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I didn’t want the last blog post to be the last blog post of 2006.
So, on a less grumpy note…
Here’s wishing you the very best for an exceptional new year. May 2007 bring you lots of peace, happiness, good health and prosperity.
Fyi: don’t worry, I’ll have lots more grumpy posts next year. Sorry, I just can’t help myself!
Ok, the title is a bit over the top but seriously, this is insane. At the same time, it doesn’t surprise me. According to “Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde,” Samuel Tardieu’s dual-sided blog, using a media player such as VLC or mPlayer to play a DVD is illegal in France:
“Starting December 31st 2006 (today!), reading a DVD protected with CSS (as most DVD are) is illegal in France when it is done with a software allowing to circumvent the protection, such as VLC or mplayer which can both use the libdvdcss library. Today’s Journal Officiel (where laws and executive orders are published) says that you may be fined 135€ (around $180) for doing so. This includes watching any DVDs that you have legally purchased.”
The “funny” thing about this executive order or directive, is that it was passed only a week ago, so in other words, it took a mere 7 days to enforce. Is that like a record for France? Did de Vile Pin sign a pact in blood with the devil some major film companies? Will people care or simply go on about their business using VLC and mplayer or other media player of their choice? How will they enforce this law?
Remember last year when I wrote VLC, My Favorite Free Open Source Media Player Might be Smushed Like a Bug by France, I guess this is part deux of the ugly story.
Click here for a bunch more Jeux chiants
(aka “how to waste time at work”)
From the Deauville site:
9th CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL
Noël au Balcon
23-31 December 2006
A stunning set of shows for all the family will take place in the streets of Deauville : street performances, musicians, magicians, dancers, let’s not forget Santa Claus and the Christmas Parade.
It’s become a tradition, eagerly awaited by young and old alike. During the last week of December the town is invaded by street shows, each one more fun that the other. Musicians, magiciens and acrobats are here to present their shows and lead you in parades under the lights of Deauville, sparkling with a thousand flames and adorned in its most beautiful decorations.
Meet Santa Claus in his Sweet home, his chalet, on the market square, where good fairies serve hot chocolate, mulled wine and candy given by the Deauville shopkeepers.
Children and parents will join Santa Claus in the big parade, dancing and singing…
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. - Dr. Seuss
Thank you so much for visiting www.whytraveltofrance.com I really do appreciate your visits and comments. Very warm wishes for an amazing holiday season, and have a happy, healthy and wonderful New Year.
The Christmas market in Colmar is a beautiful, authentically traditional Alsatian Christmas market that is not only an unusual market compared to other regions of France but because Colmar did not always belong to France, it also looks more like medieval Germany. You will find typical French traditions alongside German Christmassy things like Glühwein, a hot, mulled wine that warms you up in the cold as you wander the bright and festive outdoor markets. I love the German Christmas markets, so it was fun to get a little taste of them without going all the way to Germany.
The stalls and indoor markets offer lots of regional food specialties like Sprengerle, a type of cookie flavored with anis seed, Bredele, traditional Alsatian cookies, Manalas de Saint-Nicolas, which is a thin brioche shaped like a gingerbread man, Cristollen, a German fruitcake. You’ll also find handcrafted items made by artisans from the region.
Colmar’s market is actually many Christmas villages spread all over the old town, all of which are easy to get to in one day by walking. There’s one for children at the “Petite Venise” near the canals, and the others are located at Place Jeanne d’Arc, Place des Dominicains, Place de l’Ancienne Douane, and indoors at the Koifhus. 
Lastly, a Christmas market is not complete without a patinoire, so grab your skates because there’s also an outdoor iceskating rink located at the Place Rapp, the biggest open square in Colmar.
For more information about Les marchés de Noël / Christmas markets in Colmar, click here.
More Marchés de Noël (Christmas Markets in France)
Strasbourg (Alsace) (the most famous and largest french christmas market), Dijon (Bourgogne), Besançon (Franche-Comté), Reims (Champagne), Chartres (Centre), Avignon (Provence), Lille (Nord), Rouen (Normandie), Amiens (Picardie)–make sure to see their color lightshow at the cathedral too, Noisy le Grand (one of the larger christmas markets in Paris, Ile de France), Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne)
For what it’s worth, here’s a list of gift book ideas. I started this list way too late but it could be helpful to some of you who are very last minute shoppers in need of gifts for francophiles. (For last year’s lists of Gift Ideas for Francophiles click here: Part I, Part II & Part III)
Travel Guides
1. One Hundred & One Beautiful Small Towns in France
2. Lonely Planet France
3. France From the Air
4. Provence Made Easy: The Best Sights and Walks of Provence and the French Riviera
5. Drive Around Dordogne and Western France: Your guide to great drives
On Learning French
1. French: The Complete Language Course (Learn in Your Car)
2. French With Michel Thomas: The Fastest Way to Learn a Language
3. Rick Steves’ French Phrase Book and Dictionary
4. Better Reading French : A Reader and Guide to Improving Your Understanding of Written French
5. 501 French Verbs: with CD-ROM
On Paris
1. The Paris Cafe Cookbook : Rendezvous and Recipes
2. The Historic Restaurants of Paris: A Guide to Century-Old Cafes, Bistros, and Gourmet Food Shops
3. Paris: An Architectural History
4. Antique and Flea Markets of London and Paris
5. Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau
On French Things, History & People
1. Absinthe: History in a Bottle
2. The Cooking of Southwest France : Recipes from France’s Magnificent Rustic Cuisine
3. JJacques-Louis David’s ‘Marat’ (Masterpieces of Western Painting)
4. Chanel: A Woman of her Own
5. The Wines of France: The Essential Guide for Savvy Shoppers
6. Culture Shock! France: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette
7. The Road from the Past: Traveling through History in France
8. The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France
9. France and the French: A Modern History
Not related to France in the slightest but fun nevertheless! Winterbells is an addictive, winter/holiday-themed game and nice diversion when you need to take a break from the crazed holiday shoppers and shopping, wrapping then delivering presents and baking Christmas cookies. It’s a beautiful yet simple web game where you’re a cute little bunny and must jump from bell to bell without faaaaaaaaallllllllllllling.
From The Times Online:
“The Finns fed President Chirac freshly slaughtered reindeer at the EU summit on Friday night. Here was revenge served hot. For the President is famous for his obiter dictum that Finnish food is the worst in Europe, followed closely by British cuisine. Holding the presidency of the European Union, Finland has the privilege of selecting the menu, flying in the chefs and flaunting its national delicacies. The bonne bouche of the reindeer’s red nose was reserved for the President…”
[Disclosure: I was contacted to write a short review about HotelReservations.com, so while this is a sponsored post, the opinions expressed within it are still my own.]
HotelReservations is an American-based online hotel reservations portal, where you can book a variety of accommodations: hotels, motels, B&Bs and condos located in nearly all countries worldwide for your next trip. Their database is quite extensive so you have many places from which to choose. Secondary to hotel reservations, are vacation packages which may include hotel plus car rentals and flight reservations. The hotel system however, seems to be the focused activity here.
Upon launching the site, I wanted to determine out how user-friendly the online experience was, so I did several different searches and queries, based on some trips I have coming up. The first thing I noticed was that the…
Orange has teamed up with Apple and are offering to rent Macbooks including internet service for about 2 euros a day. (For higher speed internet with your Macbook, it’ll be about 5 euros a day.)
Upon first glance, this “sounds” like a good idea but you must sign a 3 year contract. That will end up costing you double the price of a Macbook at the end of those 3 years.
This offer is best suited for French businesses, not for individuals, because they can expense the rental costs, and not necessarily have to pay taxes for the purchase of the Macbooks since technically, they were rented.
Read more about it (in French)
From The Guardian:
“First Oscar Wilde’s tomb was defaced with hundreds of lipstick kisses. Then Jim Morrison’s grave had to be protected by a full-time security guard from fans who had painted arrows on other tombs pointing the way “to Jim”. Now the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris, where famous residents such as Molière, Marcel Proust, Edith Piaf and Maria Callas attract 2 million visitors a year, has been the victim of theft.
Six bronze busts were stolen last month from its 19th century tombs, including that of Georges Bizet, the composer of Carmen…”
Que Choisir rules. Here’s the scoop from Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service:
“A French consumer group has filed three lawsuits against Hewlett-Packard and two electronics retailers concerning the sale of computers with preloaded software.
HP’s consumer PC offerings are sold with Microsoft’s Windows OS, said Alain Spitzmuller, legal affairs director for HP France.
The group, the Union Fédérale des Consommateurs-Que Choisir, (UFC) alleges consumers frequently lack the option of buying “bare” computers without software. UFC said it wants consumers to be able to choose the software for their machine and get reimbursed for purchasing an OS they did not want.
UFC contends the packaging of both hardware and software together violates a French law that prohibits linking the functionality of a product to another product.
HP, which this year overtook Dell as the world’s top…”
This is so not related to France or anything French, but I do love to share a fun game whenever possible, and now seems like a good time to do it. Usually around the holidays, many people in their offices who haven’t taken vacation days off are left to eat the candy, cookies and cakes send to their companies. That’s good and all but you need to break up the eat fest once in a while with something that will help you burn off some of those calories. This is a little fun diversion that is a bit addictive, even though it is really a simple, one move operation kind of game. You are a little gray blob and your job is to eat everything smaller than your head so you can grow and devour even bigger creatures and objects. I actually didn’t think this one was going to be fun when someone described it to me, but I found myself playing it more and more. For those casual gamers out there who want to have fun (and remember you’re never too old to have fun), play Tasty Planet.
Download the Tasty Planet demo for Mac
Download the Tasty Planet demo for Windows
Every once in a while I try to post some useful travel information. Here’s one of them! The excellent travel blog, TravelPost has a guide to wifi access, particularly handy for traveling bloggers and people needing internet access on the road. I’ve found myself at many airports checking if I can access the internet. This guide will be very useful for most wired people on the go. The guide features an international airports list, as well as a separate list for the U.S. and lists prices.
Airports with Wireless Internet Access
Too ingenious! I’m not sure why no one has ever thought of it before. Les Shoppenboys are guys that come in different shapes, sizes and profiles and work for the clothing store chain, Celio. Just find the Shoppenboy the same size and overall look of the person you are shopping for: Your boyfriend, your brother, your husband, your cousin, your nephew, your dad. You have many choices and you can even see how certain colors of shirts or sweaters or pants look on different complexions. This is too cool. Guys who hate shopping with their significant others with the passion of a thousand suns will profusely thank the shopping gods and the shoppenboys. See a video report here.
“The city of Paris has decided to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags in large stores as of 2007, in an effort to cut down on pollution. The City of Lights is hardly the first to tackle its plastic woes. From Paris, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA that from Ireland to South Africa, the throwaway bag is heading for the dustbin - of history.
It is six p.m. on a weekday evening in northern Paris, and Charles Chetrit is fielding his usual crowd of customers shopping after work.
Chetrit rings up their groceries and then offers them an item that will soon be disappearing from the city: A disposable, plastic bag. One customer, Frederic Nogray, refuses the offer. Nogray says he never…” Read the full article here.
Do you know where the Kingdom of Lesotho is? Then, I think you’ll get a better score on this game than I did. It tests your knowledge of world geography. You will see a name of a country on the screen and you must locate it on the map (use the zoom in or out if necessary but work fast) and click on it. You have a certain amount of time and if you guess incorrectly, it takes away more of your remaining time. Try it and see if you actually know your geography as well as you thought. I think I need to study my geography a bit more as well as my history (my score was 52. I don’t think that’s very good because I think that is out of 100, I’m not sure. That’s an F+ if we were in class!) The only thing I wished this game did was to flash the correct country on your wrong answers, so you can know where they are.
Do you know the world?
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