Join us on a photo journey of France, Europe and beyond on our photoblog. Click on the photo or go to: www.france-and-beyond-photoblog.com
Chambery App
If you have an IPhone or IPod and are planning a visit to Chambery, buy my ITunes App. It will walk you through the city of Chambery to each historic landmark with walking directions, history, a map, and narrative. It's just $2.99. Click on the above photo of the elephant fountain for the link to the app.
Travel Resources
Planning a trip to France ? Stay in a Paris apartment during your trip to the city of lights.
Get my Chambery, France Guide Book free with the purchase of my Cookbook: 'French Comfort Food: Recipes of Savoie and the French Alps.' Get both for only $7.99. Click the photo to get more information or to purchase your books now.
French Tutorial
A basic grammar and vocabulary review of the French language, as well as some informal & slang vocabulary and a special section on vocabulary for English-speaking expatriates living in France. Also included is an appendix on French pronunciation for English speakers as well as IPA transcriptions for most of the vocabulary lists and all of the verb conjugations.
Visit the Store to buy the e-book for $9.95 or paperback book for $24.95.
Join us on a small group tour of the French Alps June 9 - 16, 2012. I designed this tour to include the best of the region. Wander the Medieval town of Annecy, nicknamed the Venice of the French Alps, and take a boat ride on its crystal blue lake. Do you like pampering yourself on your vacations, then why not spend an afternoon at the Aix les Bains thermal baths inside your lakeside hotel? Are you the adventurous type? Then take a horseback ride in the Alps or fly through the trees at the High Ropes Adventure. Are you a foodie? Taste local chocolates, cheeses, wines and hazelnut oils. Are you a history buff? Then satisfy your curiosity at Lyon's Old Town or Vienne's Roman Temple and Forum. Or just enjoy watching the hang gliders and sunset while enjoying an outdoor aperitif on the top of a mountain overlooking Annecy's lake. See you in the French Alps! www.french-alps-tours.com
Alps Cookbook
Get my ECookbook: 'French Comfort Food: Recipes of Savoie and the French Alps.'
51 recipes of the region, collected from friends and local cookbooks. This is the only English language Savoie and French Alps cookbook in print. Only $7.99 and includes a bonus book: The Chambery Guide Book.
Click the photo to buy yours now or go to the Cookbook Page on the Navigation Bar!
French Comfort Food
Visit my French Comfort Food website for articles, recipes, videos, tips and products about French Food and Wine. Click on the photo or go to www.frenchcomfortfood.com
Videos, photos and posts can be used or posted noncommerically (this means you can't sell my films, photos or put them in or on anything you sell!), but everything must be linked back to this blog and must list me as the creator.
One of my final videos of Florida before returning to France is of the Sand Sculpting Competition at Fort Myers Beach. The Beach had its first World Championship Sand Sculpting Competition this year. It was chosen because it is one of the few beaches in the world that has the ‘correct’ sand to do the sculptures. It was astonishing to see the skill and patience required to create these gorgeous sculptures. It took them several days to complete them. See some of the best, including the winners of the competition.
We’re having a much earlier interest in our French Alps Tours than in previous years. In fact, we already have five guests confirmed for the June tour and we may stop accepting guests at eight, so I’m giving my readers first chance at signing up for the June trip before my new, upcoming ad campaign hits the magazines. If we have enough interest, we may add on a September tour too, so drop me an email if you are interested. In the meantime, visit our site, see videos about the tour days, read about the stunning itinerary, and hear what others have said about the tour. Take advantage of the de-valued Euro too – the trip costs $350 less than last year!
January posts will focus on the interesting events we did in Florida. Come February, we will be back in France and my posts will focus on our travels and lives there again. Even if you are a Francophile, you may still find some of the festivals in Florida interesting and a nice break from three years of pure French indulgences.
For instance, one of the main things that Fort Myers is known for is that it was the winter home of Thomas Edison, the inventor, and his good friend, Henry Ford, the car manufacturer. Edison owned the property from 1886-1931. Firestone also joined them quite a bit during the winters. Edison invented many of his inventions in his Fort Myers laboratory. He was a big influence in bringing many people to the area. The river is lined with beautiful, historic homes from the late 1800′s and early 1900′s. Of course, many have been torn down and replaced with modern monstrosities. The Edison and Ford homes were preserved and you can visit them. During the holiday season, they open them in the evenings, all dressed up in their holiday garbs. We decided to visit them and pay the $15 for a self-guided tour. We were glad we did since the gardens and homes were so lovely garnished with Christmas lights.
Happy New Year to you! May 2012 be the start of the healing and recovery for our countries and our world. And may we find a way to respect and honor all living creatures, human and animal.
I want to take a minute to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my readers. I hope this season is peaceful, joyous, and filled with the people you love, and happy events. This year I am spending Christmas with both my husband and my family and with my traditions, so it is particularly special compared to previous years. I want to wish you a joyous season with some footage that I actually took last year in Paris. I was flying out of Paris to Florida on December 15th, 2010 and spent the night in the city. I took advantage of that fact to go to the Champs Elysees in the city center to see the annual light festival. I took video and saved it for this year. I hope you enjoy it and it puts you in the mood to enjoy a magical, joyous Christmas.
Every year Cape Coral, Florida (sister city to Fort Myers) has a Christmas Boat Parade. This area has the largest number of boats per capita of anywhere in the United States so the boating culture is huge. Decorating your boat and participating in the Parade on a canal near the River (which also is a competition for the best decorated boat) is a big event every year. We were lucky in that my sister’s good friend lives right on the boat parade route on the canal and let us use her boat dock to watch the parade even though they were out of town. We took some sandwiches, a bottle of wine, and had front row seats to this lovely and festive event.
Merry Christmas to you and yours! Stay tuned because I’ll be saying Merry Christmas to you the ‘Paris way’ on Christmas eve.
So you’re just a few weeks away from Christmas and you haven’t a clue what you’re going to buy your spouse, parents, best friend or boy/girlfriend. I have a few suggestions, of course. How about a French Alps/Savoie Ecookbook? Better yet, how about a trip to the French Alps and they can just eat the food instead of cook it? And why don’t you join them on the Tour? It’s a unique gift since it’s the only summertime sightseeing Tour of the French Alps in existence. Or if you’d like to do an independent trip to the French Alps, I can help you plan it. If you just want some French food products, check this out. If you’re looking for a man’s gift, I have a variety of gifts to choose from here. Want to learn French? Buy my friend, Jennie’s, French Tutorial book (she’s one of those genius types who speaks several languages and is getting her PH.D in Languages – it’s a great book!). So now you have lots of options to choose from.
Have fun shopping and have a wonderful holiday season to you and yours!
I want to take a minute to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to my readers. I hope this season is peaceful, joyous, and filled with the people you love, and happy events. This year I am spending Christmas with both my husband and my family and with my traditions, so it is particularly special compared to previous years. I want to wish you a joyous season with some footage that I actually took last year in Paris. I was flying out of Paris to Florida on December 15th, 2010 and spent the night in the city. I took advantage of that fact to go to the Champs Elysees in the city center to see the annual light festival. I took video and saved it for this year. I hope you enjoy it and it puts you in the mood to enjoy a magical, joyous Christmas.
So you’re just a few weeks away from Christmas and you haven’t a clue what you’re going to buy your spouse, parents, best friend or boy/girlfriend. I have a few suggestions, of course. How about a 
