Autumn trees, birds, statues, a bear and largish cats...

The weather was wonderful this afternoon so I put on my coat and went for a long and leisurely walk in the Parc de la Tête d'Or. It's one of France's biggest urban parks. Trees here are beginning to shed their leaves in preparation for winter and that means that the park is particularly beautiful at the moment.

There weren't many people there because I arrived at about 4:30, when many people are still at work, but I didn't mind. It was almost as if I had the whole place to myself.

Here are some photos I took whilst walking around.

The park has several entrances and this is the first thing you see as you go through on of the smaller ones.

There is a lot of birdlife in the park and some species are not what you'd usually see in your back garden. Apart from the ducks that is.

Here is one of my favourite statues in the park. I appreciate its simplicity and it has been tastefully situated.

I wanted to take some pictures of trees and my route towards the most wooded area of the park went through the zoo. I'm not a big fan of zoos, but what can I do, they are there, so I thought I'd snap a few pixtures of some of its inhabitants. There's a bear....

...and some big cats too. The male lion was roaring and although I've heard lions roaring many times in my life it never fails to impress me. The leopard was prowling around quietly.

But I had come to see the trees as they changed colour and I took lots of photos of them. The first one looks like it's growing out of the top of the drinks and snacks stand and as I walked around I saw many other splendid colours.

But of all the many thousands of beautiful trees in the Parc de la Tête d'Or this is my favourite.

May I wish everyone an excellent evening.

The French are still the worst students in the English class

Yes yes, I know, my French is better than my photographic skills

That is the sober conclusion of a recent study carried out in 54 countries by EF Education First, an international  company which specialises in language training and related activities. The study, details of which were reported by Le Figaro, comes hard on the heels of similar results published by by the OECD and administrators of the TOEFL test. Yes, mes amis français, vous êtes mauvais, voire très mauvais, en anglais.

Unsurprisingly, Scandinavian countries top the list but France is one of the also-rans, including on a European scale where it is in a disastrous 23rd place. Worse, although the French language shares both Latin and Greek influences with English, countries like South Korea, Pakistan and Japan obtained better results.

Parisians are the best English speakers in France, and those from Lower Normandy the worst, that which puts them on about the same level as Peru.

The study notes that the French "do not seem to have integrated the importance of being able to speak English in a world which is becoming ever more globalised" and adds that these poor results "represent an obstacle for adults in terms of access to European and International markets" and that "the strong disinclination of the French to learning English is leading France to a classification in language levels which is lower than most of its neighbours. This mistrust in English may well threaten the economic performance of France in this difficult period."

The French education system is said to be largely responsible for this alarming situation and that "they put an emphasis on grammar and literature at the expense of the ability to communicate [...] The French are proud of the historic role that their language and culture have played around the world. France sees English as a form of individualism similar to capitalism in the United States and, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom. The English language is seen as being suspect because of this association."

It is very hard not to agree with these findings and my own experiences bear them out. I have even seen teachers refuse to teach English to younger children if they have the choice between teaching it and other languages because they are 'sick of being invaded by English and Anglosaxon culture.' The French education system is outdated and ineffective, as I wrote here, and the manner in which English is taught is unbelievably bad. The French language is taught as if only grammar and literature were important and students are not encouraged to create or to learn effective oral communication skills. This disastrous approach has been adopted vis-à-vis English and it is clearly not working.

But all is not yet lost. Britain and its culture are becoming increasingly popular among young French people and they seem to speak better English than was the case even ten years ago. Some French cable TV stations are beginning to broadcast English-language films in English with French subtitles and sales of books in English are slowly rising.

If I were to write a school report on France's English studies it would read something like "France must make more effort. An intelligent country, it is capable of much better results than this. More concentration and application will be necessary if France is to be successful later on in life."

Marks - 3/10 and must write 500 lines of 'I must improve my level in English.'

Class dismissed, you may leave.
 

Mohammed Merah: a sordid trail which leads from from terrorism to a reality which France ignores..

Mohammed Merah

The name of Mohammed Merah first hit the world's press in March of this year when the self-styled terrorist became the prime suspect in the killing of three off-duty French soldiers and four Jewish children and staff at a Jewish school in southern France.

He would be shot and killed by a police sniper in his hometown of Toulouse after a 30-hour siege and a shootout.

His story would normally have ended there and his name would eventually have been forgotten by all but his family and those of his victims but it was not to be. Since the killing of Merah the French press has continued to focus on his family, largely at their demand, and their drip-feed of revelations have given a horrifying insight into how Merah became a killer. The wildly differing reactions of various members of his family after the killings have painted a somber picture of their lives and they offer a revealing insight to she spread of Islamist/Salafist tendencies in France. They are also a tragic testimony to the harsh realities of life within France's Muslim community.

Many details of Merah's past became known soon after his death. He was brought up by his divorced mother in a climate of violence, he had "a violent profile from childhood and behavioural troubles", and he had been arrested and jailed several times for relatively minor offences. He once tried to commit suicide by hanging and French intelligence agency the DCRI had been tailing him for three years because of his connections to radical Islamic groups.


His older brother Abdelkader was also followed by intelligence agencies and he was arrested shortly after his death. Abdelkader now faces preliminary charges of 'complicity in murder and conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism in connection' with Mohammed's killing spree.

Shortly after that their father began legal action for 'murder with aggravating circumstances' against the police units who were involved in the siege and killing of his son. Press rumours began to speculate upon the possible existence of a sharp differences of opinion on Merah's actions within the Muslim community.

The affair had just begun to disappear from the front pages when a major development instantly propulsed it back into the spotlight. Mohammed Merah has a second brother, Abdelghani, and he recently announced the upcoming release of a book in which he relates his side of the story. Called 'My Brother the Terrorist', it makes for chilling reading.

He firmly condemns his brother Mohammed for his actions and goes on to allege that his family played a major role in Mohammed becoming an Islamic radical before denouncing "the hate, the racism and the antisemitism" which he claims were omnipresent within the family. He criticises the "indecency" demonstrated by his father when he accused the police of wrongdoing and  relates how Abdelkader insulted his girlfriend because she was Jewish and told him to "leave your dirty Jewish girlfriend." Abdelghani did not do so however and his enraged brother stabbed him seven times. Abdelghani also accuses Abdelkader of being instrumental in Mohammed's conversion to radical Islam.

He accuses his sister Souad of having similar tendencies and that she had told him several times that she was "proud of Mohammed and the crimes he committed", adding that she was proud that he had had the courage to become a Moujahidin.

The book was a bombshell and Souad in particular was outraged by it. Which is why she met with him and other members of the family in a park - where they thought they would not be seen - to discuss it. But they were seen, by a television crew from French TV station M6. They secretly filmed the whole scene and Abdelghani carried a microphone which recorded the conversation, although precise details of how this operation was mounted remain sketchy.

Souad was heard to say "I think well of Bin Laden and at least the Salafists are actually doing something." She goes on to say "I detest the Jews, all those who are massacring Muslims."

This led to more major headlines of course, and a Parisian judge immediately ordered the opening of a preliminary inquiry in view of charging her with 'apologism for terrorist acts.'

Abdelghani Merah has subsequently revealed that he has received "threats" from his family and that his mother has threatened to commit suicide in front of his own child if he allows the book to be published.

That is the sad and tawdry tale of the Merah affair so far, more shall surely follow, and there are major lessons to be learned from it.

Moderate Muslim clerics and the vast majority of the Muslim community deplored Mohammed Merah's actions, just as they deplored his father's decision to begin legal action against the police and have deplored Souad's opinions. They are also worried that the constant drip of insights into how Salafism spreads amongst Muslims will reflect badly on the Muslim community as a whole.

But their sentiments, if understandable, are misplaced. A large majority of French citizens know full well that the vast majority of French Muslims and the wider Muslim immigrant community are totally opposed to terrorism in the name of Islam, that they categorically oppose Salifism and radical Islam in all its forms, and that they wish to lead peaceful lives.

The irony of the situation is that the very fact that members of Merah's family are washing their dirty laundry in public should be seized upon as an opportunity to better understand not only how Salifism recruits in France, but also as a pointer to what should be done by French society to prevent Muslim children being brought up to hate and despise others to the point of wanting to kill them.

The truth is out in the open now and it is up to French society to face up to its implications as well as its duty to better integrate its Muslim communities. Terrorists deserve no quarter and intelligence efforts to track them and stop them acting should be intensified, but - and more importantly - it is time that France offered its Muslims the possibility of a better future.

France debates the 'Nutella tax'

Brown stuff in a jar

The renowned qualities of French cuisine go a long way towards explaining why the French are 'patriotic' eaters who sometimes find it difficult to adapt to foreign food. There are two major exceptions to this general rule however, the first being the massively popular McDonalds, which I wrote about here, and Nutella, which is an equally popular chocolate hazelnut spread.

So it's not surprising that there have been dozens of articles in the French press recently about government plans to impose a massive 300% hike on palm oil, which is one of Nutella's main ingredients.

Nutella is an Italian product which was first marketed in 1963 by Italian company Ferrero, but it has been produced in a subsidiary here in France for years in order to keep up with French demand. And demand there is. It has become such an intrinsic part of growing up that I imagine that many French people would say it was actually French.

I don't know what percentage of children don't like chocolate but it is surely very low, and that is why almost every French child slathers it onto bread or toast for breakfast before heading off to school. They eat it during their afternoon snack as well. But the appeal doesn't stop there because many of those children continue to eat it long after they have grown up. It can be found piled onto pancakes (often accompanied by sliced banana) poured into cake recipe bowls, and it is present in many desserts. Few French homes do not have a jar of it in the cupboard, and my god daughter would go ballistic if ever I forgot to make sure I had some in stock for when she comes to stay.

The problem though, is that about 20% of Nutella consists of palm oil, a product which is known to have a very high saturated fat level and which is suspected of contributing to obesity and even heart disease. Also, the widespread use of palm oil in food has led to deforestation in Malaysia, Indonesia and elsewhere in order to create new plantations of the oil palms from which it is derived. All of this has been used by the cash-strapped government as a stick to beat it with and try to introduce a 300% tax on it. The proposal has been approved by the Senate and will now be debated in Parliament.

There has been much public debate about the proposal too, and it was even defended by a nutrition expert in one article. Her argument was 'why pick on Nutella? After all, palm oil is used in many foodstuffs and even in schools.' She says that we cannot do without it but there's no problem if we don't eat too much of it. Well that's not easy given that it is used in many bakery products, biscuits, crisps, many kinds of processed food and low-priced restaurants.

This reminds me of a....oh, never mind...

That this tax should lead to so much press coverage and debate is understandable of course, given Nutella's enormous popularity, but despite all the hue and cry the bottom line is that the tax would only lead to an almost negligeable price rise of about €0.06 per kilo.

Still, all the debate and articles will have had one positive side to them, and that is that they have served as a reminder to the public that a balanced and healthy diet is important.

So, should we be allowing our children to eat Nutella? Whatever the answer it pays to do some research, and one enterprising young Frenchman has done just that in a startling manner. Here's a video of his simple experiment, which was cheekily put to the same music that Nutella uses in its ads. Be warned, the result of his experiment is NOT a pretty sight. I don't happen to like Nutella myself and this video is certainly not likely to make me change from my usual Weetabix, banana and milk anytime soon.

Bon appetit (?)

A drizzly day walking tour of Lyon city centre as seen by its statues

Yup, it's been raining and drizzling on and off all day here in Lyon. Still, it has been warm too so I decided to take a stroll around the city centre and take pictures of the statues there.

Not each and every one, because there are dozens of them including many modern ones too, just some of the older and better known ones which are pointers to the city's history.

So it's off to the south of the city centre by bus and to Perrache railway station before heading out and into the large public square in front of it. There are three statues there, including one of Marianne, who, as you can imagine, reigns from high above the other statues and us mere mortals.

The others may be smaller, but they are no less pleasing to look at. Here's a rather stern statue of someone but there's no information on who the person is and I can't tell from looking at it. Any ideas anyone?

But my favourite by far is this one. It's a small, simple, sobre, unassuming and moving tribute to those who died at Verdun in the First World War. Enclosed within a small memorial garden, it has been tastefully and discreetly isolated by an elegant 50-centimetre fence.

Perrache station is on the edge of the traditionally bourgois quarter of Ainay and there are quite a few statues there. One of them is in honour of André-Marie Ampère (20 January 1775 – 10 June 1836), the French physicist after whom the international measuring standard for electric current - the ampere - was named. I didn't take a close-up of him because I thought you might like to see the whole structure..

At the heart of Ainay lies a charming little square.....

....in the centre of which you can contemplate this elegantly slender yet imposing creation.

A little further north is one of the tallest yet least known statues in Lyon because it is discreetly situated in a small square right next to the Rhône river which sees relatively little pedestrian traffic. It's in honour of Antoine Gailleton, a famous doctor and native of Lyon who happened to be with French president Sadi Carnot in 1894 when Carnot was stabbed by an Italian anarchist. Gailleton tried to save his life but his efforts would unfortunately be in vain..

Lyon's most famous statue of all (but not necessarily the best in my opinion) is to be found in the third-biggest pedestrian public square in Europe. It's even bigger than Red Square. This square is the true centre of the city and the statue of Louis XIV is right in the middle of it. It's the traditional meet-up place for lovers and friends who are going out for the evening and everyone here knows what you mean when you say "okay, I'll meet you under the horse's tail at half-past seven."

(I know you can't see much detail in this photo (dunno what happened there) but I quite liked the ominous 'shadow' effect against the sombre clouds.....)

And in case you were thinking of climbing up to say hello to the King you should know that he has deployed a couple of rather fearsome-looking guards below him, at the base of the plinth. You shall climb at your own risk and peril....

A side-street off Bellecour leads onwards to the Place des Jacobins and one of the most beautifully proportioned and situated statue-fountain structures to be found in the whole of France or anywhere else for that matter. It has just been cleaned and the effect is stunning. Here are two views of it.

So now I have walked the whole way across Lyon city centre to the other end and this is the statue which stands before the City Hall. It's an extravant explosion of expression. But that's not surprising really, given that it was created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the man who also happened to design the Statue of Liberty......

It's dark outside as I type, but most of those statues are not in the dark, they have been tastefully lit up for the pleasure of those who are strolling the streets of Lyon. I intend to take another series of these statues at night, when they take on a whole new aspect.

Meanwhile, have a good evening, full of good things.

Fripouille

The platform at my local Metro station is 40,075 kilometres (24,901 miles) long

When I go down the escalator and onto the platform at my local Metro station I am on the beach in Nemuro, a mid-sized town on the extreme west coast of Hokkaidö, Japan. If I want to walk to the other end of the platform though I first have to swim across thousands of miles of vast and empty Pacific Ocean....

....before I reach land. I'm in Seattle, so I get behind the controls of a plane and fly over America and its myriad spectacular mountains, brooding and dangerous deserts, bustling metropolitan big cities, towns and villages.

I decide to push a little further north and pick up a full load of fuel in Montreal (the pretzels aren't much good there) before taking off again with a flight plan which will take me over Newfoundland's black and bleak terrain and out into the freezing northern Atlantic towards Europe.

Midway over the vast blue Atlantic however I see something unusual. I can hardly believe it's there so I rub my eyes, but, incredibly enough, it's clear that I am flying over what looks like a Metro station information board with an emergency phone next to it and a Metro map after that. The whole thing seems to cover an area of about 1500 miles by1750. Hmmm.. Maybe my oxygen levels are low and I'm starting to become delirious.

So I descend to 11,000 feet in order to be able to rely less on pressurisation and it's just as well. I have drifted off my original course and instead of flying over Scotland I am just off the coast of France. Time to stop for a rest in Paris and eat a good meal at Fouquet's.

Then it's off I go, heading slightly south over Eastern Europe. It's an area which I, like many other Western Europeans, don't know much about. I must make a point of going there one day. But not today so I press on over the northern expanses of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.....

....and along the borders of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan where it's getting dark before realising that if I stay on this course I'll soon be over Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the safety interests of all my passengers, which means me, who does not want to finish the day being either shot down by an F18 or executed by the Taliban I climb to 39,000ft and steer well clear....

Over the forlornly beautiful Mongolian Steppes I go and I remember that I have always wanted to go trekking there. That will have to wait I suppose, but those windswept swathes of land have existed  almost unchanged for hundreds of thousands of years and more so I am sure they will still be there if ever I were able to go.

Ever onwards I go high over the sparesly dotted lights of the towns and cities of China. In some places there are lots of lights, but most of it is forbiddingly dark. What does that mean? I do need fuel though, and decide to half-fill during a quick stopover in Beijing. After taking off again I keep North Korea well off to the south. I can just see it far beyond the tip of my right wing, and that's close enough thank you.

And then I finally find myself over the calm waters of the Sea of Japan, with less than 90 minutes to fly before landing where I started, in Nemuro, the mid-sized town on the extreme west coast of Hokkaidö, Japan from which I started my voyage. The whole trip, with its changes of course, is the equivalent of flying round the world along the Equator, which is 40,075 kilometres - or 24,901 miles - long.

Each time I go to my local station and wait for a train I either walk along the platform whilst looking at the world map and go on an imaginary voyage, or I stand still and study a particular region of the world and concentrate on it. This evokes strong imagesin me and I can almost feel like I'm in the places I am looking at on the map.

So even if the trains are running slow I never notice the time go by, engrossed as I am by the map and what it evokes. I can be anywhere in an instant. So my train is two minutes late? Five minutes late? Who cares frankly. I have better things to do because although Jules Verne was able to go 'Around the World in 80 Days', I can do it in less than 30 seconds........

Lyon: The Place des Terreaux and the gardens of the Fine Arts Museum

Lyon's Fine Art museum is one of the largest in France and Europe. A massive four-sided construction surrounding a large courtyard/garden, it is a magnificent XVIIth century building and its 70 spacious collection rooms and areas are home to many fine collections of paintings, sculpture, artefacts and other art forms dating from antiquity up until modern times.

The museum is situated in the heart of the city centre and one of its facades constitutes one whole side of the city's most beautiful public square, the Place des Terreaux. This photo can only take in half of its length.

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon

The square is dominated by the Town Hall, a sumptuous and imposing building which is well worth a visit in its own right. It was built between 1645 and 1651, although it has been renovated since. 

Hôtel de Ville, Lyon

One of the other sides is occupied by this elegant and wildly extravagant statue - the Bartholdi Fountain - which was sculpted by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1889, just a few years after he had designed the Statue of Liberty.

La Fontaine Bartholdi, Lyon

You can get a better idea of how beautiful the Place des Terreaux is by going here. Click left, hold, and move around on the moving panoramic video.

If ever you visit the Fine Arts museum, you will go through one of the entrance gates before crossing over one of these gorgeous cloisters....

...and emerging into the gardens.....

...at which point you shall instantly forget that you are in the centre of a major city. You are now in an oasis of peaceful calm with statues dotted all around amongst the trees, attractive flowerbeds and pathways, and there are benches everywhere to sit on in order to relax and take it all in. These statues are by renowned sculptors from well over a thousand years ago up to the 18th century, and it is not uncommon for first time visitors (and even regulars) to stop and spend some time in the gardens either before or after (or both?) entering the museum itself....

I have chosen not to describe them and their creators because I thought they didn't need my words, they just need to be looked at, although I shall be only too pleased to offer information on them in comments or in answer to email.

I hope you enjoy them and may I wish you an excellent evening.

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