La France VIP

Les Français, comme ailleurs, critiquent les infos people tout en adorant les lire. Le moins que l’on puisse dire c’est qu’ils ont été servis ces derniers jours ! Entre la nouvelle idylle de notre cher Président et la visite très « tapis rouge » du Colonel Kadhafi, c’est une France assez pathétique qui s’offre au regard de nos concitoyens européens.

Kadhafi n’est pas vraiment « people » mais en tout cas c'est un statut de VIP qu'on lui a offert lors de sa venue en France. 5 jours de visite officielle sous les ors de la République : franchement notre Marianne se serait bien passée d’un hôte aussi peu recommandable (lequel ajoute une casquette de violeur à celle de tyran que l’on connaissait déjà). Que dans le cadre des relations internationales, la France soit contrainte à maintenir des relations avec tous les Etats, aussi peu démocratiques soient-ils, me paraît tout à fait logique… Mais était-il nécessaire, et moral, d’en faire autant pour le dirigeant Lybien ??? Certains me diront que la moralité n’a pas sa place en relations internationales, peut-être, mais l’accueillir pendant 5 jours, lui concocter un programme de visites culturelles, l’accueillir comme un chef de l’Etat « normal » (on ne sait d’ailleurs même pas si Sarkozy a osé lui parler des droits de l’homme en Lybie… C’est vrai que parler d’Airbus et de centrales nucléaires, c’est nettement plus passionnant…), c’est vraiment se moquer du monde. Après on nous dit qu’il a libéré les otages bulgares sans contrepartie de la France… Mais oui bien sûr… En tout cas une chose est sûre, avec un tel accueil, il reviendra le Kadhafi (la prochaine fois on pourrait lui offrir une semaine au Fort de Brégançon…), surtout que visiblement il n’a pas un emploi du temps très chargé pour rester 5 jours à Paris (quand les autres chefs d’Etat n'y passent guère plus de 2 jours).

Alors, histoire de nous faire oublier cette visite peu opportune, à nous, pauvres Français, le Président Sarkozy (j’essaie d’utiliser au minimum l’expression « notre président », car non seulement je n’ai pas voté pour lui, mais en plus, en soutenant ouvertement certains candidats UMP pour les municipales, il se comporte toujours en chef de parti alors qu’il est censé représenter tous les Français désormais, et pas seulement les 54% qui ont voté pour lui !) n’a rien trouvé de mieux que d’organiser une séance photos, bien opportune celle-là, à Disneyland en compagnie de sa nouvelle conquête Carla Bruni. Quel beau tableau de famille, si c’est pas mignon… Je sens qu’on n’est pas au bout de nos surprises lors de ces 5 ans de mandat ! S’il s’imagine que cela va suffire pour faire oublier Kadhafi, le coup de téléphone à Poutine, le logement conventionné du directeur de cabinet de Christine Boutin et à nous faire avaler la pilule de la franchise médicale, la manœuvre est grossière et c’est vraiment nous prendre des idiots !

Ah misère, la France va mal, très mal…

YES!!!!

I am very happy! Normally, I will go next week with Olivier to Fribourg, a German city near the French border which is famous for being THE place where ecoconstruction and sustainable urban planning was born. I'm so excited!

We will also go to the European Parliament in Strasbourg (this trip is organized by Gérard ONESTA, Vice-President of the European Parliament - Green Party).

Only 2 days, but they will be intensive and interesting for sure! :-)

About movies...

Lions for lambs
This movie by Robert Redford (as handsome as ever ;-) deals with the American war against terrorism, and more generally with the notion of (political, journalistic, military, philosophical...) commitment. I really liked it! Despite little real action during the movie, you won't see time passing and it's a movie that will make you think about the sense of our lives...

My blueberry nights
I really wanted to see the second movie of Wong Kar Wai, first because I loved the first one ("in the mood for love"), then because Norah Jones was part of the casting. But I must say I've been a bit disappointed... Norah Jones reveals to be a good actress, Judd Law is VERY sexy, the music is great, but the scenario isn't that good and I didn't manage to enter the story. The movie is a bit too long and probably the fact that it takes place in the US doesn't help (in the first movie, the asiatic atmosphere has a big impact on the general impression of the story). So, I'm not sure I would recommend it to you...

My wish list for Christmas :-)

As many of you may not understand French, here comes the English version of my letter to Father Christmas ;-)

Dear Santa Claus,

I have already so many things and I don't really need anything (except a great year 2008 with a good and well-paid job, another home I would share with my boyfriend, health for me and my family)... but in case you decide to come to my house and bring me some gifts ;-), I can suggest you some ideas :

• A black scarf
• Something related to scrapbooking
• Books : I have already too many, but I would be interested by Harry Potter (either in French or in English)

Please, no CDs, no cosmetics (I have too many already :-D), no decoration articles (I love that but I already have a lot and I prefer to wait for when Olivier and I will have our sweet home :-)

And to satisfy you curiosity, I also have wishes for big and expensive gifts, even if I know I won't probably get all of them this year ;-)

• a black winter coat
• a bike

Calculer votre impact sur le climat / Calculate your impact on the climate

Je vous invite à réaliser ce test très simple de l'ADEME pour calculer notre impact en terme de gaz à effet de serre sur une journée :

http://www.ademe.fr/climact/

I invite you to do this little test in order to have an overview about your carbon footprint :

http://green.yahoo.com/calculator/

Christmas wishlist / ma liste pour le Père Noël

Bon, je sais que c'est encore un peu tôt pour faire ma liste pour le Papa Noël mais comme ça ce sera fait ;-)
Le souci c'est qu'en y réfléchissant bien, je n'ai pas besoin de grand'chose, ou alors de choses assez chères...

Pour le moment, parmi les choses dont j'ai envie, je peux suggérer :

un foulard noir

quelque chose en lien avec le scrapbooking ou les loisirs créatifs (kits pour fabriquer des bijoux, pochoirs...)

livres : j'en ai déja trop, mais éventuellement les premiers tomes de la série d'Harry Potter (pour retrouver une âme d'enfant :-D)

Et juste pour satisfaire votre curiosité, voilà les choses chères dont j'ai envie :

• un manteau d'hiver noir
• un vélo

S'IL TE PLAÎT PAPA NOËL!!! :-D

Anniversary

Week-end in Annecy

Last week-end, I spent a very nice week-end in the French Alps, in Annecy (the city where Olivier comes from). We were invited at the wedding of one of his cousins. The wedding was really nice and the food was so good! It was also the opportunity for me to know one side ofOlivier's family (so many new people to know in one day :-D).

Vue du Lac d'Annecy (Col de la Forclaz)

On Sunday, we went with his parents, his brother and some friends for a walk in the moutains. Not very easy for the beginner that I am I must say, but I will improve (I must get some training ;-).

Olivier with his mother (and his brother behind on the right side)

Then on Monday, before our flight back, we walked in the streets of Annecy : a very beautiful city with its lake, its canals and bridges, and its narrow streets... Must be a pleasant place to live ;-)

Inuit wisdom

In this Blog Action Day, I would like to illustrate the current environmental situation with an Inuit proverb and a picture taken from a WWF campaign.

Dans le cadre du Blog Action Day dédié à l'environnement, je voudrais citer un proverbe Inuit très pertinent et vous montrer une campagne de pub du WWF.

When the last tree is cut,

When the last river is polluted,

When the last
fish is taken from the sea,

Then men will understand that money cannot be
eaten.

Quand le dernier arbre sera coupé,

Quand la dernière rivière sera polluée,

Quand le dernier poisson sera pêché,

Alors on comprendra que l'argent ne se
mange pas.

Our little family...

Le week-end a été ensoleillé et assez tranquilou (rhûmes obligent). Avec mes 2 hommes, nous avons visité le château de Malvirade (et acheté plein de bonnes choses) et fait une balade en forêt.

This week-end has been sunny and quite quiet (we all had a cold). With my 2 men we visited the Castle of Malvirade (and bought many good things : wine from Pomerol, jam...) and had a walk in the forest.

This week-end was also our second week-end with our new "guest" ;-)
Rocky (that's its name) belongs to our new neighbours, an Irish family, and stays at our place (it is our ecological mower :-D)

Et voici le nouveau membre de notre petite "famille" : Rocky, le cheval de nos nouveaux voisins irlandais qu'on a installé sur notre terrain. Une vraie tondeuse écologique...

La météo en 2050 (et au-delà) grâce au simulateur climatique

Je viens de trouver un site super intéressant qui permet de visualiser l'évolution des températures en France à partir de 2050. Ce sont des simulations basées sur les études du GIEC (groupe d'experts intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du climat).

C'est instructif et aussi un peu flippant...

http://climat.science-et-vie.com/carte/carte.php

Journées du patrimoine

Après une semaine de boulot intensive (comme d'hab'!), olivier et moi avons bien profité des journées du patrimoine. On a assez vite abandonné l'idée d'un programme pré-établi au vu du site internet du Ministère qui était horriblement mal fait. Du coup, on s'est baladé dans la campagne lot-et-garonnaise et on a visité des églises superbes, datant du Moyen-âge, un château privé dont le parc était ouvert exceptionnellement au public, le village de Puymirol...


Eglise de Foulayronnes


Château de Buzet-sur-Baïse


Puymirol

Le dimanche, on a retrouvé mon amie Elsa et son amoureux Yama à Moissac dans le Tarc-et-Garonne. L'abbatiale (de style roman) de cette petite ville est classée à l'UNESCO et vaut vraiment le détour : elle est splendide! Elle date du XI et XII siècle pour sa partie la plus ancienne et c'est vraiment l'une des plus belles églises que j'ai vues jusqu'à présent.



Le lendemain, lundi, Olivier et mes amis m'ont fait la surprise de venir me chercher au boulot pour un pique-nique. Super sympa! Ah ils sont chouettes mes amis quand même :-)

Discover Finnish forests...

I've just had a look at an interesting webpage made by a Finnish timber company :
http://w3.upm-kymmene.com/upm/forestlife/index.html?OpenDocument/#lang=0

There you can walk in a typical Finnish forest, listen to the sounds of birds and animals, watch them, learn many things about forest ecosystems. Really interesting and you feel like being in Finland ;-)

Concerts in Agen

This week-end in Agen has been very nice : much sleep and 2 concerts (Yannick Noah on friday evening and Touré Kunda on saturday). But now I have a sore throat and I still feel sleepy...

As some of you may not know those 2 artists (The French know at least the first one), here comes 2 links to discover them :
- Yannick Noah
- Touré Kunda (world music)

And I add also another link, to make you discover the famous delicacy of Agen : "le pruneau d'Agen" ;-)

A noter dans vos agendas...

Je viens de découvrir le site internet officiel d'un film qui sortira le 10 octobre :
http://www.unjoursurterre-lefilm.com/

Notez bien la date de sortie de ce film car à mon avis il vaudra vraiment la peine de payer une place de cinéma pour voir d'aussi belles images sur grand écran!

Greens Summer University in Quimper (23-26th August 2007)

Here comes a few pictures from where I was last week (I went there with Olivier and Léo from Wednesday till Sunday). I was there for my job (it was the summer university of the Green Party) but we also took a little time to walk around this beautiful city of Britanny...

Voici quelques photos de Quimper où j'étais la semaine dernière pour les Journées d'été des Verts...

Aqui vienen algunas fotos de la ciudad bretona Quimper donde estuve la semana pasada para asistir a la universidad de verano del partido de los Verdes...

http://jde.lesverts.fr/index.php?Bienvenue

My friend Claire in Bordeaux for a week-end (18-20 August 2007)

Very nice week-end! Unfortunately with only one sunny day (this is definitely a very bad summer) which we enjoyed in the Bassin d’Arcachon on the beach of the Pyla Dune.
On Sunday Claire walked around in the centre of Bordeaux (to check the changes: we studied together in Bordeaux 5 years ago). And on Monday, as I had to work, she went with Olivier and Léo to Toulouse, to the “Cité de l’Espace” (a museum and thematic park about space and aeronautics).






I hope she spent a nice week-end despite the weather, Léo’s whims and me being tired… At least I think she got along quite well with my sweet Olivier, which is good :-D (eh eh eh, friends’ opinions are important ;-)

Lot-et-Garonne, my current second home (with Bordeaux)

After my summer holidays, I went back to Agen to work with my parents so that we could spend a little time together and they could see where I live. They stayed one week, partly in Olivier’s house, partly in my flat in Bordeaux. Unfortunately the weather was quite bad, so we visited only the village of Clermont-Dessous (with its nice Templar church), the city of Nérac (where the French King Henri IV and his wife “la Reine Margot” used to live) and the Sauternes vineyards in the south of Bordeaux.
Here come some pictures so that you can have an idea of what Lot-et-Garonne looks like (I also put an extra photo from the Bonaguil castle which I visited a few months ago):

Holidays in Finland - Helsinki (3rd - 6th August)

After 10 days spent in the middle of nowhere (we were in an island in the Saimaa region), and before going back to France, we stopped 3 days in Helsinki (of course!). Almost nothing has changed since 2005 (but it’s quite strange to see so many tourists! It seems to be very fashionable to go to Finland now…). Esplanadi, Porthania, Café Engel, the railway station: everything is just the same (well, some shops have changed of course).

With Olivier, we decided to have a light sightseeing program and to visit the places we both didn’t know: Korkeasaari (the zoo), Kiasma (the modern art museum), the open-air museum of Seurasaari, and even Suomenlinna (I realized I knew only a part of it!). It was funny to discover Helsinki with renewed eyes!



During those 3 days, we also met Juan (who generously welcomed us in his flat) and his girlfriend Pirjo, and also Minna, my dear Finnish friend (Olivier was glad to meet a friend of mine who is vegetarian: be careful, they’re everywhere! ;-)
Unfortunately I couldn’t meet Fernando (he probably didn’t receive my message).



And finally, Vantaa airport again (I think I know this place by heart :-D) and flight back to France with a group of French tourists coming back from India (I found it suspect that so many French people would have chosen Finland for their summer destination ;-).

Now, back to Bordeaux for at least 4 months of intensive work :-(

Summer Holidays in Finland - the Lakes Region (23rd July – 2nd August)

Quite a well known destination for my summer holidays this year. But in a part I didn’t know (the Lakes Region) and in a season I had never experimented there.

Those 2 weeks were just GREAT!!! I was with my boyfriend Olivier, his son Léo, and part of his family (his parents, his brother with his wife and daughter). We stayed 10 days in their cottage near Savonlinna (a cute place with several red wooden buildings like the ones I’ve always dreamt of ;-).
The weather was quite nice almost all the time, so that we could go walking and picking berries and mushrooms, do canoe and sightseeing… Our program was more or less an alternance of excursions to some place and relaxing time in the cottage. And of course, each day ending with a good sauna and a bath in the lake J Just the holidays I needed!

We visited Savonlinna and its castle. Unfortunately we were there a week too late for the famous Opera festival (anyway, the tickets are quite expensive…). We went for a one-hour-cruise on the Saimaa Lake: all this water, it’s very impressive!
We also went for a day trip in the Eastern part of Finland, near the Russian border, to visit the Lapperantää fortress and to see the Imatra falls.

Our last excursion was dedicated to Punkaharju (a road in the middle of the water with lakes on both sides) and its museums: Lusto (forestry museum) and Retretti (the most famous art gallery in Finland).

As you can guess, this trip had a little nostalgic taste: I could eat Finish food again (pirakka, salmiakki, reindeer…) and I could remember some Finish words (after a few days, I felt almost like at home :-D).
We were very lucky because Olivier’s parents have Finnish friends there who invited us for dinner, first in a farm, then in a summer cottage: it was so nice and they were pretty happy to meet a French girl who had lived in Finland and who was fond of their country ;-)

Now that I’m back, what I miss the most is of course the sauna time before having dinner…

Ahhh, holidays…

Week-end in the Basque country

Now, the English version ;-)

Last week-end, as there was a free day on Tuesday (to celebrate the end of the 2nd World War), we finally decided to go to Spain to enjoy one of my last quiet moments (I will begin a new job on May 21st while going on my current job...).

We went first to Bilbao. It's been such a long time since I've wanted to visit the Guggenheim Museum! And I must say I've not been deceived at all, all the contrary. The Museum is very beautiful (its arquitecture is a real success) and it has a very interesting collection (usually I'm not fond of Modern and contemporary art, but it is very well designed and explained so that you learn many things and don't see time passing while inside). Actually, the entire city of Bilbao is worth a visit : the buildings are charming, and all the city has experimented a urban renovation that I liked a lot (parks, modern bridges, ways along the river...).

Then, we drived along the coast of Biskaia (one of the 3 regions of the Spanish Basque country). We visited many nice villages (among them the famous "Guernica") and we stopped in a camping where we could get up with the Oceand and the Coast in front of us :-)

Finally we spent 2 hours in San Sebastian before coming back to Bordeaux (and to work :-(

As you can imagine, it was great to speak Spanish and taste Spanish atmosphere again (despite the fact that the Basque Country is not completely representative of Spain) :-)

Agur!

fin de semana en Vizcaya

Decidimos al ultimo momento aprovechar ese puente del 8 de mayo para ir a visitar el museo Guggenheim de Bilbao y pasar unos dias en el Pais vasco español.

Reservamos un hotel por internet, casi sin mirarlo mucho, y buena sorpresa : nos toco un hotel de lujo (mucho mejor que cualquier otro hotel del mismo precio en Francia!).

Visitamos el museo (con una exposicion muy interesante y una arquitectura impresionante) y la ciudad de Bilbao (preciosa : un verdadero éxito en tema de renovacion urbana).

Luego fuimos a San Sebastian en coche por la costa vizcayana : vimos unos puertos y unos pueblos muy bonitos.

Paramos en Guernica para visitar todo aquello, y de camino a San Sebastian paramos a dormir en un camping (ya no nos quedabamos dinero para una noche mas en un hotel jejeje) con una vista increible del mar cantabrico desde la tienda!

Acabamos con una visita rapida de San Sebastian, pero como teniamos que regresar ya (yo tenia que trabajar temprano al dia siguiente), no pudimos ver muchas cosas... asi que habra que volver ;-)

Por supuesto estaba encantada de hablar español de nuevo, de mostrar a Olivier la vida española que quiero yo tanto y de comer queso, jamon, aros de cebolla, tortilla, chocolate a la taza... :-)

Biganos

Summer weather in France for a few weeks : it is the warmest month of April since 1920's! Climate change is coming...

As the city of Bordeaux is quite unbearable with such temperatures, we went again to the Bassin d'Arcachon, but in another part, Biganos, where there are very nice small harbours in protected areas. This is one of the most important region as for migratory birds.

Easter in the region of Bordeaux

Spring seems to come finally : it's been very sunny and almost warm for a few days.
First sunbathing in a public garden in Bordeaux on Friday afternoon.

And a very nice week-end with 2 excursions :

On Saturday Olivier and I went to the "Bassin d'Arcachon" (about 70 kms from Bordeaux), to Cap Ferret to be precise. It is a peninsula with a gulf on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side, with a great view of the Pyla Dune (the highest sand dune in Europe). A great place really! (by the way many famous French people - singers, actors, football players - have a house there). Unfortunately I couldn't take any picture as my camera had no battery left :-( But to give you an idea, here come a map of the place and a picture taken on internet...



On Sunday, we visited a castle near Bordeaux : the "Château de la Brède". It was owned by Montesquieu, a famous French writer who was also the father of the separation of political power (executive, legislative and judiciary) - for those who have studied constitutional law ;-). A very interesting guided visit and a nice walk in the park.