Winter will be here soon
(winter approaches in big strides)
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Learning French: A Phrase a Day
Winter will be here soon
(winter approaches in big strides)
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Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Mexico's mysterious City of Gods comes to the City of Light
The exhibition brings together some 450 exceptional items of Teotihuacan culture, a large city of Ancient Mexico where recent excavations have led to a better understanding of the site.
The objects are presented in successive themes enabling visitors to discover this ancient city, and to understand the way it functioned and the role and influence it held in the Mesoamerican world.
This unique exhibition presents items most of which have never before been displayed in Europe. Some were unknown in Mexico until they were on show in Monterrey between September 2008 and January 2009. 95% of the objects come from Mexican collections and 5% from European collections (collections from German ethnographic museums and from the musée du quai Branly in Paris).
Claire Rosemberg/AFP/Expatica reports the exciting news about an exhibition that cannot possibly be missed!
Some 450 pre-Columbian pieces, some of them monumental, some rarely or never exhibited, are on show until next January 24 in the French capital's newest arthouse, the Quai Branly museum, under the title "Teotihuacan, City of the Gods.”
Feathered serpents and sacred jaguars from ancient Mexico's mysterious City of Gods, Teotihuacan, show in Europe for the first time at an unparalleled exhibition opening in Paris on Tuesday.
"It's the biggest exhibition ever on Teotihuacan,” Miguel Baez, of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), told AFP. "We in Mexico love shows from other places, this time we aim to display our great civilisation."
Some 450 pre-Columbian pieces, some of them monumental, some rarely or never exhibited, are on show until next January 24 in the French capital's newest arthouse, the Quai Branly museum, under the title "Teotihuacan, City of the Gods.”
A fearsome oversized 1,500-year-old jaguar recently discovered at the giant site opens the exhibit, also featuring new proof of rampant human sacrifice.
One such item, which reverses previous thinking that Teotihuacan was a peaceful society, is a large just-excavated marble statue of a slave showing signs of bondage and arrows in his limbs.
Wrapped in thick vegetation when rediscovered in the 19th century, little is yet known about the giant ancient city of Teotihuacan, which became a regional powerhouse in its 800-year history until its mysterious fall around 700 AD.
At its height, the city built in semi-arid highlands barely 50 kilometres from Mexico City was home to more than 200,000 people, bigger than any European city of the time.
"We don't know who built it, how it was governed, or what happened to cause it to collapse," said Baez.
"We have more questions than we have answers."
Though one of the world's larger archeological digs, less than 10 percent of the 22-square-kilometre site has yet been excavated, leaving experts puzzling over why it disappeared -- internal strife, invasion, disease, or hunger caused from over-intensive use of the land?
"Teotihuacan was not even its original name," Baez said. "We still don't know its name."
Discovered by Aztecs several centuries after being mysteriously abandoned and left crumbling, the Aztecs were so impressed by its greatness and beauty that they called it "the place where Gods are born" -- in Nahuatl, Teotihuacan.
The city was laid out according to a cosmic view, with a main road, the Avenue of the Dead, running straight towards the mythical Pyramid of the Moon. Close by lay the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and the Pyramid of the Sun.
"Earlier than Rome and over a very long time they rigorously built a massive city on a grid," said Brendan MacFarlane, the New Zealander scenographer who worked with France's Dominique Jakob to recreate a giant model of the city at the show.People lived in some 2,000 residential complexes grouping anywhere between 20 to 100 people, with family apartments organised around a central patio. Items on show were found in 15 of the complexes.
And while archeologists have found trace of the artists and know there were priests and traders and slaves, nothing is known of the system of governance or the rulers.
"There was no sense of personal identity, none of the statues are made in anyone's likeness," said Fabienne de Pierrebourg, who is in charge of the French museum's Americas collections.
"It is the most mysterious civilisation of the continent," she added.
The exhibition is to travel to Zurich and Berlin. Details on Quai Branly, the hottest place to be right now in Paris!
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Monday, November 09, 2009
Upcoming event: Wilna will be in conversation with Albert Croce about her experiences and reflections all along her pilgrimage. Friday 20 November
Lancement du livre de Wilna Wilkinson
Vendredi 20 novembre 2009 à 19h00, Centre Aquitaine Langues
« The Way of Stars and Stones »
Conférence dialoguée
Aquitaine Langues Centre is very happy to welcome you to the Launch of « The Ways of Stars and Stones » by Wilna Wilkinson.
Wilna will be in conversation with Albert Croce about her experiences and reflections all along her pilgrimage.
Please come to listen and talk to Wilna.
To mark the occasion Gerrita of ViniSource offers quite appropriately the Cuvée Compostelle du Château Côte de Monpezat 2005
Please book before 16th November
Le Centre Aquitaine Langues et Albert CROCE sont heureux de vous recevoir
Au Centre Aquitaine Langues, à Bergerac, pour une conférence dialoguée sur le lancement du livre de Wilna Wilkinson « The Ways of Stars and Stones » qui retrace ses rencontres et ses réflexions sur le chemin de Saint Jacques de Compostelle.
La conférence sera suivie d’un buffet « Wine and Cheese »
Vin offert pour l’occasion par Gerrita Thiart-Martin de ViniSource
« Cuvée Compostelle » du Château Côte Monpezat, Côtes de Castillon 2005
Prière de réserver à l’avance Entrée 6€
Fiche d’inscription
A remplir et à nous retourner avec votre paiement au plus tard le 16/11/09
Aquitaine Langues, 769 Route de Ste Alvère, 24100 Bergerac
Tel : 05 53 74 17 85 admin@aquitainelangues.fr
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24100 Bergerac - Tel : 05 53 74 17 85
admin@aquitainelangues.fr www.aquitainelangues.fr
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Paris restaurant of a million ducks selling 18,000 bottles
If you have visited Paris after your backpacker
and shoestring budget days, you may have had the decadent pleasure of the food with a view provided by one of Paris'most famous restaurants, the 16th century eatery, Tour d'Argent, famed for dishing up more than a million ducks, If not, now is the time to plan to go, because the restaurant is putting some of its exceptional cellar up for auction in December.
The Agence France Press reports that rare vintages common mortals may have read about but never actually seen -- such as a Chateau Lafite Rothschild or a 200-year-old Fine Champagne -- go under the hammer 7 and 8 December, expected to fetch up to EUR 1 million.Bottles on sale were selected from 450,000 stocked in the cellars of the restaurant variously known as the "world's oldest" or "most famous", and undeniably blessed with one of the best locations in the universe, straddling the Seine overlooking Notre Dame cathedral.
The establishment dating back to 1582 is best known for pressed duck and served up its millionth in 2003.
Bought directly from vintners, none of the bottles have ever been on the market. Bordeaux wines include Chateau Latour (1975, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1994), Chateau Lafite Rothschild (1970, 1982, 1997), Chateau Cheval Blanc (1928, 1949, 1966) and Chateau Margaux (1970, 1990).
Among Loire valley wines is a Vouvray Haut Lieu Huet (1919) while the Burgundy region includes a Puligny Montrachet Referts Sauzet (1992) and Vosne Romanée Jayer (1988).Profits from the oldest bottle, a Fine Champagne Clos du Griffier from 1788, will go to charity -- which have not been named yet.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2009
- An excerpt from The Way of Stars and Stones - Thoughts on a pilgrimage
That night, in Calzadilla de la Cueza, a village with a name longer than its main street, I sat alone in front of the monitor, tucked away in a dark back corner of the room, trying to get to grips with a keyboard with only blank keys – the letters having been completely worn away by the fingertips of thousands of pilgrims who had preceded me. As I looked down in exasperation at this tired and worn keyboard, I suddenly had a wave of recognition wash over me. I felt the presence of all those pilgrims who’d sat where I was sitting; who had tried to have their fingers remember which keys represented the letters they needed to write a message home to loved ones – to tell them they were still safe on their pilgrimage. I couldalmost hear them cursing under their breath when they typed and the wrong letters came up, turning their messages into gobbledegook. I could almost feel their breath on my back as they paced the floor waiting for me to finish so they could have their turn. I could almost see their smiles as the screen lit up and they found messages in their inbox from someone back home telling them that they were missed. In that moment of solitude, I felt utterly and wholly part of this confraternity of the Camino. At the same time, I was aware that this feeling had slowly been creeping up on me for a long time. In fact, it was a feeling that had started to manifest itself on that very first night in Roncesvalles when I shared a beer with Thorsten and Akira and we spoke late into the night – about why we were on the Camino, about our fears and hopes and expectations.
It was over that first meal from the pilgrim’s menu, bought for the princely sum of eight euros – a delicious and nourishing broad bean and potato soup, a huge plate of tender veal stew and a large glass of ice-cold, frothy beer – that we quickly recognised in each other fellow-pilgrims.
Perhaps it was that the three of us were starting our pilgrimage from the same place and at the same time. There was definitely something special about the bond formed between we strangers who had embarked on a journey together. Or perhaps it was that we’d been brought together by a common purpose. As individuals, we were different in every way – age, background, culture and language – yet we sensed subconsciously that
where one lacked, another might be able to compensate. Each individual’s assets and characteristics complemented those of the others – a type of a synergy where the combined whole of our little band was far, far greater than the sum of the individuals.
In his book on the Camino, Coelho speaks of being more accessible to others around you on the journey because instinctively you know that they may be able to help you in difficult situations. The Camino was in many ways a survival course: you had to dig deep to find the resources within yourself in order to get through each day. It was astonishing to find resources you’d never been aware of, but it was also frightening when a needed resource was simply not there, no matter how deep you dug. And it was then that you came to appreciate the other pilgrims around you.
Everyone has talent. Sometimes we only discover that talent late in life, but the talent is there for the finding. And the Camino was the perfect place for the ‘big reveal’ of those hidden talents. If I could find resources within myself that I’d never known I had, so could every other pilgrim. And it was the pooling of those resources that created the bond among pilgrims. Not only did each have the wondrous pleasure of discovering their own latent potential, but each also had the unrivalled pleasure of being with other people who had a need for their particular talent.
Later I learned that for many pilgrims this was the one special aspect of their Camino – the remarkable goodwill, generosity and voluntary interdependence among pilgrims. I frequently heard pilgrims talk about this wonderful phenomenon of the Camino. It could be something that a fellow-pilgrim had offered in the form of advice or spiritual guidance, clothing or toiletries, water or food. Often the biggest source of surprise was the fact that the generosity came from someone who ‘wasn’t even a Christian’. There seems to be an unspoken assumption that someone who
walks the pilgrimage has to have some degree of religious motivation, and the expectation is that, to show kindness, their religion must be Christian. Whenever this subject came up in conversation, I was astounded at people’s preconceived ideas about other religions, because almost every time an act of random kindness surprised a pilgrim, it came from a non-Christian. My only surprise was that those who offered assistance seldom realised that what they were really offering was not necessarily something tangible or material, but something of themselves. They were releasing a small piece of their own spirit into the universe, and the universe was the richer for it.
I have always believed that ‘what goes around, comes around’. My smile, my positive attitude, my helpfulness, my generosity of time and energy almost unfailingly generate a similar response from people around me – friends and strangers alike. The payback may not happen immediately, and perhaps it will come from someone completely different, but people’s actions and behaviour towards you are often a reflection of what you transmit. And yet many pilgrims seemed to find this to be the most amazing thing about their pilgrimage, because they’d obviously not come across this side of the human spirit very often before. How incredibly sad that people should be surprised at the random kindness of others; but how incredibly wonderful that they make this discovery on the Camino. For this seemed to be the way of the Camino – bringing the spirit of people together from all ends of the planet, all walks of life, all faiths and creeds, but with a single goal, to walk ‘the Way under the Stars’.
Whatever it was that acted as the glue binding us together, my little ‘Camino family’ was formed that night: Thorsten, a 24-year-old university student from Cologne; Akira, a 38-year-old gay musical theatre actor from Japan; and me, a 57-year-old Eurocentric African woman from France. And even on that first night we knew the bond between us was stronger than most people experience among their blood relatives. ‘You two are my Camino family,’ Akira said many times during the following three weeks. ‘You are my Camino mother and Thorsten is my Camino father.’ That Akira was years older than Thorsten, whom he called his ‘father’, and was possibly not quite young enough to my ‘son’ was neither here nor there. For once, age was not the issue, and for me this was wonderfully refreshing. The three of us – without having to say anything about it – felt that a close bond had been forged that night, and for all of us the bond was to prove very important over the next few weeks.
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A Chic parisian party cocktail: le cointreau teese
After taking Paris by storm in her showcase appearance at the Crazy Horse, burlesque diva Dita Von Teese was honored earlier this year by French beverage company Cointreau with the creation of le Cointreau Teese- a high glam mixture of apple, Cointreau and violet.
According to the wonderfully fabulous Parisian Party site, now, just in time to be added to your “Naughty or Nice” list, Cointreau has unveiled the Cointreaupolitan Box- designed by Mademoiselle Von Teese herself. This sexy little gift box is lined in the hottest pink, and houses a set of cocktail glasses, a shaker, and a bottle of Cointreau. Oh, and my favorite part- it plays “La Vie En Rose” when you open it!
In Paris, the Cointreapolitan Box will be available from December 8th, and in limited quantities sold exclusively through Lavinia at Madeleine.
Recipe: Le Cointreau Teese on the other hand, is available chez vous whenever you want it, using this simple recipe:
le cointreau teese
1 ½ ounces Cointreau
¾ ounce apple juice
½ ounce Monin Violet syrup
½ ounce fresh lemon juice
Slice of ginger.
Rub the edge of a chilled martini glass with the ginger slice, then discard the ginger. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well, and strain into the glass.Enjoy!
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Monday, October 26, 2009
Things to do in the next few weeks!
If you are not going to be in the beautiful Dordogne, or even in France over the next few months, it better be because you are participating any one of these amazing events worldwide that is there for your enjoyment!
If you leave right now, you can be in Mexico for the Day of the Dead.
On the 1st and 2nd of November, every year, Mexico has their famous commemoration of the dead - el día de los muertos - it is both a joyous and touching celebration. In Oaxaca, the people remember their ancestors by decorating the cemeteries, praying, singing, eating and drinking there through the night.
The festival's origins lie in pre-Hispanic Mexico, when a month was dedicated to commemorating the spirits of the dead. After Christianisation, it was moved from July/August to coincide with the Christian feast days of All Saints Day and All Souls Day in November.In Oaxaca, like most of Mexico, there are two days of the dead: the Día de los Angelitos on 1 November, dedicated to the souls of children who have died; and Día de Los Muertos on 2 November, dedicated to the spirits of the adult dead.
The preparations for the festival begin weeks in advance, shops filling with decorative paper skulls, morbid little lanterns, costumes, plastic skeletons and themed candy, like white chocolate skeletons. Often cemeteries are decorated and favourite food and drink of the deceased taken there, along with a photograph of them.
On the Día de los Angelitos, cherished toys and other objects are brought out and placed on altars in the home. The spirits of the little-ones are invited to come and partake of the feast, and often a place is set for them at the table.
The second day is the main day of the celebration, and is marked with street colourful events in the Xócalo main square, Palace Museum, restaurants in the Old Town and most of the theatres. Much of the day is spent in cemeteries, and there is a traditional communion meal in the evening. You'll also find public altars throughout the city, along with flower offerings, concerts and the wafts of chicken with chocolate and tomato mole sauce.
On your way to Mexico, why not stop off in Pushkar for the annual Camel Fair -- another unmissable annual event!
Pushkar Camel Fair : 25 Oct - 2 Nov 2009 (annual)
The peaceful lakeside town of Pushkar fills to bursting during this unmissable annual event. Originally intended to attract camel and cattle traders to do business during the Katrik Purnima festival, Pushkar Camel Fair has grown into a major tourist attraction.
(Pic: The one that got away!...)Indians flock with their camels to the small town on the edge of the Thar Desert a week in advance of the Pushkar Camel Fair, which officially lasts for a few days around the full moon. The highlight of the fair is undoubtedly the camel racing, which takes place amidst singing and dancing in the amphitheatre. In addition, camels, sporting ornamental saddles and head-dresses adorned with ribbons, are bought and sold. Although the fair is traditionally a sideline to the main Hindu festival, the carnival atmosphere makes the event accessible to all.As well as being able to ride on camels or in carts, it is also possible to arrange camel treks into the surrounding desert with, well, just about anyone that you meet in Pushkar. At festival time the streets are overrun with tourists, travellers, hawkers, painted and bizarrely contorted sadhus (holy men), children, animals and bicycles - all of Indian life concentrated in one mass, funnelled through the narrow streets of the town.
Once the Pushkar Camel Fair is over, life in Pushkar returns to normal. The town is peaceful and, without hordes of people, a very beautiful place to stay - countless hotels have rooftops on which to soak up the sun and enjoy the sight of locals flying kites high over the surrounding hills.
If you have never had the pleasure of visiting Cologne during their Carnival time, NOW is the time to go! :
Cologne Carnival : 11 Nov 2009
The Cologne Carnival is one of the biggest street parties in Europe. The famous Altstadt (old town) is transformed into a dazzling and colourful celebration, with what seems like the entire population of the city in fancy dress.
Prepare for lots of dancing and partying in the streets, pubs and bars and plenty of Kölsch, the delicious local beer. At 11.11am on 11 November, Germany's "fifth season", Karneval, begins and the whole country goes barking mad.
The craziness reaches its real climax the week before Ash Wednesday. At 11.11am on 11 February the main carnival week in Cologne is declared officially open with the Women's Carnival Day, when the women of Cologne are deemed in charge of the city. On Carnival Sunday (14 February) a parade of local school children takes place. Then on Monday 15 February it's the turn of the main event (known in Germany as Rosenmonntag), when a cavalcade of groups with fabulously decorated lorries, tractors and bands starts out on a six-kilometre route through the centre of Cologne. Keep an eye out for the lorries carrying huge effigies lampooning Germany's politicians.The day after (Shrove Tuesday), various parades take place in Cologne's suburbs, but if you're unaccustomed to partying Cologne-style you should probably just prepare for a hangover instead! It all draws to a more sedate close on Ash Wednesday when the tradition is to eat fish - pick any pub or restaurant on this day and you'll find it on the menu.
Cologne is said to be "the most Mediterranean" city in Germany. During the period of the Carnival, this hot temperament - usually hidden - comes to the surface. Get to know this facet of Germany, and celebrate with the locals during their biggest party of the year.
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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
4000 minks let loose in the Dordogne
Four days ago over 4000 minks were let loose from a breeding farm at Saint-Cybranet (Dordogne), in a "hostile act". I would like to rather call it an act of mercy or and act of kindness or an act of humanity, but unfortunately releasing these animals into the wild is not necessarily in their best interest: By the time about 3000 of them had been recaptured, there were already more than 200 that had died our in the wild where they had no resources of their own to survive.
to
this?
The local prefecture maintains that they would rather trap and kill the remaining minks than leave them in the wild "where they will only de-stabilise the local eco-system". Around fifty volunteers came to help set traps for the remaining animals.
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Monday, October 19, 2009
The Tour de France route is announced
The Tour de France watchers will be pleased to know that they are in for an exciting contest next year. Some of the mountain stages for the tour have been called "savage" by the experts, and mountains dominate the 2010 Tour de France with a total of seven mountain stages including two ascents of the iconic 2115m Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenées.
The number of climbs will suit this year’s winner, Spaniard Alberto Contador, especially as the final summit is the Col du Tourmalet three days before the race ends in Paris.
Starting from Rotterdam on July 3, the route heads across the wind-blasted dams on Holland’s North Sea coast to Brussels and then four sections of narrow cobbled roads towards Spa. The Tour misses out the whole of the north-west of France and over the next days heads to: Arenberg Porte du Hainaut, Reims, Montargis, Gueugnon, Station des Rousses, Morzine-Avoriaz, St-Jean-de-Maurienne, Gap, Bourg-lès-Valence, Mende, Revel, Ax-3 Domaines, Bagnères-de-Luchon, Pau, Col du Tourmalet, Bordeaux, Pauillac and finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 25.
It covers a total distance of 3,600km, with only one individual time-trial – of 59km.
Britain’s Mark Cavendish was at the launch and the winner of six 2009 stages said he thought it would be “hard, really hard, harder than this year. The mountain stages are savage.” But he added: “I counted five sprint stages I could win and maybe eight.”
Seven times winner Lance Armstrong was sitting alongside Cavendish at the launch and admitted he was disappointed at the lack of a team time trial: "I think it will be much more open than last year because the team time trial really eliminated some people last year and you won't have that again.
"Whereas this year you had three or four guys who could win the Tour, this year you'll go into the tough sections with 10 guys.
"I think the first week is potentially complicating for guys, with the wind and the mix of the Ardennes and also the cobblestones," Armstrong said. "It's a very untraditional start to a Tour. It's going to be a hard Tour."
Deadly rival Contador will have plenty chance to show his climbing skills – especially on the two ascents of the Col du Tourmalet. The double honour for the stage is to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tour's first visit to the Pyrenées and it will be a killer finishing point as the Tour nears its end.
The 19km climb is at an average gradient of 7.4% and the first to reach the summit in 1910, Octave Lapize, bawled at the organisers "Vous êtes des assassins! Oui, des assassins," “You are assassins. Yes, assassins.”
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Rail strike chaos from this evening -- 19 October
Connexion reports that rail passengers across the country will be hit by cancellations and crowded trains from this evening as the SNCF walks out on its first national strike in more than a year.
The industrial action, which is expected to run until the end of service on Tuesday, will affect travellers on TGV, Corail, regional TER services and the RER network in Paris. Eurostar and Thalys are not affected.
SNCF employees are walking out in protest at proposed reforms of the national rail operator’s freight operations, which they fear will lead to up to 6,000 job cuts. The strike is supported by three of the four main SNCF trade unions and is part of a series of industrial action taking place across several sectors this week.
Tuesday will see a strike at the Pôle Emploi (job centres) and France Télécom. Industrial and nuclear energy workers will go on strike on Thursday and hold a demonstration in Paris.
Here is the latest running information from the SNCF:
TGV
Normal service in the east and on Thalys and Eurostar. Half of trains will run on TGV Atlantique, Sud-Est and Province-Province. Two out of three trains will run in the north.
Corail and TER (regional express trains)
Expect one train in every two to be cancelled. There will be no sleeper train services on Monday night.
In Paris
Two out of three services will run on the Transilien network. RER lines A and E will operate a normal service, but the other lines will run at between 50% and 75%.
The www.infolignes.com website has the latest running details for TGV and Corail trains. For local TER services, see www.ter-sncf.com. If you live near a major mainline railway station, you can get see the latest departure and arrival boards, with details of delays, at www.gares-en-mouvement.com
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Missing your Heinz baked beans or your stilton or Bisto gravy granules?
From the website for expats in the Dordogne, French Entree, news about a shop that could be straight from the high street 'back home' :
Having travelled and shipped goods to destinations throughout the world when running his logistics and shipping business in the UK, it seemed a natural choice for Geoff Butterworth to call his new enterprise here in France ‘Le Petit Monde’. What a small and accessible place the world now is and what a wonderful selection of international foods and products it offers.In June, Geoff working in conjunction with his wife Jo, opened the doors of their new shop. Situated in the north of the Dordogne and on the edge of the Charente border they are located between the picturesque villages of Champagne et Fontaine. Equidistant between Angouleme and Perigueux, ‘Le Petit Monde’ makes an interesting stop off.
Le Petit Monde offers a little world of decorative house and garden gifts, greetings cards and international foods, including many of our English favourites. Amongst our food range we will be stocking several food brands including Heinz baked beans, Sarson’s malt vinegar, Bisto gravy granules, complemented by mature cheddar, stilton, back bacon and pork scratchings! ‘Our aim is to sell all the good old British favourites alongside other international and regional specialities’ says Geoff.
Their home and garden range includes a selection of quality enamel garden seating, kitchenware and accessories, lanterns for the garden, and a good selection of tasteful reasonably priced cards.Geoff & Jo moved to France permanently at the beginning of the year after finding their new home here last summer. Too active and too young to retire from enterprise, they both soon realised there were many items that they had previously spent their careers transporting which would be welcome here.
Le Petit Monde is open Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm and Saturday mornings 10am to 1pm. Geoff and Jo look forward to you popping in for a complimentary cup of coffee whilst you browse their shop.
Le Nept, Champagne et Fontaine, 24320.
Tel: 09 62 35 87 72
Email: sales@lepetitmonde.eu
Website: www.lepetitmonde.eu
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Sunday, October 18, 2009
How far will Ryanair go?
Ryanair scraps airport check-in - yet another step in their campaign to save money -- at the cost of their customers.
RYANAIR recently scrapped all of its airport check-in desks and made it compulsory for passengers to print their own boarding card online.
The company has gradually introduced the online-only policy since May at all of the 150 airports it serves – including 22 locations in France.
Travellers who are flying Ryanair from today must log into the website up to 21 days beforehand to print their boarding pass. Online check-in is available up to four hours before take-off.
The mandatory web check-in procedure is charged at €5 per person per flight, but will remain free of charge on promotional fares – the seats priced at €1, €5 or free.
Passengers who forget to print their boarding card will have to pay a €40 fine at the airport ticket office – called a “boarding card re-issue fee”.
A Ryanair spokesman said the fine was designed to remind passengers that printing their own boarding card is as important as remembering a passport.
“If somebody goes to the airport without a passport, they don’t travel. We want to remind people that they should never show up without a boarding pass again," he said.
“It’s a bit like in Ireland you pay €150 if you drop chewing gum. You’ll remember to never do it again.”
The new scheme, which Ryanair says has gone smoothly so far, allows travellers to go straight to security – or to the “bag drop” area if they have decided to travel with more than hand luggage.
Ryanair's Stephen McNamara said: “This will allow Ryanair to lower our airport and handling costs and pass these savings to all passengers in the form of even lower air fares.”
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Saturday, October 17, 2009
Le Jour du Patrimoine - Heritage Day in the Dordogne
Every year in the middle of September, France once again celebrated its heritage. The erstwhile Minister of Cultural Affairs, Jack Lang made several wonderful contributions to the cultural preservation of France -- and one of them was to declare the 'Journee du Patrimoine'. 
On this day every city, town, village an smallest of hamlets, celebrates the rich heritage of France -- by giving access to its beautiful and historically precious buildings, gardens and homes. The public is invited into private homes, chateaux, water mills, art collections, -- anything that forms part of the rich French culture, and on this one day, everyone can, free of charge, enjoy and appreciate their history and beauty.
This year, once again, Joris van Grinsven, opened his home, the 12th Century Chateau de Clerans, to the public and in his inimitable "If you are going to do something, don't do it unless you do it well"-kind-of-way with champagne and delicious nibbles on the lawns of the 'courtyard' of the ruined/restored castle. 
Joris is an interior architect from the Netherlands and is best known here in the Dordogne for his passion for this beautiful corner of France and for his bold and edgy interiors of Chateau les Merles. 
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Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event
French Travels and a new book about the Dordogne, its people and its food
Kimberley Lovato is a freelance writer and author based in Brussels, Belgium. Her articles have appeared in various print and online media in the US and Europe and her culinary travel book about the Dordogne region of France will be released by Running Press in April 2010. To read more of her musings about life as an expat or about her other edible adventures, log onto
Kimberley's site:
Kimberley's culinary travel book about the Dordogne will be available in April 2010 www.runningpress.com.
Read some of Kimberley's excellent articles on French Flavour
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Chateau Lalinde : The perfect venue for your event
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