France says, “Hey, WHAT?”
One of the readers of my “Hey, FRANCE!” post a couple of weeks ago left a really nice comment. Not only was it very kind, it was also left by someone who’s actually from France, making it especially important. Here’s what they had to say:
“Hello,
It is very nice you try to learn french in order to change france’s opinion of your contry. And you know, even if I am french, I will be happy when frenchies will learn english to change american’s opinion of us.
I’m with you,
gsempe from France,Toulouse (Take a look on google map)”
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the first victory in my goodwill mission. At least one person–someone who is actually from France–is on board. That’s one more friend that America didn’t have two weeks ago!
And that’s only counting the people who actually commented. Internet statistics show that something like 99% of blog readers don’t even bother to comment, so it’s somewhat likely that there are 99 other French people nodding their heads in tentative agreement with this cause right this very moment. That’s a total of as many as 100 new friends!
A New Weapon in the War on Contempt
“gsempe” has inspired me. His/her closing remark to “Take a look on google map” got me thinking: what if I did that and shared what I found? Then I got to thinking it would be cool to share what I learned about France on a regular basis. Then I thought of a really zippy title for a series of blog posts devoted to lifting the veil of secrecy that covers this mysterious nation and its people. And thus “Let’s Learn About France!” was born.
Every Monday (or thereabouts, depending on…stuff) in 2009 I will share something new that I’ve learned about France. In honor of our new friend “gsempe” we’re going to kick it off with a little bit of something about his/her homeland.
Toulouse, aka “La Ville Rose”
Here’s Toulouse on Google Maps:
Here’s the Wikipedia entry on Toulouse.
A few interesting facts about Toulouse:
- It is the fourth largest city in France
- It is the capital of the Midi-Pyrénées region
- In AD 407, the people of Toulouse repelled a siege by Vandals until the pesky Germanic hooligans gave up and went off to have a go at Spain
- Toulouse was hit by the plague twice: once in 1629 and again in 1652
- It is a major center of aeronautics
- Due to the lack of Internet communication tools like Facebook status updates and Twitter, the Battle of Toulouse took place four days after Napoleon’s surrender, leading to the needless deaths of thousands of soldiers who could have just gone home instead
Thanks to “gsempe” for the kind words and the inspiration.
