Nice Too

Woken up this morning and I am thrilled and delighted and mega excited to a) be in France, but more importantly b) in this amazingly beautiful part of France.
This is how it was:
John left the keys in the door all night and having struggled to get in, we now found it impossible to get out!  Neither of us brought a mobile phone.  And let's be honest, who would we have phoned anyway?
After much persuasion, John finally managed to unlock the door and I packed away my panic and claustrophobia and we set off to find the church and get some breakfast.
We walked up Rue Gambetta and found Passage Gregoire but we were quite early so we stopped off at a café on the other side of the road for a quick coffee.  Having supped said beverage it was quite clearly now time to cross the road.  Except... now the Nice marathon had started and the first of 9000 people were running up the road.  I don't think, "Excuse-moi!" would cut it somehow.
But time dragged on.  Every so often there were little gaps in the groups of runners, so we decided to chance it.  John got across pretty niftily but I got half washed up the road like a piece of flotsam and was suddenly a participant in the Nice marathon, until I leaped onto the pavement on the other side!  Phew!
And so we walked down quite a rough looking side street and into the Victoire Church.  It turned out to be pretty awesome.  It was all tiled and really cool.  We sang some songs in French.  It really messes with your head because some of the songs we knew in English, but suddenly were only capable of singing them in French even though our brains knew perfectly well what we were singing in English.  I don't know how to explain it.  Right brain was going, "Pull yourself together woman," and left brain was going, "LOLOLOLOL!"
Then a beautiful moment when we greeted one another.  There was lots of kissing, but this beautiful woman came up to me and said, "Ma soeur!" and kissed me and I thought, 'Yes we are sisters because we both love the same God and even though I'm in another country God loves you and He loves me and it's amazing, isn't it?' and I was trying not to cry.
More singing and then a sermon relayed to us in English through headphones, which was awesome.  I did look at the Bibles but they were so expensive.  Maybe one day.

Then we decided to go for a walk through an area called The Promenade du Paillon.  It's beautiful and fun and imaginative.

I am blown away by the architecture.
It's like how I imagine Cuba or something from Love In The Time of Cholera!

And then I finally came face to face with Apollo.  So pleased to have found this.

 Strolled home and bought our first bread from a boulangerie but then went into a supermarket to buy essentials like tea bags and milk.
More tomorrow.
Jane xx

Nice Again

Sent John out this morning to buy bread and he actually came back with... bread!  This is astonishing for him in English, let alone in a foreign language!
Decided today (Monday) was the day to walk round the Colline du Chateau.  Didn't want to break it to John that there actually wasn't a chateau at the top!
We strolled through the Cours Saleya, taking in the sights, the smells and the voices.  It took a while to grasp the accent, but it's because of the massive Italian influence.  Once I'd got used to it, it was fine.  There was an antiques/brocante market going on.  Some very interesting stuff, lots of very catholic ornaments and interesting paintings. 

Carried on and went under an arch onto a very narrow street.  Further on there was a war memorial

and then, having walked past the lift and the stairs, we began the climb upwards.
It wasn't that strenuous, and it was well worth it.

We passed a beautiful cemetery but John wouldn't let me go in.  French cemetaries are always quite stunning compared to English ones, aren't they?

The view from the top is awesome.

And so is this.

It was a day for getting wet, really.

Stood up after this and the back of my coat was soaking wet!

 

 

So all in all a fantastic day.  Of course we got sunburned.  Nothing says, 'Brit on holiday' like a bright red nose, does it?!

More tomorrow.

Jane xx



Venir de - to have just done something

My husband is very good at maths and I am (usually!) very good at English.  We talked about how very often in maths you are given a rule, the teacher demonstrates that the rule works (take long division for example) the pupil goes away and tries some exercises to prove the rule works, then you apply the rule for the rest of your maths life.
But isn't learning a language just like that?  You get given a rule (how and when to use que or qui for example).  You do loads of exercises so you realise you can trust the rule and it won't let you down, then you go off into your chosen language knowing you can apply that rule and it will always be correct.

So here is today's rule!

Venir de:  The French do not say, "I have just (done something)." ;  they say, "I come from (doing something)" 

Here's the rule that never fails:

present tense of venir + de + the infinitive of the next verb

You'll come across this a lot, especially at GCSE level.

Here are some examples.

I have just arrived = je viens d’arriver.






1. Je viens de voir le film.
I have just seen the film.

2.  Il vient de terminer son travail.
He has just finished his work.

3.  Je viens de terminer mon travail.
I have just finished my work.

4.  Ils viennent d’acheter la maison.
They have just bought the house.

I hope you find this useful and notice it in your reading and writing.
Back soon
Jane

d'un air - with an air of

Hello everyone
I keep coming across the above phrase and it seems to work with adverbs.  Have a look at what I mean:

Je dois commencer à sortir plus souvent, décida-t-elle d’un air résolu.
I must start going out more, she decided resolutely.

"Non, pas vraiment,“ répondit Marie d’un air indigné.
No, not really, replied Marie indignantly.

"Yvonne," répondit-elle d’un air boudeur...’
"Yvonne," she replied glumly.

Also,
"Where do you live?" he asks.
"215 Rue des Martyrs," dit-elle d'une voix rageuse.
.... she said with a voice of rage.

"Merci," dit-il d'un ton taquin.
"Thank you," he said in a teasing tone.

"Je le savais!" dit-il d'un air méprisant.
"I knew it!" he said nastily.

Hope you find these examples helpful.
Jane xx

How dare you?!

Bonjour!

Here are a few phrases you might find useful:

"Oh mon Dieu, comment ose-t-elle m'acheter quelque chose comme ça, ce toupet!“
Oh my  God, how dare she buy me something like that, the cheek!"

Tu parles trop, pensa-t-il mais il n’osa pas le dire tout haut...’
You talk too much, he thinks, but he dare not say it out loud.

Elle l’aurait conamné à une longue souffrance s’il avait osé le faire à l’intérieur.
She would have threatened him with violence if he had dared to do it in the house.

Je n'ose pas me promener dans ce quartier -
 I don't dare walk in this neighborhood

Comment osez-vous ! - How dare you!

	Present		Future		Imperfect		Present participle
j'	ose		oserai		osais		osant
tu	oses		oseras		osais
il	ose		osera		osait		Passé composé
nous	osons		oserons		osions		Auxiliary verb	avoir
vous	osez		oserez		osiez		Past participle	osé
ils	osent		oseront		osaient
	Subjunctive		Conditional		Passé simple		Imperfect subjunctive
j'	ose		oserais		osai		osasse
tu	oses		oserais		osas		osasses
il	ose		oserait		osa		osât
nous	osions		oserions		osâmes		osassions
vous	osiez		oseriez		osâtes		osassiez
ils	osent		oseraient		osèrent		osassent
	Imperative
(tu)	ose				Verb conjugation pattern Oser is a regular -ER verb
(nous)	osons

Hope you find these useful.
Bises
Jane

Au lieu de - instead of

Bonjour!

On my reading travels I come across lots of phrases that I realise are really useful.  Here are some ways of saying 'instead of':

Parfois, vous voudrez peut-être dire que vous voulez une chose à la place d'un autre. Voici quelques exemples:

"Alors je vais prendre une omelette nature avec une salade au lieu des frites."

J’ai payé seulement dix euros au lieu de vingt euros.

Mais:

Est-ce qu’il y aurait la possibilité de remplacer l’escalope de dinde par du coq au vin?

Look out for more examples in your reading.
Bises
Jane

Nice is Nice!

Hello all!
After much searching and discussing, we are going to Nice for a holiday in April.  I am so excited!
We are staying in an appartment. 
I have been reading all about it in a lovely blog by Margo Letz called The Curious Rambler.  It's really made me even more excited about going.  Margo has been very kind and emailed me details of good local restaurants and food shops, which I'm sure will come in handy.  Next I need to know what the weather will be like as I haven't got a clue what to wear (typical woman!)




Why wouldn't you want to go here?!

Then, my pastor's wife came to see me yesterday and over coffee I told her about our impending trip and she said she was sure that Kenneth Copeland Ministries have a church out there.  So this morning I decided to Google it and sure enough there are two churches.  One of them gives you headphones so you can have the service relayed to you in English.  So guess where we'll be going Sunday morning?!

The only thing I need to sort out now is my camera, which has refused to upload my photos this morning.  The wonders of modern technology!
Back soon
Jane xx