant town with an upmarket sea front promenade called La Croisette, a thin strip of beach and lots of expensive restaurants and cafes. The famous Carlton Hotel looks out to sea from La Croisette and you'll be sure to spot at least one or two Porsches.

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