INFORMAL LETTER: Visiting Normandy

Dear Charles,

Thanks for the letter. What a coincidence that you want to go to the same place I’ve recently visited for a holiday! I’m glad you want to visit Normandy for the first time in your life and I assure you it will not disappoint you.

Normandy is a very fascinating place and it’s considered one of the most beautiful regions of France. I’ve been to Normandy three times in my life so I know the place quite well. One of its most interesting places is “le Mont Saint-Michel”, a small rocky island situated in the estuary of Couesnon River. It’s the second most visited place in France (after the Eiffel Tower) and the main characteristics of this place are its seascapes and its medieval castle from the 15^th century. I encourage you to take some nice pictures of this wonderful place and climb up to the top of the castle to enjoy its views. The second place I recommend that you visit is the coast of Normandy, where you can find tourist cities, such as Étretat, and historic beaches, such as the Omaha Beach.

However, the place you must especially go before leaving Normandy is Rouen. Rouen is a city on the River Seine in the north of France and it’s the capital of Normandy. I do not only encourage you to go because it’s the capital, but because of its beauty and its huge history. Some interesting facts about this place are for example that Rouen was the place where Joan of Arc was burnt or where Monet lived and painted for a long time of his life. 

Nevertheless, I don’t recommend that you go during certain periods of the year where there are more tourists because you can be very stressful, for instance, the months of July or August if you want to go to “le Mont Saint-Michel” or Giverny, (where the famous gardens that the impressionist painter Claude Monet used to paint can be found). Another fact to take into account is the weather, because it usually rains, although it is not usually very cold and you can enjoy the region most of the time.

In spite of these little inconveniences, I hope you’ll enjoy the trip and I hope to be hearing from you soon.

All the best

Alberto

French stereotypes

FRENCH STEREOTYPES 

Cyprien's video

Watching Cyprien’s video about the stereotypes of Spain, I‘ve decided to write about the stereotypes of France. I’ve been in France so many times that I could say that I know more about French people than from any other people with a different nationality. It’s for this reason that I’m going to write about their stereotypes from a very close point of view.

In relation with food the first stereotype that I realise when I’m in France is that all mornings, even if it rains, they go to the nearest bakery of their neighbourhood to buy a baguette for their breakfast, wearing a kind of beret and usually smoking. Another funny stereotype that I realise when I’m travelling by car in France is that every midday, especially during the holidays, they all park their cars in a service area to have what they call “le midi” (a very relaxing picnic that all the family use to have). And I think that the best known stereotype of French people related with food is that in all their dinners they must eat cheese with a glass of wine before dessert.

Apart from this type of stereotypes, there some others, for instance those which are related to their personality. Friends of mine say that the typical French man or woman is really arrogant, not very sociable and even apathetic, but it’s only because when they “travel to France” they only visit one place… Paris, and I agree with them in this point, because Parisian people can be arrogant and sometimes a bit self-centred, believing to be the centre of the world. However, in fact, the rest of France is extremely different from them, they are usually quite helpful, polite and quite happy, although I find they are not as open-minded as Spanish people are and they use to say that everything is okay when in fact, it’s not. Moreover, another aspect that I notice is that they use to idolatrise their sport players, even if they finish the second or third position (fact that Spanish people don’t do and I really appreciate it).

In conclusion, I think that I have a very different point of view from most of my friends that think they “have visited France”, but I find quite interesting what other people from other nationalities think about France when I’m in “l’Alliance française”, because they have truly visited France. And I reckon that these are the main stereotypes that I’ve confirmed during my stays in France.