Last week’s bloggers’ round-up had a single theme – Barcelona – but this week, the subjects are completely different. Chez Charnizay from the Loire Valley offers us a very complete description of the danse macabre, a mediaeval allergory for death, depicted in a local chapel in Touraine. Katerina Forrester, posting on My French Life, examines all the different things that “quand même” can mean, while Bread is Pain comments on French hospital food, very far from the pizza and jello she remembers having in the US as a child. Enjoy!
A bittersweet treat: La Chapelle de tous les Saintes
by Niaill, a Scotsman, and Antoinette, a Dutch American, from Chez Charnizay, who live in the village of the same name in southern Touraine and blog about their adventures in the Loire Valley.
A little while back, friends Susan and Simon who write the blog Days on the Claise ran into Marc Dimanche, an acquitance of theirs. A devoted member of the Preuilly archaeological society, he offered them the opportunity to visit the Chapelle de tous les Saintes [All Saints’ Chapel] which is located on the left as one drives into Preuilly-sur-Claise from the direction of Le Grand Pressigny. They had written a post about the chapel before here, but had never had the opportunity to see inside. Read more
Speak like a local: quand the French use quand même
By Katerina Forrester, Australian born but always longing to be French, posting on My French Life, the global community of French and francophiles connecting like-minded people in English & French.
It’s a phrase that stops a nation, or more so, a young girl at the ripe age of 16 on her first trip to France. This common French expression would continue to stump me for years to come, and I’m ashamed to add that the first time I heard this phrase, I transcribed it as ‘comme même’.
However, I shouldn’t be disheartened by my cultural linguistic naivety. This typical French expression, quand même, may be easily translated into English, but the translation changes drastically depending upon the context!
So let’s identify and explore quand même on the dissecting table…through hypothetical situations. Read more
Of Hospitals and Cheese Courses
by Bread is Pain, a 30-something American living in the Rhone-Alps, and slowly eating and drinking herself through the country
Now granted, I haven’t been in the hospital in the U.S. since the 80′s so my information isn’t at all up to date but what I remember of the food was pizza and jello (I was also 8 years old which might account for what stands out in my mind). At the hospital here in Grenoble, however, MB’s meals are somewhat more sophisticated. There is a potato soup, there is a tuna pasta, a freshly baked roll, fromage blanc. These may show up all at the same time but this is basically a 3 course meal…in the hospital. Yesterday he had saucisson…how is that a healthy choice? Read more
