Cultivate your French : Slow French, at the right pace.

CYF 089 — mercredi 1er septembre — La rentrée littéraire avec Nathalie Iris

Last week, I went to Nathalie Iris’s bookshop in La Garenne-Colombes. This is close to where we live. 
Nathalie also regularly presents books on TV in the show Télématin. She’s also very active in her bookshop where there are often book signatures with famous authors. We met during the first confinement and since then, to our delight, she talks about books on the podcast One Thing In A French Day. 
We met last week to talk about « la rentrée littéraire ». This is a big event in France and this is the subject of today’s podcast. 
I’m sure you are going to enjoy meeting with Nathalie in this episode. Don’t you think that we can hear her smiling in her voice.

You are listening to Cultivate Your French podcast One Slow French episode every week. 
My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. 

All the information about the transcript,notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 088 — Podcast enregistré à La Défense, quartier d’affaires

La Défense is a big business district located west of Paris. It’s not far from where I live. It’s only 4 minutes by train. And this is where I was on Monday afternoon. I had taken the girls to the cinema inside the enormous shopping centre. I had two hours to spare so I decided to record this episode right at the foot of the Grande Arche, the building that ends the « axe historique » of Paris. Then I walked and took photos of the different works of art that I had just mentioned in the episode. Including the statue of La Défense by Barrias which gave its name to the district. It 
was erected in 1883 to the glory of the French soldiers of the 1870 war with Prussia.  

You are listening to Cultivate Your French podcast One Slow French episode every week. 
My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. 
All the information about the transcript,notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 087 — mercredi 18 août 2021 — Au marché de Dieppe

You are listening to Cultivate Your French podcast One Slow French episode every week. 
My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. 
All the information about the transcript,notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

Last week-end, the weather was beautiful and I felt the urge to go to Dieppe’s market to buy some good things to eat and spend a nice day by the sea. The five of us woke up early, took a quick breakfast and took our place into the car. 

But before telling you more about this, here is the answer to the riddle. 
We were looking for a person, someone who was very serious and dark, but with an intense expression. Probably a woman. Someone who I mentioned in a previous podcast who became owner of a place by the river Cher. Ah, the place could be the Château de Chenonceau. Then, Diane de Poitiers or Catherine de Medicis? Well, Catherine de Medicis painted by François Clouet in her dark clothes. The painting is taking you by surprise on a narrow wall when you turn to enter a small corridor in one the of the Carnavalet’ rooms. No, she’s not smilling, not even looking at us, but I think there is a kind of pride in her face. Don’t you think?

CYF 086 — mercredi 11 août 2021 — Devinette au musée Carnavalet

My daughters, Micaela, Felicia and I are recording this episode in Paris. We are at the Musée Carnavalet for a visit. Have you ever heard of this Museum? It’s the museum of the History of Paris. it belongs to the city of Paris and it’s free to visit. It has a wonderful collection of paintings and objects from the very old times of Paris to nowadays. 
It’s located in the heart of the Marais in two hôtels particiuliers. One of them belonged to the famous writer of letters,  Madame de Sévigné. 
I have been to this museum several times before its renovation. It reopened in May 2021, we are very happy to visit it today. 
Today’s text is a riddle. Yes, you have to find something that can be seen in the Musée de Carnavalet. 
You can send me your answer to the riddle by Instagram, by email or by SpeakPipe.
https://www.speakpipe.com/OneThingInAFrenchDay

 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have. 
All the information about the transcript,notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 085 — mercredi 4 août 2021 — Randonnée aux Rousses

Last week,  on Thursday, the weather was perfect for a day trip to Les Rousses, the largest ski resort of the Jura. Have you ever heard of the Jura? This region is situated above the Alps, going North. It gave its name to the Jurassic period. It was a tropical region a long long time ago, with palm trees and warm seas. This is where we are spending our holidays. We love this region. Maybe have you heard of its famous cheeses : Comté, Morbier, bleu de Gex? Well, you might hear some cows in this episode! 
As I did last week, I record this episode in the garden of the house we’ve rented for two weeks. I hope it won’t rain. 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 084 — mercredi 28 juillet 2021 — La suite des vacances : après le concert à Pontlevoy, direction le Jura

Since last week, we are on holidays and the podcast takes you with us. I’m recording this episode in the garden of our new home for two weeks. 
Our holidays started in the Loire Valley where we had a walk in the the gardens of the castle of Chenonceau by night. This is what I told you last week. A few days later, we came back to Chenonceau to visit both the castle, where every room is outstanding, and the gardens .  Our week in the Loire Valley ended with the visit of the castle of Montpoupon. A Renaissance castle where the owners (since 300 years) are still living. We loved it because the rooms are largely decorated with many objects of everyday life from the 16th century to the early 20th century. By the end of the week, it was time to go to Felicia’s concert in Pontlevoy where she was staying for a baroque music camp. 

 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

CYF 083 — Promenade nocturne au château de Chenonceau

We are on holidays! And I’m happy to share a few moments with you. I’m recording this episode in the garden of the house we’ve rented. This week we are in the Loire Valley region. I was dreaming to go back to Chenonceau, one the beautiful Loire Valley castles, since 2013. Chenonceau is a small Renaissance castle mainly built in the sixteenth century that the king Henri II offered to his very good friend Diane de Poitiers. When he died, his wife Catherine de Medicis took it back for herself and managed France from there. Mary Stuart was married to one of his son, Henri III and also lived in Chenonceau. This place is full of history! Micaela was surprised because she’s reading La princesse de Clèves written in the 17th century by Madame de La Fayette. The story takes places at Henri II’s court and Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medicis are part of the story. I’ve seen in the Castle shop that there is an English version of this book published by Penguin Books. Have you read it?

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 082 — mercredi 14 juillet 2021 — La Tour Eiffel

These few weeks in Paris before going back to school were very intense. I felt an urge to visit as many places as we could. We visited Le Louvre, we went to La Sainte-Chapelle as Claire told us that it was wonderful to see the light through the stained glass windows, we visited the Musée Bourdelle (a very nice place for a calm moment in Paris) and one morning I suggested that we could go to the Tour Eiffel. The girls were a little bit tired of this Paris craziness, but Alice, Lisa’s friend who was we us for the day, was on my side.
Be ready for an escape, today’s episode takes you to the Tour Eiffel!

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 081 — mercredi 7 juillet 2021 — Dans le train du retour

Last saturday, I went to Paris with Micaela. She was invited to her best friend’s end of the year music exam, Anna. Anna was playing piano and singing. The audition took place in the cité internationale universitaire in the 14th arrondissement. The cité was built in the 1920s to accomodate foreign students. It’s a lovely place with big buildings. I left Micaela, I went to Saint-Michel for a walk and came back home. The train I took was crouded because there are works on the line and fewer trains. Near to me, two young women were talking very loud. I couldn’t do anything else than listen to them. 
What were they talking about ? This what you are going to hear in this episode. I promise I will try not to talk as loud as them. 

 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006
All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com

 

CYF 080 — 50 gâteaux de grands pâtissiers qu’il faut avoir goûté une fois dans sa vie, rencontre avec Hélène Luzin

Maybe you need a reason to go to Dehillerin and maybe you could find this reason in Hélène Luzin’s latest book : 50 gâteaux de grands pâtissiers qu’il faut avoir goûté une fois dans sa vie.
Nathalie Iris, the bookseller at La Garenne-Colombes, invited Hélène Luzin for a signing session. When I read the news, I went to buy a copy at the bookshop. The book is very clever. Each chef pâtissiers gives the recipe of it’s best cake, but there is also an interview with the chef. This is the part that I find very interesting because it gives you the story of each pâtissier and of his recipe, it tells you about his personality and it’s easy to read. 
At the end of the book, there are two pages to collect the signature of each chef. 
Nicolas Bernardé is a Meilleur Ouvrier de France and his shop is very close to Nathalie’s bookshop. He is also in Hélène Luzin’s book for his famous « Gâteau du samedi ». So the day Hélène Luzin was invited, he came to the bookshop and offered us some chocolates. 
In this episode, you are going to hear Hélène Luzin talking about what she enjoyed when she wrote the book. 

My name is Laetitia, I’m French, I live just outside Paris and I share with you a small slice of my daily life here in France. I have also been running the podcast One Thing In A French Day since 2006.

All the information about the transcripts, notes and photos is available at www.cultivateyourfrench.com