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Tag Archives: France
Centuries to Build, Hours to Destroy: Notre-Dame de Paris
One of France’s – no, the world’s – best-loved icons, Notre-Dame de Paris, caught fire shortly before 7 pm last night. The flames quickly took hold and, although the fire brigade was quick to react, it was impossible to save … Continue reading
Posted in History, Places
Tagged France, Notre-Dame de Paris, Notre-Dame fire, Paris, World Heritage site
12 Comments
Maigret: France’s Favourite Flic
Before you ask, flic is colloquial French for a police officer. Commissaire Jules Maigret is probably the best-known French fictional detective, created by the novelist Georges Simenon (who was actually Belgian). When we first moved here and my French was … Continue reading
Épiphanie, the Day of the Three Kings, in France
Now that New Year’s Eve has passed, I can wish you all a very happy, healthy and peaceful 2019. In France, it’s considered bad luck to do so before midnight on 31st December. Although we have turned the corner of … Continue reading
Posted in Customs, Food/drink/recipes
Tagged Épiphanie, Caylus Notre Village, Epiphany, France, French customs, Galette des rois, SW France, three Magi, Twelfth Night
10 Comments
French Christmas Quiz 2018: the Answers
I hope you had a lovely Christmas if you celebrate it. How did you get on with the quiz? Now is the time of reckoning. The answers are below. And there were a couple of trick questions, but if you’ve … Continue reading
French Christmas Quiz 2018
A very happy Festive Season to all my readers. Thank you for reading the blog this year and for your stimulating comments and emails. Welcome to the 2018 – and 8th – Edition of the Life on La Lune French … Continue reading
Ma Vie Française # 7: Elizabeth Moore, Fulfilling a Long-Held Dream
This week, I’m delighted to welcome in my series of interviews another Francophile, who has a long-standing attachment to France. Elizabeth Moore, who writes as EJ Bauer, turned the distressing experience of illness into an opportunity by travelling from her … Continue reading
Ma Vie Française #6: Author Jane Dunning
Today, I continue my occasional series of interviews with people who have made their life in France or who have a particular attachment to it. Jane Dunning’s love affair with France began in earnest in the 1990s and she has … Continue reading
Shaken, and Probably Stirred: Earthquakes in France
Have you ever been in an earthquake? I have, when we lived in Birmingham, and it was a very odd experience. I must admit that it wasn’t a very big one and there was no danger of the house collapsing, … Continue reading
The Pros and Cons of Brits in France
Peter Mayle, the doyen of writers about the good life in France, died recently at the age of 78. His book, A Year in Provence (1989), describes how he restored an 18th-century farmhouse near Ménerbes in the Luberon with the … Continue reading
When Should You Use Tu or Vous?
Today, I revisit a topic that I covered when I first started this blog nearly eight years ago. It’s an aspect of French society and culture that perplexes Brits no end and whatever you do, there’s a fair chance that … Continue reading
Posted in Customs, Language
Tagged France, French, French culture, French etiquette, French language, tu or vous, tutoiement
49 Comments
Life on La Lune French Christmas Quiz 2017: the Answers
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that le Père Noël was generous to you. How did you get on with the quiz? No cheating, I hope. Without further ado, here are the answers. See how well you did.
Life on La Lune French Christmas Quiz 2017
First, let me wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas. Thank you for reading the blog this year. I always enjoy reading your comments and emails. Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the Life on La Lune … Continue reading
French Flavours: P is for Petits Fours
As Christmas is approaching, this week’s post is a frivolous look at a mainstay of the French apéritif, le petit four. At a party recently, someone challenged me to investigate the origins of the name, and Life on La … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, History
Tagged amuse-bouche, aperitifs, appetisers, canapé, France, mignardises, mise-en-bouche, petits fours
13 Comments
French Stereotypes: the French Don’t Speak English
Every nation is afflicted by stereotypes that other nations love to perpetuate. Englishmen wear bowler hats, drink tea all day, eat overdone roast beef and sport a stiff upper lip. Frenchmen wear berets, drink wine all day, eat garlic and … Continue reading
Absinthe Friends
It’s the drink that symbolised the Bohemian culture of la Belle Epoque in late 19th to early 20th-century Paris. It was consumed by Toulouse-Lautrec, Baudelaire and Satie, painted by Degas and Manet and immortalised in early silent films. This beverage … Continue reading
20 Years of la Vie Française
Last weekend marked the 20th anniversary of moving into our house in France. We had arrived in France a few days earlier, but we regard the occupation of the house as the true anniversary. This year I had a long … Continue reading
Posted in French life, Places
Tagged culture clash, France, French culture, French restaurants, la vie française, living in France, moving to France, SW France
13 Comments
Chèque ou Espèces? Cheque or Cash
It often takes a holiday in another country to throw into relief the quirks of the one you live in. We returned recently from 10 days in Sweden (hence the blogging hiatus), where things are a bit different from France. … Continue reading
Posted in French life
Tagged cash in France, cheques in France, credit cards in France, France, French money, living in France, Moneo, SW France
16 Comments
#Paris in the Springtime #2
Here’s part 2 of the story of our first visit to Paris in 15 years. We had only three days in the capital, and so we were determined to make the most of it. Our shoe leather was definitely more … Continue reading
Paris in the Springtime #1
People often say to us, “You must visit Paris all the time!” Actually, we’ve been there only twice as tourists in our 20 years in France, and I’ve been there for the day (!) a couple of times for work. … Continue reading
Posted in Places
Tagged France, Impressionist painting, Impressionists, Latin Quarter of Paris, Marais, Montparnasse, Musée d'Orsay, Musée du Louvre, Paris, Vermeer
7 Comments
Ma Vie Française #3: Author Angela Wren
Today, I continue my occasional interview series with people who have made their life in France or who have a particular attachment to it. Author Angela Wren is in the latter category. Let’s find out why she finds France so … Continue reading
Posted in Ma Vie Française Interviews
Tagged Angela Wren, author, books, camping in France, Cevennes, France, French life, Messandrierre, visiting France
16 Comments
Life on La Lune French Christmas Quiz 2016: the Answers
I hope you had a great Christmas. How did you get on with the quiz? I promised you the answers today and here they are – a little late because I got engrossed in writing my next novel. Don’t forget … Continue reading
Life on La Lune French Christmas Quiz 2016
First, let me wish all my readers Season’s Greetings. Thank you for following my blog this year and for your stimulating comments and emails, which I always enjoy reading. Thank you also for the many Tweets and shares on Facebook. … Continue reading
French Telephone Etiquette
Even after more than 19 years in France, I lift the receiver with apprehension when the phone rings. This is partly because it’s invariably a cold caller. It’s also because dealing with people on the phone in French is damn … Continue reading
Posted in Customs, French life
Tagged cold calling, etiquette, France, social customs, SW France, telephone etiquette
19 Comments
19 Years in France
Time for a little celebration. Nineteen years ago today, we moved into our house, but we had arrived in France a few days earlier. The time has passed quickly, although much wine has flowed under the bridge since then. A … Continue reading
Posted in French life
Tagged France, French customs, la canicule, living in France, Montauban, moving to France, SW France, Tarn-et-Garonne
11 Comments
Death of a Village: Oradour-sur-Glane
I wasn’t sure if I should write about this at all. Visiting Oradour-sur-Glane near Limoges this week, I felt like a voyeur. The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich slaughtered 642 people and torched the village on 10th June 1944, … Continue reading
Ma Vie Française #2: An Interview with Stephanie Dagg
I’ve known Steph since 2010 but we have never met! Author, editor, blogger, businesswoman, and smallholder– she wears so many hats it’s difficult to keep up. She’s written a popular book, Heads Above Water, about her family’s life in … Continue reading
Ma Vie Française #1: an Interview with Jacqui Brown
You’ve heard a lot from me over the past six years about life in rural France. So let’s hear from someone else for a change. This is the first in an occasional series, Ma Vie Française, in which people tell … Continue reading
Monsieur C – One of a Dying Breed
Today, we visited an elderly farmer neighbour, whose wife is in hospital with respiratory problems. They were the first local French people we met in 1997. Monsieur F has always been difficult to understand because of his strong regional accent … Continue reading
Is the Rural French Café Dying Out?
The village café-bar is a typically French institution, just as the pub is essentially British. Our nostalgic vision of French rural life places the café (often doubling as a restaurant) at the heart of the village, along with the church, … Continue reading
Posted in Food/drink/recipes, French life
Tagged France, French cafés, French village life, Ifop, living in France, rural depopulation, rural life, SW France
15 Comments
Bonne Année and December’s Weather
First, bonne année to everyone. I hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing Christmas. We are having a dry January – no, not the weather, which is the opposite. Rather, we’re not imbibing any alcohol, except the odd glass if … Continue reading
Posted in Weather
Tagged climate, France, Meilleurs Voeux, Mild December, rainfall, SW France, Weather
9 Comments
