Welcome to Newsletter #30 about enjoying life and being in France.

June 12

This week

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1. Festivals in the South of France this year

I found this link to a list of festivals in the South of France...

http://www.polydeme.fr/festivals/

It lists 96 dance and music festivals in Languedoc and has links to other regions and their activities.

The pages are mostly in French.

Here is a good tip for finding information in France. Each department here is trying to make a website about the activities and places to visit. There are 95 departments in mainland France numbered in alphabetical order; "Ain" is 01 and "Val d'Oise" is 95, I live in Herault (34). If you locate the area you want information for -- there is a list of the departments on our site look in the Index under "Departments", or "Regions" -- then type http://www.cg##.fr/ where ## is the department number, you may find a really useful site. I am trying to check them all and add them to the page on our site, but I only have 10 fingers and 24 hours in a day (a basic design fault).

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2. Language Courses

When you come to France, you will enjoy the experience more if you can speak even a few words of the language. For hundreds of years and right into the 20th century, French was the first International language and the language of politics. Now we are in the 21st century, it is clear that English is the dominant language of business and of politicians (and Internet), but the French language is still very important and the French people are proud of their heritage and contribution to civilization.

All children in France have English classes at school, but the culture of France is based on it's language which is rich and expressive, like English, but it is also precise and accurate, unlike English, the lawyers here are not as rich as in English speaking countries, they have no arguments about the "meaning" of a phrase, Bill Clinton would have a very difficult time here (I nearly said a hard time).

I have added this page on language schools and language courses in France as I have been asked many times about this. One of the best is near us in Montpellier.

http://goto-france.com/language/

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3. Search Engines

Search Engines are very important for me. I try hard to be visible as this is the source of a lot of our business. But it is like being captain of a huge ocean ship. It takes along time to get going and any manoeuvre or change means you have to think a long way ahead.

My favorite at the moment is Google http://google.com/ Google is quick and I find their searches very relevant. AltaVista http://av.com/ is still high on my list but I am tending to use specialist engines more as their content is often more relevant as the sites they list have worked harder to be visible and this cuts out a lot of the rubbish.

I am asking for your help here. Would you please write to me and let me know the most important words up to five words (keywords) or a phrase or two that you would use to find a site which gave you information about France.

There is a search engine page with some guidelines for effective searching on the site , look in the Index under Search Engines at

http://goto-france.com/

Thank you all for your help.

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4. Art Courses

In my many evolutions (I am really a Pokémon in disguise) I have been a professional photographer, mostly working in B&W on advertising stuff and with some galleries. When we moved here where the nearest real advertising agency is 600 miles away, I planned to do a series of residential photographic courses and we advertised this on the Internet. We got so many people wanting to book the accommodation for family vacations that we never had the room for the courses.

The south of France is a magic place for photography and for painting, the light has a special quality. There are some artists near us who offer residential painting and drawing classes and I am beginning to find many others in the regions near us.

I have started a page on our site, from the Index under Art Courses.

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5. Last Minute Bookings

We still have some accommodation available in our own home in Nizas in June and July.

http://goto-france.com/vigne/

http://goto-france.com/villette/

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6. French canals.

I get a lot of mail about vacations and living on the canals in France. This region has the most beautiful canal in the world, lines with 2 million trees over 100 years old, the "Canal du Midi". I have some links you can find from the links Index about canal vacations and I am looking into making a special section about the canal trips here. Some of these quality tours sound very interesting.

Here is a letter I had this week asking about living on a canal boat, I know a few people who have done this here and will ask their opinion and advice.

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Tony
Do you know anything about or can you point me in the right direction to,find out about living on a boat on the French Canals - particularly Canal du Midi? We are considering this as an alternative to tying ourselves to one spot by buying a house when we retire to the sun in a few years time. Very interesting newsletter and web-site, thank you.
David

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Hello David
The canals are getting very popular both for vacations and living. I am beginning to add more links and features about this and I am working with reporters and specialists. I do not yet have any information about permanent residential boats but it is an interesting subject. I know that there is a good place on the river in Agde and will investigate this as well. When I have more information I will add it to the site and mention it in the newsletter. Thank you for your comments. Best wishes
Tony

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6. Advertise with us

You can advertise your property to rent in France with us, there are details on the website at

http://goto-france.com/

You get a 2000% guarantee

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7. Gallaghers Tip of the week

This is the first in a series of tips and advice from Mary Gallagher. Mary is a Journalist living in the USA and she knows more about travel than anyone I have known. Her life is spent on assignments around the world writing about everything from canal cruises in France to a spring vacation in South Dakota. I understand she is building her own web site and I will let you know when it is up and running.

here is this weeks advice

= Buying gifts. This can drive one mad! The frequent traveler learns to dispense with gift buying but sometimes the plant sitter or an elderly friend needs something special. Best bet, the grocery store. A friend who watched my house loved hot sauce and I brought samples from all over the world to add to his collection. Another is a coffee addict. My house cleaner loves unsweetened European chocolate bars. All these items are easy to find in the local grocery. Look for small non perishable items that are not breakable. Experience tells that the coffee liquor and red wine stains from broken bottles in your suitcase do not come out of clothing or anything else they were packed with.

Mary Gallagher,

mailto:gallagherstravels@juno.com

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Please let me know if you need any information or help and pass the newsletter on to your friends.

A Bientôt

Tony