Last week we learned that – at least according to leurs propres pubs* (their own ads) – les supermarchés E.Leclerc sont les moins chers en France. (the Leclerc supermarkets are the least expensive in France.) This week we’ll take a closer look at the towns visited by the Leclerc price team.

Lille – is a city of 200,000 in the north of France, near the border of France can Belgium. It is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region. The people living in Lille are called Lillois (or Lilloises)**

Nanterre – Located in the western suburbs of Paris, Nanterre is the capital of the Hauts-de-Seine department. I spent a lot of time in Nanterre as an exchange student, filling out forms and waiting in lines, since as a temporary resident of the Hauts-de-Seine I was subject to the famous French bureaucracy! The locals are called Nanterriens or Nanterriennes.

Château-Thierry – Much smaller than Lille (with only about 15,000 inhabitants), Château-Thierry is also in the Hauts-de-France region, but located in the Champagne region. The locals are known as Castelthéodoriciens (Castelthéodoriciennes) or Castrothéodoriciens (Castrothéodoriciennes)

Tours – a university town with a population of over 130,000, Tours is a bustling city at the start of the Loire Valley’s chateaux region. Today the locals are knows as the Tourangeaux or Tourangelles.

Montluçon – is a small city of almost 40,000 in central France. It was once part of the duchy of Bourbon and you can visit the ancient castle of the Dukes of Bourbon there. The residents of Montluçon are called Montluçonnais or Montluçonnaises.

Ussel – is another small commune in central France (about 10,000 people). The locals are known as Ussellois / Usseloises.

Chambéry – The Chambériens (Chambériennes) have the great fortune to live in the foothills of the Alps in the southeaster French department of Savoie. Chambéry is home to the Château de Chambéry as well as a famous local statue of the front half of four elephants!

Marseille – is surely one France’s most famous cities. It is also the second largest (with over 850,000 inhabitants) after Paris. The Marseillais (Marseillaises) live in a lovely port city on the Mediterranean in France’s southeastern Bouches-du-Rhône department.

* ‘pubs’ is short for ‘publicités’ the French for ‘advertisements’ or ‘commercials’. Ads can be a great tool for practicing your French, and you can find lots of fun ones on YouTube.
** In French, ‘un gentilé’ is the name given to the inhabitants of the town or region. Just about every locale in France has a special name for the locals.