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 Of course both have now been superseded.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