Experience Language: Experience Life!
Newsletter - July 2005

Bonjour and welcome to our July newsletter. Bonne lecture!

In this issue:

The Galettes and the Crêpes
The Brittany Fest Noz
Brand New Courses in Brittany
Christian Dior & Jules Vernes

The Galettes and the Crêpes

Did you know that the Galette, a savoury form of Crêpe, was the Bretons' staple food for centuries? Buckwheat flour, which was used to make the Galettes, was not only a fast growing cereal but also a cheap commodity. Being no good for baking bread, Buckwheat flour wasn't taxed like other flours.

The Crêpe, however, required a more luxurious set of ingredients like sugar, butter and white flour. This explains why its first recipes came from Paris.

Brittany later took over the Crêpe as one of its regional delicacies. This was likely thanks to the Bretonnes' cooking "savoir-faire" and to the new flavours brought back by their sailor husbands like rhum, orange flower and vanilla.

Click here for more recipes for Galettes and Crêpes

The Brittany Fest Noz

Although you can eat Galettes and Crêpes anywhere, a great place to have them is at a Fest Noz in Brittany.

A Fest Noz is a music and dance festival that takes place at night (noz = night). Fest Noz take place throughout the year, but mostly in the summer. Traditional Breton music is very similar to Celtic music and makes for very lively entertainment. If you do go to Brittany this summer, make sure you pack your dancing shoes!

Click here for more information on Breton music.

Click here to check where and when are the FestNoz this summer.

Brand New Courses in Brittany

We are pleased to introduce several French language courses at a fantastic school based in Brest on the Brittany coast.

The school is housed in a superb 19th Century manor house and is set in grounds of two hectares. They currently offer the following courses:

Christian Dior & Jules Vernes

This year, France is celebrating the 100th anniversary of two very famous French men: Jules Vernes, author of "Around the World in 80 Days", who passed away in 1905 and Christian Dior, the famous fashion designer, who was born in 1905.

Many celebrations for Jules Vernes are being held throughout the year in Nantes, his birthplace and Amiens, where he is buried. If you are planning a trip to the Pays de La Loire or to Picardie, make sure you visit the Jules Vernes website before you go.

For Christian Dior, several exhibitions about his life and work as well as other events are planned in his home town of Granville in Normandy. Click her for more information on Christian Dior

We wish you all a happy month of July.

The Experience Language Team

Experience Language is not responsible for the content of any external Internet links from this newsletter.