Bonjour and Happy Halloween or rather Joyeux Halloween!
Halloween is a growing event in France and this year, more than ever, the shops have been full of hollowed out Halloween pumpkins and children have been dressing up and taking to the streets for trick or treating. In my nearest village where there is a boulangerie, I saw half a dozen kids filing in for their croissant treats for breakfast this morning – I thought about tagging on the end but had left my witch’s hat at home!
The weather in my part of northern France has been great this week, lots of sunshine and blue skies but there is a definitely coldness in the air at night, winter is on its way. Earlier this year my neighbour predicted much snow for France since the resident departmental stork left at the end of September, allegedly a bad sign. My neighbour is as often wrong as right about with his weather predictions – though a little better than the professionals I’d say. All of his forecasts are made by watching animal activity, ants, snails and frogs are his best indicators he says – very Halloween!
Where ever you are I wish you a very bon weekend and happy 1st November, which is a national holiday in France (La Toussaint).
Best wishes,
Janine
Editor
This week’s top features:
Unique floating village in France: A perfect get away from it all experience on a lake in beautiful Poitou-Charentes where the staff deliver your lunch by boat…
Going Potty for Pottery in Limoges: We check out a top manufacturer in Limoges and find that porcelain is sexy, sophisticated and chic…
The Pink Wine of French Kings: In the days when the Chateau de Versailles was a grand dream and labourers toiled to bring it to glory, a King wondered why some of them were always happy and discovered a unique pink wine…
Clairvaux Abbey, the thin line between Heaven and Hell: 1000 year old abbey, a major tourist attraction with France’s No. 1 Maximum Security prison in the grounds… makes for a fascinating and rather unusual visit…
Halloween in France: This year France seems to have gone Halloween crazy… I ponder on one reason why that might be!
Marqueyssac Gardens: The Dordogne’s Green Whimsy, Bob Lyons falls in love with the horticultural fairy tale hanging gardens in the Dordogne…
Oradour-sur-Glane: The village of the Martyrs, a very moving memorial to an entire village of people massacred during World War II…
