Micaela and I are at Gare Saint-Lazare for a summer stroll. Gare Saint-Lazare is the oldest station in Paris, having been renovated for the 1889 Universal Exhibition, the same year the Eiffel Tower was built. After going up rue de Rome to the Pont de l'Europe, the site of two famous paintings: Edouard Manet's Le chemin de fer and Gustave Caillebotte's Pont de l'Europe, we'll head back down to the station via rue d'Amsterdam. Can you follow us? So if you'd like to improve your French comprehensio...
Jul 31, 2024•7 min•Ep. 269
We're at Gare Saint-Lazare, in the Europe district, whose streets bear the names of capital cities. This summer, I'd like to invite you on a four-part historical, cultural and gourmet summer stroll! Where were we? Ah yes, Micaela and I were walking up Rue de Rome, the street that runs alongside the train station from the Cour de Rome up towards the Batignolles district. We're going to talk about painting today. So if you'd like to improve your French comprehension, discover this part of Paris an...
Jul 24, 2024•8 min•Ep. 268
Gare Saint-Lazare is a star! What is it? A station that doesn't even have a TGV? A star? But why? Well, there are several reasons. First of all, in terms of passenger traffic, it's the second busiest station in France (after the Gare du Nord). The station serves the western suburbs of Paris, as well as Normandy. It's also the oldest station in Paris. It opened in 1837. It has been painted by some very famous artists. Would you like some names? Gustave Caillebotte, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Ca...
Jul 17, 2024•9 min•Ep. 267
This episode is a re-run of an episode from 2020, at the end of the lockdown when we started to be able to move around. But it's also a very summery episode! This week, I'm on a kung fu course in Reims, the Champagne region! In the notes that come with the transcript,I give you a list of words from this episode that I find interesting to know. We'll also take a look at three turns of phrase and you'll see how to use them with examples. So if you want tobenefit from all the positive effects of ha...
Jul 10, 2024•7 min•Ep. 266
We have some major political news in France with the legislative elections since the President, Emmanuel Macron, dissolved the National Assembly. We therefore have to elect new deputies. There is a rise in the far right in France, certainly because people feel misunderstood more than out of racism. Still, it makes everyone a bit nervous. This rise is mainly affecting rural areas. The second round of legislative elections takes place on Sunday 7 July. My daughter Micaela is eighteen, so she voted...
Jul 03, 2024•8 min•Ep. 265
For the Olympic Games, which start in Paris in a few weeks' time, we have a beautiful poster. It was designed by the artist Ugo Gattoni, who studied art after a spell in the sports and swimming studies section. The poster took two thousand hours of work, and was produced on a graphics tablet, but entirely by hand. Anne-Laure and I got together to talk to you about this poster. In the notes that come with the transcript, I invite you to try your hand at collecting adjectives based on the last blo...
Jun 26, 2024•7 min•Ep. 264
Last week, on Thursday to be precise, our friends Isabelle and Thierry, Pietro and I, got on our bikes for a trip to Paris. Our destination? The Centre Pompidou, also known as Beaubourg. Until 1 July, the museum is showing an exceptional retrospective of the sculptor Brancusi. It's an extraordinary museum, with one of the best views of Paris. On the way back, we took the rue de Rivoli, which is now reserved for bicycles (but still has a lane for buses and taxis) and runs alongside the Louvre and...
Jun 19, 2024•8 min•Ep. 263
There was a change in the weather at the start of the week, with the sun that had finally returned giving way once again to rain. It's in keeping with the gloomy mood I've been in since the elections. I don't feel like listening to the news or the radio any more, so to take my mind off things I listened again to the concert by Lea Dessandre, Thomas Dunford and the Jupiter Ensemble, who played pieces by John Dowland and Henry Purcell last Tuesday at the Maison de la Radio. Felicia and I attended ...
Jun 12, 2024•7 min•Ep. 262
Last week, I dropped by the station in the early evening to drop off a book at the book box. I noticed that a florist had set up a stall there. The station is the focal point of the neighbourhood. It's on the border between Courbevoie, Asnières and Bois-Colombes. The railway line divides the Bécon district into two areas, the one on the Courbevoie side being the most commercial. But with the arrival of a new bakery and a new pastry chef, the area on the Asnières side is coming back to life. The ...
Jun 05, 2024•7 min•Season 17Ep. 261
A few days ago, my friend Caroline asked me to go with her to see a play at the Comédie Française: Les Démons, adapted from a novel by Dostoyevsky. The Comédie Française is our national theatre. It's a very prestigious place. Being part of the Comédie Française company is a great honour for actors. I accepted straight away, because I'd never been there before. Caroline had got the tickets from neighbours who couldn't make it to the show. I'm going to tell you about that evening at the theatre. I...
May 29, 2024•9 min•Ep. 260
