In 1933 a Germany that was humiliated and impoverished after World War I, was ripe for someone as charismatic and patriotic as Adolf Hitler. On January 30, President von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as German Chancellor, and within four months of his appointment the Nazis were already boycotting Jewish shops and burning their books. A year and a half later… Read More
Bretagne (Bruh-tahn-yuh) is how the French say Brittany, the Western region of France that has its own culture and language in addition to that of the French. At first I didn’t realize they were one and the same thing, Brittany and Bretagne. And I never made the connection between Brittany and Great Britain, until I heard the French term for… Read More
Hi everyone, I’m tired. Too tired to read everyone’s blogs, which makes me feel guilty and I’m good at guilty. But it’s planting season, which means that my wrists hurt again from wielding a spade, and typing doesn’t help them to heal. And my teaching is going to start up again. And I have my interview for the patisserie school,… Read More
There are three chains of volcanos in Auvergne, called «les massifs. » There’s Puy de Dôme. Puy (pronounced «pwee ») means volcano and is also pronounced like the French word for well (the kind with water), which is « puit. » This massif is where Volvic water comes from. It actually gushes out of its source and the world is more likely to boycott plastic… Read More
Sir Renaissance has roots in Auvergne. This is one of the reasons we wanted to come, so he could share them with me. (Another reason was the cheap holiday and the kids club, but more on that later). We decided to go visit the town where he spent his summers so we packed the kids in the car and drove… Read More
This past Wednesday I took my driving test for the third time. If you want to know the horrors, you can read my post « Drive Me to the Looney Bin ,» although you don’t even need to bother with the post; the title says it all. I was crispé, as they say in French (crees-pay) and it means a ball… Read More
