Log
in or register
My Book
Recommendations
Other Websites
Amazon
Thalasso Balneo
Mac Games
I almost didn’t notice this fun street art in the pedestrian shopping area of old town Saint-Brieuc, Brittany France, and would’ve just walked by without taking a picture. Good thing I did a double-take!
tags: france travel street art bretagne saint brieuc brittany
There’s an article in iht.com today that reveals the greatest mysteries of Stonehenge, namely, what the giant brooding stones represented. Apparently, the location was a a burial ground for several generations of a single, elite family.
This is interesting because a similar idea dominated our conversation when we were visiting the “French Stonehenge” in Carnac, in Brittany, France just about a week ago.
Carnac isn’t Stonehenge, clearly, but the place is 6000 years old (older than Stonehenge) and there is a dense collection of menhirs (standing stones, nicknamed the “Stone Army”) as far as the eye can see. Approximately 3000 of these standing stone relics are aligned in rows amidst the vast area of fields close to the Atlantic Ocean in Brittany. It is impressive too see them.
All sorts of theories and speculations popped up in our conversations about the stones’ origins: a challenging game, a landing field for UFO’s (hee), an endurance activity for physical stamina, to name a few – but what emerged as the most likely, was the cemetery theory. Not really far fetched since the dolmens and cairns in Brittany served funerary functions.
So many have ruled out the idea that the menhirs were part of a cemetery. We just have to respectfully disagree with that. Granted, there are no remnants of skeletons here, which is a reason researchers rule out a cemetery, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a cemetery! Our theory is that it WAS a cemetery, or perhaps, more accurately, a memorial for the thousands of Gaulois soldiers who left Carnac to fight against Romans their enemies at sea – and never came back. THAT is why there are no skeletal remains! Besides, doesn’t it look obviously like a veterans’ cemetery, Neolithic stye?
Later when researching this a little, I found some other theories. In the 50s and 60s, Breton children chanted the legend to tourists: All the stones were part of a Gaulois cemetery. The richer the dead person, the bigger then stone. Another theory tells the tale of Saint Cornelius. He was pursued by pagan soldiers all the way to the seashore, and with no boat to flee, his defense was to turned them into stone.
In any case, Carnac, is a well worth a visit but you will need a car to reach it. The largest city close by is Rennes, where we began and it took about one and half hours to reach Carnac from there. You can stroll among the menhir alignments freely from October to March, 9am to 5pm. During the busy season from April to the end of September, you are not allowed to pass the fenced and rock barriers – to protect the vegetation around the stones.
Links: Official Carnac website, DVD: Global Treasures: Carnac Stones Bretagne, France
From applegazette:
“Apple announced today that television programming is finally coming to iTunes France. Top French networks like TF1, France Télévisions, Arte, Mediatoon’s Dargaud TV and Dupuis TV and US shows from The Walt Disney Company and MTV Networks are all available in the iTunes Store in France now.
Customers can now purchase and download primetime hits like “La main blanche,” “Les Contes de la Collection Chez Maupassant,” “Coeur Océan,” “Spirou et Fantasio,” “Lucky Luke” and “Le dessous des cartes,” as well as Emmy Award-winning US programs “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty” and “South Park.”
Apple, again, shows us that they are moving to the variable price model. Television shows are priced at €1.49, €1.99 and €2.49 per episode.”
For a country that is King of demonstrating against injustices inflicted on its people, I honestly don’t know why no one has done anything about the unreasonably high food prices, and now, gas prices. The fleecing of France by merchants charging exorbitant food costs began 6 years ago with the introduction of the euro. This is when we moved to France from the U.S. It has just gotten worse since 2002 and now we pay insane prices for food and well, pretty much everything. Food prices have increased by 45% in some cases. I recently saw peaches selling for 8 euros/ kilo (about $12 for 2 pounds of peaches). I like peaches, but not THAT much. (and those weren’t even organic.)
I’ve noticed in many cases, organic food is less expensive than the industrial food in large supermarket chains. When we’d shop in our organic store just a couple of years ago, there’d be few others shopping. Now so many more people (who have realized that organic is cheaper or the same price as industrial AND tastes better) shop in this organic market. Anyway.
So today in London, an awesome thing is happening: truck drivers are blocking the highway demonstrating their unhappiness about the increasing fuel prices. This makes it hard to move goods in and out of the city. When will this happen in France?
People in France are talking about how others should be demonstrating (like the truck drivers!), but thus far, no one has moved an inch except the fishermen but no one cares about them too much. However, there is something almost tangible is in the air and there’s a definite restlessness in the hexagon. Many people we know in France have begun to stockpile groceries in the event that truck drivers will paralyze the roads in France, and markets will not receive their regular deliveries. We stocked up on some extra things, too – just in case. Everyone is hoping, in fact, that this massive strike will take place despite an enormous inconvenience. Us, too because something needs to happen. The system absolutely HAS to change.
If not, we at least have extra provisions to last a while, which will save us unnecessary fuel used for trips to the market.
By the way, in France we pay about $8 a gallon for gasoline, so consider yourself lucky if you have to pay ONLY $4!
Last week in Rennes, we ALMOST met miserable misfortune by NOT stepping into this place, Le Daniel, a patisserie. My sweetie stopped abruptly and said, “M.O.F.!”
“Wha?!”
“M.O.F.! M.O.F.! We HAVE to go into Le Daniel; he’s an M.O.F.”
“We just ate and I’m not very hungry. How do you know? And…What the heck is an MOF, anyway?”
“Meilleur Ouvrier de France! It’s on the window. He’s the best.”
By some miraculous and divine intervention of nature, my sweetie, who usually can’t find butter in the frig (when there’s only butter and nothing else in the frig), noticed the small print with “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” on the window whilst the three of us walked by briskly on our way to fnac.
“NEVER ignore an M.O.F. THAT is just crazy.”
So, we entered and sampled some things.
Before I go on with this story, I have some explaining to do about the “Meilleur Ouvrier de France.” It means “Best Craftsman (or Worker) in France” and this is a coveted award only given to the very best artisans of France every 3 years (since 1924). There’s a long list of categories so the M.O.F.. can be a pastry chef, a furniture maker, painter, saddle designer, all kinds of “craftsmen.” There’s a stringent process to earn this ranking and those who succeed keep their title for life. Their work is absolute pure quality, the best France has to offer. The people who earn this rank are all passionate about what they do and it shows in their work. So now I know that I should never ignore an M.O.F. You shouldn’t either, especially if you see an M.O.F. who makes pastries!
There are lots of very good patisseries in France (except near our house) but some really go beyond the call of duty and are ahead of others by giant leaps and bounds. Le Daniel was a true M.O.F. When the three of us ate our pastries, there was total silence. It was that good. I got a large salted butter caramel macaron and there are simply no words to do it justice.
We already want to go back. We have to check out his chocolates and ice cream!
By the way, do you know any M.O.F.s??? PLEASE tell me about them!
Le Daniel
13, Galerie du Théâtre
Place de la Mairie
35000 Rennes
02 99 79 33 81
Website: Le Daniel
We were happy to have beautiful weather when we visited Île de Bréhat in Brittany, where I took this photo just a few days ago. I have more photos that I’d like to post as a mini-slideshow plus more travel info, so if I could just figure out how to do that, I’ll post it all this week. Stay tuned.
There’s a strange article that you’d imagine would come straight from The Onion but it’s from the New York Times. Ok, everyone many consider the nyt to be an equivalent… Anyway, it’s about an obsessive disorder, a “Sarkosis,” if you will, with the afflicted being passionately for or against Nicolas Sarkozy.
Sounds like a paid PR stunt attempting to increase Sarkozy’s popularity, if you ask me. But, for what it’s worth, here’s a tidbit:
“PARIS — Serge Hefez, a practicing psychiatrist, has identified a new mental illness among the French: obsessive Sarkosis, an unhealthy fascination with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.
“As I listened to my patients during consultations, many of them mentioned Sarkozy by name,” Dr. Hefez said. “He’s penetrated some of their deepest fantasies. I noticed all this passion in people speaking of him, and I thought there is something particular about this man — he’s like a reflection of us in the mirror.”
The French project themselves onto Mr. Sarkozy, too, Dr. Hefez said.
“He’s the incarnation of the postmodern man, obsessed with himself, turned toward pleasure, autonomous and narcissistic,” the psychiatrist said. “And he exhibits his joys and sorrows, all his private life, his sentimental doubts and pleasures. He represents the individualism of the society to the extreme, that it’s the individual who counts, not the society.”
A year after taking office, Mr. Sarkozy can appear to be everywhere, at least in the world of television and print. The daily newspaper Le Figaro counts at least 100 books devoted to the French president, his life and loves, with more than a million sold, for $25.1 million.
Some of the titles display the fury and fascination that Mr. Sarkozy has stimulated: “The King is Naked”; “The Man Who Doesn’t Know How to Pretend”; “The Liquidator”; “He Must Go!”; “The Duty of Insolence”; and “Somersaults and Flips at the Élysée.”
Dr. Hefez analyzed this obsession in an article and then in his own book, “Obsessive Sarkosis,” in which he identifies related illnesses, like Sarkophrenia and Sarkonoia.
Last month, the magazine Paris Match ran a cartoon by Jean-Jacques Sempé showing a woman talking to a psychiatrist, saying: “I’m very worried. Sunday, at the Louvre, I asked a guard where to find the room of Egyptian Sarkozycophagi. At dinner with a musicologist, I said twice that my favorite opera is ‘Sarkozy Fan Tutte.’ I’d like to know if this is serious and how to cure it.”
Television covers Mr. Sarkozy’s every gesture, in both homage and mockery, itself an effort to create distance from the phenomenon that it perpetuates and magnifies. It is all part of what the French have come to call the “pipolisation” of political life, a term, presumably derived from People magazine, that refers to the idolatry of celebrities and soap opera. Dr. Hefez considers the trend an example of “democracy turning against itself, as Tocqueville foresaw.”
But Dr. Hefez, too, has been infected by the disease he was among the first to diagnose. And like any good analyst, he is fully aware of the problem, and the irony. The heated reaction to his article “was interesting for a psychiatrist and didn’t surprise me,” he said, laughing, “because it corresponds precisely to the …”
Nope. This isn’t photoshopped. There IS a real hair salon in Rennes, France that doesn’t enormously inspire anglophones to get their hair coiffed – named Hairlices. Hair Lice!
[Thank you, Martin, for the photo. Mine was a little too blurry.)
If you happen to find yourself in Saint Malo, a small, walled port town in northwestern France in Brittany, and can only do one thing there, make sure it’s visiting what is facing the cathedral, which is a heavenly salon de thé called Bergamote. The tea and pastries and crepes are more sacred than the saints just across the way. It is really not to be missed.
Bergamote exclusively offers Mariage Frères tea, which is considered by many to have some of the best teas in the world.
After a day’s exploring of the fortified city and surrounding beach area, relax and take in the view of Saint Malo’s cathedral from inside Bergamote. Treat yourself to a little bit of heaven with a blend of the finest teas around. The teas are really excellent (I really like the “Eros” blend), and can match perfectly with the luscious house made pastries and crêpes. You will absolutely NOT regret it.
Bergamote Salon de Thé & Creperie
Place de la Cathédrale
Saint Malo France
Tél. 02 99 40 28 14
Open: Wednesday to Sunday 11am – 6pm
July and August open Tuesday to Sunday
We’ve been in Bretagne / Brittany (western France) for several days now, so I thought I’d post a quick blog entry while I have a minute. This photo was taken between Cancale and St. Malo along the English Channel. It doesn’t quite do justice to the real beauty that is Bretagne, but that is probably because I need some photography lessons.
Stay tuned…more of Bretagne to come!
Yea, what else is new. I know. Anyway, when Calimero left a comment on the GMO (genetically modified organisms) post, I wasn’t sure what he was referring to until I watched a short clip from the (week) daily 5 minutes segment of the day’s highlights called, “Zapping” on Canal Plus. Watch it here (Select “ZAPPING DU 15/05/08″).
I’m enormously disgusted by these French politicians on the subject of allowing genetically modified foods into the French food chain. With Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, who happens to be a Minister of Ecology, She’s pro-GMO! She is working on PASSING laws to allow GMO crops. However, when asked what she feeds her son, she says he only eats organic food!!! “It’s a personal choice,” she says. WTF.
With Francois Vannison, a member of the UMP, he says he is not against GMO but does realize it can pose a risk of contaminating non-GMO agriculture and organic agriculture. OH-KAY.
More stupid politicians BOUGHT and OWNED by the evil Monsanto.
The best part of this particular “zapping” is the animal with big eyes.
“Lucky Boy” (that’s not very French!) is probably one of the most chill cats ever. He’s the cute mascot of the B&B in Carcassonne, Aux Anges Gardiens chez Patricia and Andre where we stayed not long ago. He IS lucky to live where he does and in fact, he is so lucky, he rubbed a little luck on me and I wasn’t at all allergic to him, when normally, it’s another *sneeze!* story.
Celebrate tomorrow by showing how proud you are of your vegetarian or vegan self! – and fight against cruelty to animals.
In a nutshell, it is a festival of vegetarian and vegan pride and participants aim to do the following: 1) demonstrate against the inhumane treatment of animals; 2) show pride of vegetarianism and veganism; 3) denounce vegephobia; 4) defending their rights to express their opinions; 5) to act in behalf of animals – that do not have rights.
La Veggie Pride 2008
May 17, 2008
2pm – Meet at Place Joachim du Bellay (Forum des Halles – Fontaine des Innocents) in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. Métro Châtelet ou les Halles, R.E.R. Châtelet-les-Halles.
Telephone: 01 45 59 04 35 (Nathalie)
From reuters:
“PARIS – Hundreds of activists marched in Paris on Tuesday ahead of the expected approval of a law they say blurs the line between natural and genetically modified (GM) foods.
The bill lays down conditions for the cultivation of GM crops in France, Europe’s largest grain producer and exporter, and creates a body to oversee GMO use. The vote is due to take place late on Tuesday or on Wednesday.
Protesters, some wearing yellow hats in the shape of maize cobs and others dressed in white suits imitating scientists, gathered near the National Assembly to voice their opposition.
“We must give consumers the choice of eating quality products, with or without GMO,” said Jean Terlon, cook at the restaurant Le Saint-Pierre in Longjumeau, close to Paris.
While GM crops are common in the United States and Latin America, France and many other European countries are dubious about using the new genetic technology in agriculture.
France banned the sole GM crop grown in the European Union, a maize (corn) developed by US biotech giant Monsanto, in February because it had serious doubts about whether it was safe for the environment. GMO cultivation is still legal, however.
The new French law, which would implement a European Union directive adopted in 2001, sets the rules a farmer has to respect to grow GM crops. These include limiting dissemination of pollen to conventional fields.
The text is criticised by pro-GMOs who say it does not go far enough and by the antis, including deputies of the ruling majority, who say changes made in exchanges between the parliament and the upper house make it too lax.
LEGAL CONTAMINATION
Approved amendments include a rate of GM dissemination to conventional crops of up to 0.9 percent, a level fiercely contested by ecologists seeking to protect France’s biodiversity and organic crops from GM contamination.
“The problem of this law is that it legalises contamination because anything with a GMO content of less than 0.9 percent can be called GMO-free,” Romain Chabrol, a spokesman of the environmental group Greenpeace France, said.
The rate in Germany was set at 0.1 percent.
French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said the new law would be the “most protective in the world”.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has repeatedly said he does not want to close the door on the technology or ban research so as to limit the number of biotech companies put off by the destruction of their outdoor experiments by activists.
French cooperative Limagrain, which has a 70 percent stake in the world’s fourth-largest seed maker Vilmorin, said this year its research unit Biogemma had moved its tests on GM crops to the United States after repeated attacks on its fields.
Such attacks would be more severely punished under the law.”
When you exit le Palais des papes (the Palace of Popes) in Avignon along Rue Peyrolerie (which is more of a ruelle), you will find yourself at Place Daniel Sorano, dedicated to the French actor, Daniel Sorano (1920-1962), probably most famous for his role in the 1960 film version of Cyrano de Bergerac (here’s an extract). The art painted on the building, a quasi trompe d’oeil features writers, actors and characters from plays, and it’s really unexpected when you see it for the first time. Avignon’s theatre is just around the corner.
From wired:
“So you’ve decided to leave the comfort of your nerd-friendly lair and head out to explore the larger world. Perhaps a conference in Bangkok beckons, or maybe a Linux gathering in Europe. Even a trip with the family to some deserted isle?
Whatever the case, no self respecting geek goes globetrotting without preparation, research and a serious stash of appropriate gadgets. To save you from having to scour the net, here’s Wired’s guide to mastering the art of high tech travel.
Inspector Gadget
Here’s the first question: what gear should you bring? Furthermore, how do you keep it powered up and safe from harm and/or theft?
For full details on what you need to make sure all your gadgets have plenty (and the right kind) of electricity, check out our Stay Plugged In While Traveling guide. Once you have your power adapters in order, it’s worth asking which devices you should bring and which ones you can get by without.
Laptops
The laptop is tempting, and in many cases a must-have, especially if your destination is a conference or meet-up. But if you’re just traveling for pleasure, a good internet cafe is all you need. Going “topless” also spares you the added weight and hassle of lugging a computer around.
If you do have to bring your beloved portable, PACK A CABLE LOCK. This gives quite a piece of mind if you want to leave your hotel room for a dinner without having to worry that your hardware is gonna be missing when you get back.
The availability of internet cafes abroad varies, but generally speaking, they are not hard to come by unless you get well off the beaten tourist path. Do some searching and see what those who have already been to where you are going have found.
Tip: Mac users take note, you will almost always find Windows PCs in internet cafes.
Tip: A number of internet cafes have started banning USB sticks, which ruins your ability to Carry Your Desktop Anywhere with Portable Apps. The practice isn’t widespread enough to preclude carrying a USB stick, but you may encounter a few spots where your thumb drive is frowned upon. On the plus side, more and more have Firefox installed.
Tip: Bring a USB stick that is…”
From slashdot:
“Google has begun to scan the streets of Paris as part of its Street View service, but the company may be hindered from publishing them unedited. The reason? French privacy laws. Google may be forced to blur faces or use low-resolution versions of the photographs. The Embassy of France in the U.S. has a page devoted to French privacy laws, that says the laws are needed to ‘avoid infringing the individual’s right to privacy and right to his or her picture (photograph or drawing), both of them rights of personality.”
When you see the famous prehistoric paintings at the Lascaux Cave in Dordogne, you must purchase your tickets in the village of Montignac. (Ticket purchase is not available on-site.) You won’t feel inconvenienced by this because Montignac is beautiful and worth a stop to explore its two different areas located on both sides of the Vézère River. On the right bank, there’s a feudal town with medieval narrow streets with architecture from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. On the left bank, the suburb with a convent and priory is an indication that Montignac used to be a harbor town, a place of artisans, crafts, arts and other sell-able goods.
More information about Montignac is here (in French).
From the guardian:
“Authorities in southern France fear a possible mosquito invasion in tourist resorts this summer and blame EU regulations which prevent them from using the most efficient insecticide.
The area affected runs from the Camargue down to the Spanish border. Agents from the EID, the Entente interdépartementale de démoustication which clears thousands of hectares of marshland each year, say the new rules are forcing them to carry out this year’s operation in record time, and with no guarantee of success, following recent rain.
For the first time since the early 1960s they cannot use temephos – a pesticide now banned by the European Union. Instead the EID says it is obliged to turn to a bacterium considered to be more environment-friendly, but which experts argue leaves little margin for error….”
From the guardian:
“Britain’s assault on French cookery has been stepped up by a Yorkshire bakery which has started exporting lorry-loads of baguettes across the Channel.
Fosters of Barnsley has used a legal loophole to beat local boulangers to a contract supplying the narrow loaves to the whole of the French railway system.
The order follows a double whammy for North of England butchers who stole Grand Prix d’Excellence awards earlier this year at Europe’s biggest black pudding contest in France. The Real Lancashire Pudding company went on to take two gold medals in the usually French and Belgian-dominated tasting organised by the Compagnons de la Gastronomie Porcine.
The baguette triumph, which has earned Fosters managing director, John Foster, the French media title of “most hated man in France”, is down to the firm’s expertise in making long-life loaves.
French local law forbids the use of fat which is key to the long-life process, Foster said yesterday, but competitors from elsewhere in the European Union can sidestep the ban, under European legislation. Building on the “rolling stock” order, the Barnsley bakery is now challenging the brioche market in France, using the same method.
“Their own bakers could give them a good product, but it didn’t fit the railway’s needs,” said Foster. “In Yorkshire we’ve a tradition of giving customers what they want. They asked for baguettes which don’t go stale and we said yes, we can do you them. We’re shipping the stuff out by the wagon-load.”
Foster said he had been surprised by the “cheek” of the mismatch between French and EU law but recognised a good sales opportunity.”
This fun and kooky scopitone is from the 60s and is called, “Comic Strip” featuring Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. From what I can tell, Serge is beckoning Brigitte to come into his comic strip for some serious SHEBAM! POW! BLOP! and WHIZZZZ!
Click on the image to see the video at YouTube.
Isn’t this Hermès apple purse (and knife) adorable? Yes. It IS small and restricted in its use (ONE apple or keys or condoms or credit cards or change or an iPod Nano…some other stuff) but if it were bigger it wouldn’t be as CUTE.
[via]
The baguettes made by the boulangeries near my place are not that great, sadly. I know! I’m in France so… what the??! Anyway, I might try to make some myself. Luckily, Baker’s Banter (King Arthur Flour) recently posted a step-by-step, HOWTO make your own baguettes.
After our excellent adventures in Carcassonne chez Patricia and Andre, we were advised to stop by the quaint medieval village of Mirepoix, in the heart of the Cathare region, on our way to Sarlat just a few weeks ago, so off we went. I’d wondered if Mirepoix was where the famous mirepoix culinary method of combining carrots, celery and onions and using them in French cooking was discovered. Nope. It wasn’t.
With its 13th century oak arcades framed around the marketplace lined with shops and cozy cafes and bakeries, Mirepoix is worth a quick looksee. This is one of the last remaining examples of an arcaded village in France.
Actually, Mirepoix is a bastide built around the main square and the houses date from the 13th to the 15th centuries.
One of the most visited attractions in Mirepois is the Maison des Consuls, which showcases arcaded rafters that are carved with hundreds of unique portrayals of gargoyles, monsters, animals and caricatures of medieval social groups and professions, as well as ethnic groups from all over the world.
Mirepoix is host to an annual puppet and doll festival that takes place on the 2nd week of August (for information, telephone 05 61 68 20 72).
