ZipZap ! From A to Z

A holidaymaker’s alphabet

From A to Z  as in Avoriaz (74)

On my next holiday I shall go to …

• Avignon a aussi des allumettes

• Bruxelles boit beaucoup de bière blonde

• Cannes compte cent cinquante cinq cinémas confortables

• Dijon dessine des dominos

• Europe échange en euros

• Falaise fleurit forcément ses façades

• G...

Proper name or common noun, I’m in the dictionary

Many towns and villages have a name which also has a more general meaning. For example, Moulins is the capital town of the département of Allier (03) but also means “mills”, as in “moulins à poivre” (pepper mills) or “moulins à vent” (windmills) that you see in Holland or  in Steenvoorde, in Northern France.

Moulins-sur-Orne is the village where I was born, in Orne (département 61) which is in Normandy. The département Orne gets its name from the river which runs through it.

Alphabet of place names which have another meaning

• Aube (dawn), Alouette (lark)

• Ballon (ball),

• Camembert (a kind of cheese), Ciel (sky),

• D...

Off on holiday to France

• Make a list of the towns you would go through.

• Are any of them famous for cooking a special dish that you might like to taste?

• Or do they have some famous sights that you would not want to miss?

P for “Presse” (Press), “Poste” (Post Office), “Pharmacie” (Chemist’s)

Every town has its own sign which tells us about its history and its important activities. Coats of arms have given way to logos which often convey their message in highly stylized form.

Signs on shopfronts and advertisements provide us with   very handy clues.

                          A green cross will guide us to the chemist’s. 

You just have to look for a blue bird to find the post office where you can buy stamps for your collection. 

Clic Clac Photo!

What do visitors look for on the square in front of Notre-Dame cathedral which stands on an island in the middle of the Seine?

It’s the little octagonal bronze plaque which marks the exact spot (le point zéro)from which distances to Paris are calculated on French road signs. Placed there in 1918, it was the idea of André Michelin, the tyre manufacturer responsible for the Michelin Man, the red hotel and restaurant guide (“le guide rouge”) and the famous Michelin road maps. Tourists love to stand by it to have their photo taken.

Roads and motorways

Bison Futé (Wily Buffalo) helps you avoid traffic jams. In the holidays and on sunny weekends, there is always a lot of traffic on roads and motorways. Then it is best to follow “itinéraires bis” (secondary routes) whose green and yellow signs lead drivers on to minor roads with less traffic. Green shading along a road marked on the map shows that it passes through particularly attractive scenery.

“Bison futé” is a character invented to give motorists good advice about traffic (on the radio, on the internet, at the roadside...). At holiday periods or when people are driving home after the weekend, this clever little Indian uses his feathers to show what colour the day is: red or orange are the busiest days and he then advises you to put off your journey for a few hours to avoid the jams.