francofiled

The Cercle français de Belfast's annual bal musette to celebrate La fête des rois started in sad and sombre mood. This was January 7, the day that the offices of #CharlieHebdo in Paris were attacked resulting in several deaths. Some at the réunion had not heard the news until their arrival, and we're anxious then to hear updates and share thoughts. What to say? What to do? The answers to both these questions came from France's own musical tradition of the chanson. A recent purchase and played several times over the previous days was an album recommended by a French friend - Paris by Zaz . Her songs are upbeat interpretations of some of France's best-loved standards. One composed in 1939 and performed then at a much slower pace by Maurice Chevalier spoke of Parisian resilience at another dark time in the life of the City of Light. It was Paris sera toujours Paris. One verse seemed entirely appropriate for the occasion and was shared with those present. It goes:   Par...

I was so interested in this photograph taken by my cousin, Greg McKernan on his recent trip to Paris. It is a montage of wood recovered from the Seine and attached to the quayside wall. It's a very creative idea. Wonder what "wood" the Lagan have in store?   Posted with Blogsy

FRANCE magazine has a brand new look, introduces new sections and columnists and still keeps those in-depth articles that make past issues such useful points of reference. I like it ! As a print and digital subscriber, I've been enjoying the new format for some days now and it's been hard to stay tight-lipped about the changes. The folks @Francemagazine on Twitter have been keeping the new look under wraps until today's official launch date and I wasn't keen to spoil the surprise. Now that it has hit the shelves, I thought it might be of interest to share what I notice and like about the changes. What strikes me most is the light, friendly, typeface supplemented in parts by a stylish, cursive font. There's an example of this on the front cover - a sense of adventure. All of the things that I liked about the previous format are still there but revamped and there is a lot of new stuff. This is immediately apparent from the double page contents spread. I much prefer...

The Cercle francais de Belfast has launched its new programme d'activites and we hope that there is plenty to interest you. The programme has been produced as a trifold booklet and we aim to circulate it widely. The membership push is on so do spread the word and we'll look forward to seeing you at as many events as possible.... And if you haven't yet seen what's in store why not head over now to www.cerclefrancaisdebelfast.org and check it out? A bientot !

It was a pleasant Friday evening at the start of a long weekend as we set off to Castlemarket Street in Dublin to dine at La Maison . Knowing that we appreciated French food and wine some friends had recommended the place to us and had talked expansively about their own choices. So with table easily booked online and with some advance checking of the menus we were full of expectation. The street was packed with scores of people - after-office party goers; young; young-at-heart and visitors like ourselves. We moved through a covered terrace and were shown to a ground floor table near the door. Our warm welcome was soon supplemented by a tray of breads and a pâté of pureed gherkins, onions and shallots - délicieux ! To get further into the mood we settled back with a pastis and took in the surroundings: the most obvious thing about the décor was the crispness of it all - sparkling glassware, white paint and linen, posters and black and white photographs. Friendly and professio...

The PARISIANER picture, as explained in a previous post , arrived as promised and was soon off to be framed. Here it is in its new home and a lovely talking point it is too. Nice to have been associated with this project. Do check out the previous links for more information.   Posted with Blogsy

The beautiful Alpine town of Annecy, near the border of France and Switzerland has been in the news recently as a result of poor air quality. Apparently the cold air from the mountains keeps pollutants closer to ground level and causes a build-up of nasty micro-particles.  This is paradoxical in a way because the famous lake at Annecy is one of the cleanest in the world. Low-cost flights to Geneva make it easy to get to Annecy and that's what we did a few year's ago. We're thinking of going back because it was one of the most relaxing (and we think healthiest) holidays we ever had. Here is how Le Dauphine newspaper treated the story . It uses the term coup de grisou which admittedly I had to look up. It means "firedamp", a miner's name for a methane explosion that occurs when the gas comes into contact with air.  Sounds about right. That got me to thinking though ... what's being done about it? The town is certainly taking it seriously and ac...