Paris in July 2022
#ParisinJuly
Co-hosted by Readerbuzz and Thyme For Tea
Day 12
Le Tour de France
I am actually a French tutor, so before going on with my post, I’d like to highlight a point, that beginner students often struggle with.
That’s the problem of homonyms that have a totally different genre whether they are masculine or feminine. I believe we have about 70 of those.
And here is the perfect example for Paris in July :
Le tour de France
La Tour Eiffel (please pronounce [tuʁ‿ɛfɛl] (
listen) )
Anyway, when you learn new vocabulary (in any language that uses genres), you should always memorize a noun with an article.
Beware of text books with vocabulary lists at the end that have only nouns without their corresponding articles, usually these are not very good.
So, this being established, we can send the tutor away and focus on LE Tour de France.
Despite its name, Le Tour 2022 (July 1st-July 24) actually started with 3 days in Denmark this year. But the arrival as usual will be on Les Champs-Élysées.
I love watching Le Tour (you can watch online with a VPN), but not really for the bicycle!
The French have indeed a neat way of reporting it: with helicopters and also drones now, you can enjoy the wonderful and varied landscape (remember, France could fit in Texas, so it’s a very small country in comparison, but it has so many different landscapes).
And when the camera sees something interesting, such as a castle, a church, or the like, a journalist explains the name of the place, when it was built, for what purpose, etc. It is so very fascinating. And gorgeous.
You can actually use your mouse to “pre-view” the video, going under it, and then just click on places where you see the focus is on the landscape and not on the “cyclistes”.
Right now they are starting Les Alpes, and then it will be Les Pyrénées, so it’s really worth watching.
IS THERE A PART OF FRANCE YOU LIKE MOST,
FOR ITS LANDSCAPE?
Words And Peace 
Oh! I’ll have to follow le TdF on 19th July. It looks as if it’ll be going very near where we lived. When we lived in the Ariège, it passed our house on two occasions. And the year we came back to the UK, Le Tour began in Yorkshire, and passed our house again. I have no interest in cycling really, but I love the build up and the atmosphere.
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There seems to be crowds again this year! Enjoy! I prefer to follow from the quiet of my computer, lol
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Oh, me too. I’ve never gone further out than the front door to see what’s going on.
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I am actually shocked to see so many people packed on the side of the roads, no masks of course, but so close to each other and yelling. Perfect recipe for another mega covid wave in France
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And we might just beat you to it here in the UK…
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Oh no, again!
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I’ve never seen it, but will definitely have to consider watching it now!
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Worth it for the landscape at least
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It sounded it! I once took the train from the UK right to the South of France. It was a 5 hour journey but the views were great!
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I can imagine!
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And I had chosen a seat on the outside of the pair for toilet purposes and in the end no one had booked the other seat so I had double the space and could freely look out of the whole window!
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The best!
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I couldn’t believe my luck!
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Yes, really!
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I doubt I will do it again any time soon – especially as I now have a 3 year old 😂 but he does love trains…
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In a few years
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Yep 🙂
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I’ve always struggled to get the article/noun to match because there doesn’t seem to b any logic to why some objects are male and others female. Maybe there is a good rationale for it but I haven’t found the key yet…
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Don’t even look, for most words, there isn’t! Except that most words ending in -tion are feminine, because they come from -tio Latin words that are always feminine. Hence the importance of always memorizing a nun with its article
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That’s a good tip about the ‘tion’ ending. thanks!
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you are welcome
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I once saw a French children’s book that was supposed to teach the children English. Under each picture, was an English word AND an article. “The ball.” “The boy.” “The girl.” “The cat.”
It didn’t seem to occur to the authors that every article was “the” and we don’t need to memorize it in English. (That said, I’m often shaky on the genders of nouns, even when I think I know them.)
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
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this is hilarious actually, for once, the article was not really needed lol
For some reason, I thought you were actually Francophone
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I really enjoy watching Le Tour for all the reasons that you suggest! The scenery, the castles, the history! So good!
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It really is
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I’d love to be able to watch. It’s like the Olympics- I do love the events but I also love the landscapes and seeing the venues.
It always blows my mind that France could fit in Texas!
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get a VPN, you can even just get a free month for the summer if it’s the first time with a VPN company, then go to https://www.france.tv/sport/cyclisme/tour-de-france/
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This is the first year in ages my cycle-racing partner and I haven’t watched the Tour for hours on end because we don’t have that channel on our cable or free streaming. We’re seeing highlights but I miss it!
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I don’t have TV. Just go to https://www.france.tv/sport/cyclisme/tour-de-france/ with a VPN
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Pingback: Sunday Post #62 – 7/17/2022 | Words And Peace
I added the app this year to my phone, and I intended to watch highlights. So far, no, but there are still days left of the event.
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And you can also watch afterwards I assume
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