France Voila #35, July 31 2000

This week

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1. September and the wine harvest

I have had a lot of mail this week about visitors to France wishing to have wine tastings and visits to wineries in September. This is not a good month to visit wineries, September is the month of the vendange, the wine harvest. Everyone in the wine business will be working full stretch and have no time for the usual courtesies for visitors. The large collective cooperatives usually have a shop and these will still be open for tastings, but the main buildings will be closed to visitors as there is a lot of machinery and activity in use for these few weeks every year.

The festivals and celebrations of the new wines will start in October, this is a wonderful time to visit the south, most villages have a celebration and if you can bear the speeches by the mayor, and at least ten other "pillars of the local establishment" (about one to two hours and all the same speech), then you can sample the primeur and vin nouveau with local food and music. Timing your arrival to miss the worst speeches, not to seem too rude and to get to be near the best bottles is a fine art.

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2. Speaking the language

France has only one official language, French. Until recently other regional languages were not even recognised by the state. In the tourist resorts along the Cote D'Azur and in the tourist towns, such as Avignon and Carcassonne, the people in the shops and cafes will speak Some English, but although English is a standard subject in all Schools and has been for over 20 years, most people do not speak English or any other language.

However, if you can remember bonjour (good day), Merci (thank you) and si'l vous plait (please) and smile, then you will have no problems.

Always remember that French people are friendly, polite and private. When you enter a bar, shop or any public place it is good to openly say "bonjour", or better still, "bonjour mesdames messieurs", to the people there.

If you speak a little French, even a few words, this will be warmly appreciated. Children usually have no problems with communication, adults should learn from them and by showing an open and genuine interest in the language and culture you will be welcomed everywhere.

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3. Road Signs and Driving in France

Thanks to a reader,Cynthia St Clair, for asking me about French Road signs. I asked several of our guests here if they have had any problem in understanding the road signs. All agreed that there is no difficulty, luckily "Stop" means the same in most languages. I will try (along with a million other things) to make a page on our web site at

Showing some more information, but there are four things about driving in France which I believe are worth remembering and which I find different.

Stop means stop, not slow down to an almost stop or crawl or be careful. I have seen Gendarmes hiding behind a road sign (like on a Pink Panther cartoon), and jump out to fine motorists not completely stopping at a stop sign on an empty road junction. It is considered very serious and heavily fined on the spot, if you don't pay they can impound your car.

A solid white line in the center of the road means do not cross, again this is heavily fined on the spot.

On many roads, especially secondary country roads, the motorist on your right has priority, even if they are coming onto the main road which you are driving along from a very small minor road. This is slowly changing from the days when every road was governed by this rule, and most major highways have a diamond sign which means that the junctions on the right do not have priority, but not all French drivers have accepted this and a tractor may just pull out in front of you from nowhere.

Using road signs to navigate is not always simple. The signs often seem to indicate the town after the one you are looking for. I assume this is because the people who decide what to put on the signs already know where they are and therefore assume that you do as well. This is a specific application of something uniquely French their "logique".

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4. Paris Guides

If you are planning a trip to Paris here are two on-line books you can buy for 98FF each or 174FF for both. I have been promised 5% commission if you mention my name or refer to "goto-france" on the order form. I think this must be the slowest way for me to make my millions, but I have been told by visitors these books are very useful.

Leeds Good Value Guide to Paris Restaurants The Insider's Guide to Paris Hotels Under $100 a Night

http://www.wfi.fr/leeds/

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5. Guided Tours

If you are looking for a personal guided tour of Paris, or for anywhere in France, have a look at..

http://brasstours.com/

Your guide is Eric Branton, a Frenchman now living in America, who arranges a few, very special personalised tours each year to France.

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6. Where is Provence

I am developing a new section of the site which will help you find information about each department in France. You can click on a map or by name or number.

The site is at..

One problem I have is giving information about Provence as there are no department names with Provence in them. There is a region, which covers half of the South of France, called "Provence-Cote-D'Azur-Alpes Maritimes". In marketing terms Provence seems to be an area which includes departments numbered - 26, 04, 06, 83, 84, 13, 30 and 34, some more "creative" marketing people can stretch Provence across from Italy to Spain.

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7. Villeneuvette

Very close to us here in the Herault valley is this 18th century township of Villeneuvette. King Louis XIV gave special recognition to this weaving community and is has remained in a remarkable state of preservation with most of the original buildings.

In the village there is the hotel and restaurant "La Source", I have made website for them and I can recommend this special accommodation and their top quality service, have a look at

http://hotellasource.com/

and

http://restaurantlasource.com/

Both sites have a short history about Villeneuvette, if you are anywhere near this department (34) you should call in.

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8. The Nizas.com project

As if I did not have enough to do, I am starting work on a personal project here next week. My aim is to record the life of my village, Nizas, (540 people)over the next 12 to 15 months.

At present Nizas is a French agricultural village. The people here mostly work in or make their living from wine and vineyards. There are a few vacation homes and we rent our two apartments, but this is a very small part of the life of the village.

The new roads and high speed (200 mph) train connection, plus new airports and services will possibly change this balance. I hope to document this special year, from one Millennium to the next and from one lifestyle to another.

Before coming to France I was a professional photographer, others in the village are skilled painters and artists and I hope to involve everyone.

If you are coming to the south of France in the next 15 months, call in and see us and become part of the documentary yourself. All comments, photos and contributions will be included.

The project will slowly come to life on

http://Nizas.com/

Over the next year.

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Thank you for your time reading these notes, I am always interested in your ideas and wishes for a more informative journal, please write to me at..

and please tell everyone you know to subscribe to the newsletter.

A Bientôt

Tony Tidswell