Video Diary of an American in France

Experience France like a local with virtual video visits to events and places you won’t find in any tourist book or on any website

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  • France Photoblog

    France Photoblog

    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

    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

    Travel Resources

    Planning a trip to France ? Stay in a Paris apartment during your trip to the city of lights.

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  • Chambery Guide Book

    Chambery Guide Book

    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.


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!

 

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Posted in Chambery and Savoie, Culture, Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Seasons, Things to Do, Thoughts on the French Life, Travel, Uncategorized, Video, Weblogs | No Comments »


I hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season and a Happy New Year. We’re in our last month in Florida so I’m dedicating part of January to sharing some of our experiences and events during our time there. We head back to France in early February.

As you probably know, my husband and I are motorbikers and appreciate the beauty and engineering of a fine motorbike. So we headed to the once a month Motorbike Festival that is held in downtown Fort Myers every month and really enjoyed the experience. Granted, the bikes were a bit ‘over the top’ and a little too ‘image-oriented’ for us, but we still enjoyed the fine styling and creativity represented. Of course, most of the bikes were Harley Davidson (a brand seen more as image rather than good engineering in France). Take a look for yourself.


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Posted in Culture, Florida, Music, Things to Do, Travel, Uncategorized, Video, Weblogs | 2 Comments »

Dec
31

Happy New Year 2012!


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.


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Posted in Current Affairs, Music, Seasons, Things to Do, Travel, Uncategorized, Video, Weblogs | No Comments »


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.

 

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Posted in Culture, Current Affairs, Florida, Food and Drink, Music, Seasons, Thoughts on the French Life, Uncategorized, Video, Weblogs | 3 Comments »


The Faure Museum is located in Aix les Bains, near Lake Bourget and just 20 minutes from Chambery. It was founded in 1949 and contains the art collection of Doctor Jean Faure (1862–1942), which he later bequeathed to the city.  The Faure Museum possesses the second largest collection of Rodin sculptures in France, and a large collection of Impressionist paintings as well. They also have visiting exhibits. I was quite surprised by the quality of the artworks in the museum. If you attend our French Alps Tours, you’ll have time to visit it yourself. Here are a few examples of the artworks.


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Posted in Chambery and Savoie, Culture, Things to Do, Travel, Uncategorized, Video, Weblogs | No Comments »


This summer we ran across a small crafts festival and stopped for an hour. There was a sweet ole’ granny who was using her spinning wheel to turn raw wool into thread. She was demonstrating the process to small children. I stood and watched a few minutes and found the process quite interesting. Things are still done the old-fashioned way quite often in this part of France and it’s nice to see the old traditions being kept alive.


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Posted in Chambery and Savoie, Culture, Things to Do, Thoughts on the French Life, Travel, Uncategorized, Video, Weblogs | 2 Comments »


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!                             

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Posted in Chambery and Savoie, Culture, Current Affairs, Photos, Seasons, Thoughts on the French Life, Uncategorized, Weblogs | No Comments »