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.

Holidays in the South of France

Here are some pictures of our week in the region of Montpellier.

On the way :

Montpellier :

Dinner organised by the Association "la Voix des adoptés (the Voice of adopted children) :

Gorges de l'Hérault :

St Guilhem-le-Désert (UNESCO site) :

When the web is inspired by politics... :-D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1OqdDdEIzY&mode=related&search

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWhsses5KKU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHs0U-gdbdw

News from France

Today a new law is implemented in France : it is now forbidden to smoke inside of administrative buildings, companies and high schools. We'll still have to wait one year before seeing this new law implemented also in bars, restaurants and night clubs. But this will be such a pleasure for the non-smoker that I am! Now I hope that Spain will soon adopt such a law too, because it is absolutely awful to have to bear the smoke of the others when going out (and we all know that in Spain, going out is a national sport ;-).

Another news from France : tonight, an ecologist organization has asked French people to switch off the lights and all that works with electricity during 5 minutes... It will be interesting to figure out how much energy we would save during only 5 minutes if we were less "plug in- addicted" :-D

My 26th birthday :-)

Thank you so much for your messages, calls and gifts! Yeah, I definitely have great friends ;-)

A special thanks to my sweet Olivier who sent me beautiful roses for my birthday. Romantic, isn't it? :-)

Week-end in Paris

I'm now back in Bordeaux (since Sunday evening actually) after 4 days in Paris. I went there for work (well... at least on Thursday and Friday ;-) in order to take part to a meeting between Green politicians from the main French cities. It was quite interesting to learn about the initiatives in other cities in areas such as energy, local democracy, urbanism...

But this long "week-end" in the French capital was also an opportunity to see my Parisian friends. And, despite the fact I was quite ill during almost all the week-end, I managed to see almost all of them : Marie, Lionel, Vincent, Claire, Sandrine (whom I had not seen since the Erasmus year!), Dominique and Etienne, Matthieu and Alice.

Unfortunately it was too cold and I was too tired and sick to enjoy the beauties of Paris, so finally I only visited cafés and Asian restaurants (the only place where they propose rice ;-).
But I made a cultural pause with the visit of the marvellous new "Museum Branly" (http://www.quaibranly.fr/index.php?id=1&L=1) which I recommend you : the building itself (by the French architect Jean Nouvel) is really worth a visit and it presents a great collection of art and multimedia about peoples and civilizations from Asia, Africa, America and the Pacific area (this museum has been qualified as the "Museum of primary arts" - Musée des Arts Premiers). And it is just a few hundred metres from the Eiffel Tower, so no reason for missing it when you come to Paris ;-)

2 Spanish in Bordeaux

My dear friends from Madrid, Laura and Enrico, came last week-end and stayed here about 4 days so that they could discover a bit Bordeaux and its region. Unfortunately the weather was not really good (but it's quite normal at this moment of the year) : very cold, sometimes rainy and windy ;-)

We went to the Atlantic Coast to visit Arcachon and the Dune of Pyla (the highest dune in Europe), where we really had a lot of fun :-D, and we also visited the nice village of Saint Emilion (very famous for its wine).











I hope they enjoyed their stay here. Personally, I was so happy to see them again after so much time, and to make them discover the region I live in now...
Next time, we'll probably meet in Spain ;-)

Women and politics

The future President of France may be a woman...

It's the first time that one of the 2 main political parties has chosen a woman as its candidate for the presidential elections. Ségolène Royal represents a great hope here against the right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy (he has not be designated yet as the official candidate but nobody doubts about it) and she seems quite open as for ecological matters. Even if she's not really new in politics (she belonged to the "team" of the former President Mitterrand), she can help showing the path for women who have political ambitions...

This morning I read an article about the world classification of countries as for gender equality. Sweden, Norway and Finland are without surprise at the first 3 places of this classification. But the great suprise is that the Philippines are at the 6th rank when France is classified at the 70th rank!!! France is among the 4 less-advanced European countries in this matter (together with Italy, Malta and Greece)! SHAME ON US! So, as you can see, there's a lot of work to do before seeing more women in politics in the country of "liberté, égalité, fraternité"...

Week-end in Sète

Here come a few pictures from last week-end which I spent with Olivier in Sète (in the South of France, on the Mediterranean Sea). The weather was very nice (although a bit cold) and I met very nice people (Claudia and Olivier, Marilyn and Adriano from Nice, Céline and Kevin from Paris, Guilherme...), all members of a really interesting association that deals with adopted people : htttp://lavoixdesadoptes.blog4ever.com/blog/index-2995.html (the webpage is in French)


Aqui vienen algunas fotos del ultima fin de semana que pasé con Olivier en Sète (una ciudad del Sur de Francia en el mar mediterraneo). Hizo un tiempo estupendo (aunque un poco frio) y conoci a gente muy maja : los amigos de Olivier, Claudia y Olive (muchisimas gracias por todo!), y los miembros de una asociacion muy interesante que trata de ayudar y reunir a las personas adoptadas que lo quieren (http://lavoixdesadoptes.blog4ever.com/blog/index-2995.html, la pagina web es en francés...).

Voilà quelques photos du week-end dernier où je suis allée à Sète avec Olivier voir des amis à lui (Claudia et Olive). Il a fait un temps magnifique tout le week-end et j'ai vraiment passé de supers moments avec Clo, Olive, Céline et Kévin de Paris, Marilyn et Adriano de Nice, Guilherme...J'ai ainsi pu découvrir une association jusque là inconnue pour moi, "la voix des adoptés", qui a pour but d'aider et de réunir des enfants et personnes adoptés (ainsi que leurs parents et leurs amis). Je mets ici le lien pour que vous alliez y jeter un coup d'oeil : http://lavoixdesadoptes.blog4ever.com/blog/index-2995.html

The importance of voting...

After almost 3 crazy weeks I'm back in my job and in this blog...

All the work our "team" has produced in the past weeks has paid : we've made a better result than in 2001 with 10,30% of the votes (we're still the third political force in Bordeaux) and we've kept the same number of representants.
Unfortunately it has not been a victory for democracy as Alain Juppé has recovered his seat of mayor after having provoked unjustified elections (which cost 600.000 euros, paid by the French people) and being condemned for corruption (he only had one year of ineligibility!).
His party considers this election as a victory... but with only 45% of people who have actually voted, has he really any reason to be proud of???

I must say I'm more and more convinced that we should implement in France a law that makes voting compulsory, just like in Belgium... Because where is the legitimacy of politicians who have been elected by only half of the votants???

Work, work and work again...

Not even one month since my holidays in Vendée and Barcelona... and I'm already dreaming of days off! Pfff, so much work in the last days, and it will probably go on like this till mid-october :-(
At least I hope all this work will be useful and that I'll still have my job in November (it will depend on the results of the elections...).
Positive points : I meet many interesting people (for example last Tuesday I talked with an architect specialised in eco-construction and who has been to Finland... we talked about Alvar Aalto OF COURSE ;-) and I'll be paid on a full-time basis.
And this is quite a nice experience to live an electoral campaign from the inside :-D

Back in town...

Holidays can't last forever and I'm back to work after 3 weeks spent out of Bordeaux.
My holidays have been quite quiet this year as I spent most of the time in my parents' house. There I could spend time with my friend Perrine who is pregnant (by the way it shouldn't be long now before the baby discovers the world :-D) and help my father a bit with the painting in the living-room and the preparation of plum jam (enthusiastic activities, arent' they? :-D).

After a long suspense I finally decided to go and spend a week in Barcelona, where a friend of mine (Gonzalo) lives. My flight left from Paris, so it was a good opportunity to stop 2 days there and see some of my friends.
With Cécile and Claire, we went to the castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte (http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/) : very nice, especially its gardens designed by Lenôtre, but a bit expensive...

After this brief stop in Paris, I went to Barcelona where I stayed 5 days. I had never been to the capital of Catalunya and I've been thinking of discovering it for a long time. On the first day I must say that I was quite disappointed, probably because I was comparing it with Madrid... And it has nothing to do with Madrid : much more modern, international and trendy than the Spanish capital! That's what makes most of its charm, but that's also what makes me prefer the authenticity and "Spanish atmosphere" of Madrid ;-)
But as days were passing, I really liked this city. The nearness of the sea makes it really pleasant (it must be great to live and work in a city where you can also find beaches!) and Barcelona has amazing parks. For instance the Guëll Park is really worth a visit : located on a hill, with its palm trees and Gaudi monuments and banks, it is just beautiful!
I'm not very fond of Modern and Contemporary Art, so I prefered not to go to museums and exhibitions ( for those who like it, Barcelona is definitely THE place for that). However I enjoyed a lot the architecture by or inspired by Gaudi, especially his great project 'la Sagrada Familia". It is so original and modern... really impressive...
This trip to Barcelona also aimed to see my friends Nayra and Gonzalo (it was so nice to see them again), and to renew with the Spanish way of life (mucha fiesta :-D) and the Spanish food (mmmm, los pimientos rellenos :-D).

Now, what's up in the city of wine??? Hum, much work I guess : since Monday, Bordeaux has entered in an electoral period so... no time to rest in the coming month!

On holidays! :-)

Last day of work before being on holidays tonight... cool :-) I really need to relax in order to be back with a lot of energy (Autumn will probably be a busy season for me, and also maybe a season of changes...).
My plans for those 3 weeks are not fixed yet... let's see how it goes and where I'll finally go...

See you in 3 weeks ;-)

Volver

Ayer fui a ver la ultima pelicula de Pedro Almodovar, "Volver", con Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura y Lola Dueñas... y me encanto!!! Creo que es la peli de Almodovar que mas me ha gustado hasta ahora. No todas sus peliculas me entusiasman pero ésta es realmente muyyy bonita.
Aparte del sentido del humor que tiene "Volver", lo mejor radica sin duda en los personajes y en las actrices. Hacen unos papelones increibles! Lola Dueñas confirma ser una de mis actrices españolas preferidas (desde "Mar Adentro", peli en la que llegué a conocerla), y Penelope Cruz es mas guapa que nunca (desde mi punto de vista esa mujer representa la feminidad absoluta)
En Cannes se hablo mucho de "Volver" diciendo que era un homenaje de Almodovar a las mujeres... Efectivamente ese hombre tiene mucho cariño para con las mujeres... Y a mi, pues, me gusta :-)))

Yesterday I went to the cinema to see the new movie by Almodovar, "Volver", with Penelope Cruz, Carmen Maura and Lola Dueñas... and I loved it!!! I think it's one of my favourite movies by Almodovar. I'm not fond of all of his movies, but this one is really worth it.
It has much sense of humour, but the best in this movie lies in the characters and the actresses. They are amazing! Lola Dueñas, which I discovered in Amenabar's movie "Mar adentro", is really one of my favourite Spanish actresses, and Penelope Cruz is more beautiful than ever (to my opinion, this woman represents the absolute feminity).
In Cannes it was said that "Volver" was a tribute from Almodovar to women... It's obvious that this man cherishes women... And well, that's very pleasant :-)))

What is all this for? :-(

First post about politics...

As you all know, the crisis in the Middle East is getting more and more worrying. Yesterday, new aerial attacks killed 56 people including 34 children :-(
Does the Israeli governement really think it will stop the Hezbollah's influence in South Lebanon by killing some innocent civils??? All this is just unjustifiable and pointless : violence will never but creating more violence again.
This situation shows once more that the UN is powerless without the support of the US and that the US are still promoting their ideas of "preventive wars", "right to self-defense" and "fight against terrorism", even if it leads to threaten the peace in the region.
Of course, Israel, like any country, has the right to defend itself. But is all this proportionnal to the attack they suffered 2 or 3 weeks ago??? Is all this an adequate answer to the reality of Hezbollah in South Lebanon???
Israel pretends that it's conducting a legitimate action against a terrorist group : what an hypocrite attitude from a country which has not respected UN resolutions in Palestine, goes on colonizing Palestinian territories and builds a shameful wall all over the country...
I'm not defending the Hezbollah actions at all, but I just think that this is definitely not the right way to end up with terrorism at the Lebanese border.

When I was about 12 years old, my class used to write letters to a class from Beyrouth... Although we haven't kept contact with them, I can imagine how difficult it must be for them to see all this violence again : they were brought up in a country made of ruins because of an endless civil war, and now that Lebanon has finally managed to rebuild its cities and its economy, they hear bombs everyday :-(

War is and will always be the worst solution...

Feeling like a tourist for a week-end...

On the week-end of July 14th (French National Day as everybody may know :-D), I had my first "summer guests" in Bordeaux. Cécile and Emilie came from Paris to spend here 3 days, enjoy the beach and refresh their memories of our student years (we met here in the same university).

On Friday, we stayed a bit in the flat (it was so hot outside!) so we could talk and see some photo-albums, before going out to have a good dinner made of some local specialities such as "foie gras" and "magret de canard", and OF COURSE some wine :-D. Then we went to see the firework over the river : really nice! I really love fireworks, it has always impressed me a lot :-) Next time, I'l love to see the National Day firework in Paris : it must be so great over the Eiffel Tower!

On Saturday and Sunday, we enjoyed the beautiful beaches of Aquitaine (which are very famous among surfers). First bathing of the year for me, and surprisingly the temperature of the water was very pleasant. Of course, nothing to do with the Mediterranean sea, but that's the way I like it :-D... Wanna test it? ;-)

Currently, it's getting really hard to work seriously...

The high temperatures we've registered in Bordeaux this week don't really motivate people to work on their computers in their hot offices : difficult to keep concentrated when it's about 30 degrees inside!

And when you finally succeed in working, then you're victim of a bomb alert (stupid jokes really...) that obliges you to get out of the building and stay one hour outside (where it is about 40 degrees :-D)...

And when you think that you'll manage to go out during the week, go to bed late and get up early to go to work without feeling tired, then you realize that maybe you're getting a bit old :-D. But well... spending time with my friends is worth the rings under my eyes :-)

When technology lets you down...

A new experience for me this morning : I got blocked in the lift of my building!!! Hum, nice way to begin the day, really...
Fortunately the light was ok, my phone still had some battery left (the alarm system didn't work... sic) and I had to wait only half an hour before being "saved" by the repair-man... Unfortunately there was no nice and handsome guy blocked with me in the lift (it really happens ONLY in movies! :-D) and I had no book with me at that moment...

By the way, can you guess which "Desperate housewife" I am??? I'm Susan, of course! :-D (If you want to check which one YOU are : http://abc.go.com/primetime/desperate/quiz/index.html)

Good bye Zidane...

Amazing how short a week-end is... If only it could last 3 days ;-)
This week-end I went to my parents' house (about 3 hours North from here). Finally I just had time to relax a bit and to enjoy a nice picnic on the beach on Saturday evening with Sandrine and Rodolphe. It's so cool to go to the beach when all the tourists are back to their hotels or campings :-D


A pity that the week-end ended this way with the defeat of the French soccer team in the World Cup... (I came back early to Bordeaux on purpose to see the match with my friends). We would have deserved the victory, but well... the session of penalties is really a question of luck!
So, unfortunately the evening ended in a quite sad atmosphere, especially because of the very bad action of Zidane. Everybody was so shocked ! Even if he may have been insulted by the Italian player, he should have tried to control himself... It's really sad that such a good player leaves the competition this way :-( But I'm sure he will apologize for that, and despite this shameful action, France still loves her "Zizou" and will miss him a lot!