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Tag Archives: napoleon bonaparte

Before Versailles and Before the Louvre: Fontainebleau Palace Posted by on May 26, 2013

Everyone knows le Louvre. And I’m sure it is safe to assume that everyone has at least heard of Versailles. But how about Fontainebleau, the château (castle) that is both classique and Renaissance? It’s actually not that far from Paris, about soixante kilomètres (60 kms) South East of the French capital. Of course, you can also choose to…

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French Vocabulary: Shopping at the Supermarket Posted by on Sep 19, 2012

If you ever go to France one day, either for a visit, or to move in for work or studying, one of the things you will have to do on your own is buying food, from le supermarché (supermarket) or the local épicerie (food store.) The first useful sentence you probably should learn is “excusez-moi” (“excuse me”)…

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Why The French Must Dump Bastille Day Posted by on Jun 20, 2011

If you are the sort of person who does not blindly celebrate dates just because others do, here’s for you a résumé of Bastille Day’s “inside story”: Contrary to the prevailing popular belief, “Bastille Day” marked a disastrous hijacking of the French Revolution, operated at the behest of an often unsuspected hostile foreign power: Great Britain, whom the…

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L’Homme Providentiel (The Providential Man) Posted by on Jun 18, 2011

“L’Homme Providentiel“, the “Providential Man”, the “Savior of the Masses”, is one of those “dynamite figures”, so to speak, that have for long jalonné (punctuated) the History of France: From Louis XIV, “le Roi Soleil” (The Sun King), to his Supreme Highness, le Grand Empreur Napoléon Bonaparte—To, finally, the much less sophisticated “parodical figureheads” of later pedigree… Much…

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Le 14 Juillet and “Les 3 SUiSSES” Posted by on Jul 15, 2010

Demandez à n’importe qui au hasard (ask anyone randomly): “C’est quoi le 14 Juillet (what is the 14 of July)?”, and you’re likely to hear the answer “C’est la fête nationale!” (It’s the national celebration!) Mais encore? (What else?) “It’s to celebrate a singular event in l’histoire de France: la prise de la Bastille(the storming of the Bastille.)” And…

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