This Wednesday, Jeff Titelius from Euro Travelogue takes us on a tour of Christmas markets in Germany with stunning photos that all look by picture postcards. Fellow Australian, Carolyn Lee, from Escape to Paris, gives lots of suggestions for maintaining your French when not in France and Bread is Pain talks about French phlegm. Enjoy!
In Search of Christmas: Germany Christmas Market Tour
by Jeff Titelius from Euro Travelogue: European travel impressions brought to life through the power of lens and pen.
Herald in the holidays and Advent this year with an unforgettable visit to one of Germany’s classic Christmas markets or Christkindlmarkts as they are known locally. Steeped in centuries-old traditions and customs, you can find a Christmas market in just about every landmark city and storybook village throughout Germany—town squares that come alive with the sights and sounds and smells of Christmas! Lining historic city-centre squares, hundreds of elaborately decorated Alpine chalets are brimming with traditionally hand-crafted gifts and festive ornaments, not to mention the savory indulgences of food and Glühwein or mulled wine of course—hard to resist after their tantalizing aromas reach your cold little noses! Read more
escape the tyranny of distance… and maintain your French
by Carolyne Lee, from Escape to Paris, an Australian writer, teacher, and researcher who tries to spend every spare moment in France
The great challenge for Australian francophones is maintaining our French, given our distance from France. Even with one or two trips per year, as some of us are able to make, there are still long fallow periods when we’re not using French for many months at a stretch. I’m always interested to hear other Aussie Francophones tell how they do their ‘maintenance’. The most fluent people, from my small and fairly random sampling, seem to keep up their French by reading French books on a regular basis, preferably daily, and this is also what I do. Read more
Freaking Out Frenchie
by Bread is Pain, a 30-something American living in the Rhone-Alps, and slowly eating and drinking herself through the country
So the other night MB and I were sitting watching an episode of French Masterchef. The contestants were in the middle of a challenge in which they had to create a thin hollow ball made of out sugar (not exactly like the BBQ challenges of US Masterchef). In one part of the challenge it was necessary to roll out and work the hot sugar “dough” which is at a dangerously high temperature, they have to wear special gloves. One contestant is working his dough and talking about how hot it is and how you must be very careful. The contestant next to him then accidentally sticks her naked elbow into the dough and lets out a scream. Read more
