66 --- Yes, We took The London Eye

Anne and Lucie before they took the London Eye during their free afternoon in London.

The London Eye (also known as the Millennium Wheel), is the biggest Ferris Wheel in Europe; it's 135 metres high. It's the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, with over three million people taking the observation wheel in one year. It cost us 14 euros for a 30-minute ride. A good way to have a full view of the city of London, even on a cloudy day! And it goes very slowly. No one felt dizzy; no one felt sick; no one was afraid. And did you know that the passenger capsules were made in Grenoble, by Sigma? Each capsule holds 25 people, but if you go with a group, it's better to be in different capsules so that you can take photographs of your friends in the capsule in front of you!

Do you know why it's called a "Ferris Wheel" in English? Do you know the origin of the word poubelle in French? Do you know the origin of the English word sandwich?

You can look for the answers on the internet, or return to this blog where you will have the answers in the next entry.

Jane

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to feel dizzy = avoir la tête qui tourne ou avoir le vertige

65 --- Free afternoon: Guess what this group did!

I went with this group --- from left to right: Yvonne, Lucie, Jean, Nicole, Annie, and in the back, Joëlle, Anne, Josette, Amélie, Yvette, and Audrey.

More photos later.

Jane

64 --- Free afternoon: Marie Odile

Marie Odile writes:

I went with Michèle and Alain to the National Gallery, but there we separated because we wanted to see different things. I wanted to go to the Renaissance department (I'm a fan of the Early Italian painting---in French it's "primitif" *). I was amazed by the comments which we could read on little papers next to each picture. In just a few sentences you understand what is of particular interest in the painting. I had a marvellous time in this museum and would like to return there some other time.

Then I went to Harrods and admired the food department



and bought a nice little marmelade jar to put my homemade marmelade in. So now I have something to remind me of London every morning at breakfast time.

After visiting Harrods we met up with Simone to walk to the theater to see Billy Elliot. On the way there, we saw beautiful red brick houses





and remembered that it would soon be Easter

and we saw that spring was already here.

Marie Odile

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*Early Italian painting dates from around 1300 to 1500. I read that the French term "primitif" was perhaps invented in the 1920s.

63 --- Free afternoon: Shopping; The Royal Mews

Paul and Annie's free afternoon: Shopping. Here with Huguette and Gil in a very nice shop of luxurious fabric and lingerie in Oxford Street. Do you know the shop? It's Liberty's.

Monique C. and Monique F. had a different afternoon.

Monique C. writes:

During our free afternoon, before going to the theatre, we went to visit the Royal Mews near Buckingham Palace. We saw many horse-drawn coaches. One was marvellous!! A coach from out of a fairytale !!! The GOLD STATE COACH !!! It was made in 1762. It needs eight horses to draw this vehicle weighing 4 tons! The interior is lined with velvet and satin.

Since 1821, it is used the day of the coronation of the King (or the Queen). But the last day out was for the Queen's Jubilee in 2002.

We also saw the Australian State Coach (1988) which is heated and fitted with electric windows and air-conditioning!

And we saw a royal Rolls-Royce.

62 --- Our free afternoon

Thursday afternoon, our free afternoon. What did we do?

First Chantal C. and Marie Thérèse tell you about their adventures in the big city of London:

Chantal writes:

After our guided tour of the Tower of London on Thursday morning, the bus driver took the group to Harrods, the world’s most famous luxury department store. We had a free afternoon. So, Chantal D. and I had lunch inside Harrods and then we visited the store. Downstairs, you can see the Diana Memorial.

Then Chantal and I were on our own in London! We took the double-decker bus (very nice) to go to the big toy shop, Hamleys on Regent Street. I bought a boomerang there for my grandchildren. Then we went shopping at another big department store, Liberty’s.
After our shopping, we met the other students at Trafalgar Square. (We didn’t take the tube to go there). From there, we all went to Green Park for a picnic.
After that, we went to the theatre to see Billy Elliot. I liked the play very much.



Marie-Thérèse writes:


After we visited the Tower of London on Thursday afternoon, my husband Jean-Pierre and I went all over the city to look for a pub. We were going there to meet our friends.
In the city, there are many fast food places where people eat quickly, standing up.

Canary Wharf

After we had fish and chips for lunch, we got a taxi to go back to the hotel.
We visited the Canary Wharf area. This is a modern area with a lot of offices and blocks of flats, with shopping centres in the basements. There is a museum in Docklands but we didn't visit it because it was closing time.
On one side of Canary Wharf underground station is the London Stock Exchange. Numbers flash across the screen on the outside of the building.
These show company stock prices.
Out of their offices, the office workers and bank clerks stop in pubs and drink wine or beer. Men and women drink a lot inside the pubs or on the pavement outside standing up and talking for a long time.



Canary Wharf Underground Station

61 --- Tower Bridge

Here are a few of our photos of Tower Bridge, the world's most famous bascule bridge. There was much discussion among the students in the group concerning the number of times the bridge is raised each year. Wikipedia says about 1000 times a year. Other sources say less often. Certainly, it is raised less frequently than in the past! If you are curious, go to the Official Tower Bridge Website :
http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/TBE/EN/
There you can see a photo of the bridge being raised and you have all the dates and times of the scheduled bridge lifts. Start counting for this year!!

From here, our bus driver drove us to Harrods, the extraordinary department store, to do some shopping!

As you can see, many of us took the same picture!

Jane

60 --- Puns and ....Scones!

A few examples of puns, just for fun:

1. My dog is a champion boxer.

2. "Happy Moo Year" (2009 The Year of the Cow or Ox)

3. As the shoe said to the hat: "You go on ahead, I'll follow on foot."

4. A pun is a punishable offence.

5. Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.

(See Post 12, Melanie's list of the 10 Best Things in London, Number 8 and go to your dictionary for the meaning of "quoted"!))

6. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

7. I do it for the pun of it.

8. Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.

9. I'd like to go to Holland one day, wooden shoe?

10. A music shop had a small sign which read: "Bach in a Minuet."

That's enough!!!!

If puns are not your cup of tea.. and I do apologize because some are VERY difficult... here's my recipe for scones. They are SO easy to make.

225 g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
A pinch of salt
75 g butter at room temperature
50 g mixed dried fruit (I use dried cranberries)
1 egg, beaten
3 - 4 tablespoons milk

Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Then add the butter and mix with your hands until the mixture looks crumbly. Add the dried fruit and then pour in the beaten egg and add 3 tablespoons of milk. Mix first with a knife, then with your hands. Add a little more milk if the dough seems too dry. Make a ball then roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Use a glass to cut 12 round shapes about 2.5 cm thick. Place the scones on a lightly buttered baking sheet and the dust with a little flour.
Bake the scones for 10 to 12 minutes in a very hot oven, about 200° - 220°
Serve very fresh, split open, with butter, marmalade or cream.
They are best eaten on the day they are made. You can freeze them.
Enjoy them with a cup of tea!

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FYI = For Your Information:

Pronunciation:

"pun" rhymes with "one" "won" "done" "fun"

"scone" has two pronunciations: "scone" like "phone", "stone";
OR "scone" with the "o" in "not", "hot", "pot"

Scone, rhymes with "soon" = A village of central Scotland northeast of Perth. The old part of the village was the coronation site of Scottish kings until 1651. The Stone of Scone, or Stone of Destiny, which served as a throne during the coronation rites, was taken to England by Edward I in 1296 and kept in Westminster Abbey beneath the chair used during the crowning of British monarchs. The Stone of Scone was returned to Scotland in November 1996.
This is something Peter explained to us when we visited Westminister Abbey.

Jane

59 --- "Henri VIII: Dressed to Kill": A PUN

Before leaving the Tower of London we visited the exhibition in the White Tower: "Henry VIII: Dressed to Kill", where we discovered Henry VIII the warrior, the sportsman and the king. The exhibition celebrates the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII becoming King of England. We saw his armour, helmets and weapons.

What is the meaning of "Dressed to Kill?" Remember, this is the king who sent two of his wives to their death at The Tower of London.

"Dressed to Kill" here is in fact a pun = a play on words. (sometimes a play on different senses of the same word and sometimes on the similar sense or sound of different words.) In addition, we remember what a cruel husband Henry VIII was!

1) A knight is "dressed to kill" because he goes to war to kill the enemy. He is dressed in his armour and carries his weapons.

2) But "dressed to kill" also means "dressed in fancy or formal clothes."
"For the opening of the opera, she was dressed to kill."

3) Henry VIII had his wives Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard beheaded.

Return to the blog for a little more "pun fun" in Post 60.

Jane

58 --- UIAD tea rooms: Curious? Read Post 57

Thanks for these photos Marylène, Daniel and Philippe.

Good memories of our teatime together!

Anyone interested in my scone recipe???? Yummy! Return to the blog later!

Jane

57 --- London in the classroom

Back from our London trip, Jane had the great idea of organizing a tea party to give the English students who were not in London an English atmosphere!!!! As I was also part of the London trip, I helped Jane for this party in my English group. Jane set up the English classroom like a tea room with small tables (each for 4 students) well arranged in the room. We brought teapots and teacups...porcelain and not plastic ones !!! We made two different teas: Earl Grey and English Breakfast. Jane made scones and I brought shortbread which I bought in London. We ate the scones with butter and jam and cream.
It was actually like in a tea room!!! All the students were very pleased with this nice moment and Jane and I were congratulated for that.

Annie P.

Check Post 58 for photos sent by other students.

56 ---- Annie's photos of the Tower of London

Here are some photos which Annie P. took at the Tower of London.
Check the next entry, number 57: she'll tell you how we shared our London trip with the students who didn't go to London.

55 ---Henri VIII and the Tower of London:A QUIZ

Why do we think of Henry VIII when we talk about the Tower of London?

How many wives did Henry VIII have?
Many of my students can answer these questions now.

Ginette is going to share with us what she learned in her Thursday Conversation class. We read a text about one of the wives and we listened to more information about the other wives on a CD. But first, try taking this quiz to see what you already know (or what you remember from our classwork) about Henry VIII.

1. Henri VIII was born in
a. 1491 b. 1527 c. 1616

2. He died when he was ________ years old.
a. 62 b. 55 c. 49

3. He had __ wives.
a. 8 b. 7 c. 6

4. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had only one child, a girl named _________
a. Mary b. Jane c. Anne

5. Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn ________________________.
a. died in a hunting accident b. died of pneumonia c. was beheaded

6. The wife who gave him the son he wanted so much was _______________
a. Anne Boleyn b. Anne de Cleves c. Jane Seymour

7. Because Henry had not seen her before the wedding, this famous painter was sent to paint a portrait of the future Queen, Anne de Cleves. The painter was ______________.
a. Holbein b. Caravaggio c. Picasso

8. Henry never slept with his fourth wife---he said that she looked like a _________.
a. witch b. man c. horse

9. Anne Boleyn is the mother of Princess Elizabeth who would later become Queen Elizabeth I and reign for __________ years.
a. 30 b. 40 c. 45

10. How many of Henry's marriages ended in divorce?
a. 2 b. 3 c. 4

11. Henry's first divorce is the reason for
a. the loss of many of the Crown jewels b. the creation of the Church of England c. his health problems

12. How many of Henry's wives were beheaded?
a. 2 b. 3. c. 4

13. Henry called his young wife, Catherine Howard,
a. "his precious jewel" b. "a rose without a thorn" c." his little cabbage"(!)

14. Henry VIII was the second monarch of the House of ___________.
a. Windsor b. Tudor c. Stuart

Are your answers all correct?
Read Ginette's report to check your answers.
It's at the bottom of this post. Scroll down further.
But if you don't know the answer to number 14, Ginette doesn't help you. Look on the internet, wikipedia, for example. All the other answers are in Ginette's text.

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The Tower of London witnessed many tragedies particularly the beheading of two of Henry VIII's six wives.
Henry VIII (born June 28, 1491 and died January 28th, 1547) was probably the most famous King of England. He married six times!! An explanation: he absolutely needed to have a male heir.

1. The first time, in 1509, he married Catherine of Aragon. But Catherine couldn't give him a male heir. Only Princess Mary survived; the other babies died. Under the influence of his mistress Anne Boleyn, he decided to divorce Catherine. But divorce was forbidden so he broke away from the Pope and created his own church, "The Church of England" so he could marry a second time. This first marriage lasted 24 years.

2. Anne Boleyn married Henry in 1533 after his divorce. The English people didn't like this marriage and they thought Anne to a witch. And, she wasn't able to give Henry the son he wanted. In 1533 the little Princess Elizabeth was born; she would later reign over England for 45 years! This marriage lasted 3 years...Henry learned that Anne had not been a faithful wife, so she was beheaded in the Tower of London in May 1536.

3. Jane Seymour comes next. Eleven days after Anne's execution, Henry married Jane Seymour. In 1538 she gave him a son, Prince Edward. Unfortunately, Jane died of postnatal complications two weeks after Edward's birth. She was the only one of Henri's wives to receive a Queen's funeral. Henri asked to be buried next to her. They were married for less than two years but she is said to be the woman he loved the most.

4. Anne of Cleves
After two years of mourning, Henry married again for political reasons. His fourth wife was Anne of Cleves, a German princess. Henry wanted to make an alliance with a protestant country. He saw Anne for the first time in a very flattering portrait painted by Hans Holbein. It was love at first sight, so he agreed to marry her. But, when Anne arrived in England, he found her very unattractive and said (in private) that she looked like a horse!!! The marriage was never consummated and they divorced six months later!

5. Katherine Howard
In 1540, Henry was unhappy and depressed. He was also very fat and in bad health. Then he met a young fifteen-year-old girl, Katherine Howard, and fell in love. He called her his "rose without a thorn." He was infatuated by her. He was very generous with Katherine; he bought her diamonds, pearls and furs with rubies. But Henry's counsellors suspected that she was unfaithful and she was betrayed by one of her ladies-in-waiting. In fact, she had taken a former lover as her secretary! And she had a new young lover in the castle! Henry was very angry and on February 13th, 1542, she was taken to Tower Hill and beheaded. She was buried next to her cousin Anne Boleyn in the Tower of London. This marriage lasted only a year and a half.

6. Catherine Parr
Henry married his last wife, a wealthy widow in 1543. They argued over religion; she was a reformer, Henry was a conservative. She helped reconcile Henry with his two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Henry died before Catherine. She died in 1548.

TO HELP YOU REMEMBER HENRY'S SIX WIVES:

"DIVORCED, BEHEADED, DIED
DIVORCED, BEHEADED, SURVIVED"

Thank you very much Ginette!
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PS In the photo you can see UIAD students standing around the memorial, created in 2006 in remembrance of 10 people who were executed on Tower Green.

54 ---- The Tower of London, more photos

Thank you Anne Marie for these pictures: The White Tower, the Beefeaters and the ravens, and the guard, or sentry, standing at attention.

53 ---- The Tower of London photos; "Beefeaters", its origin

It's time for a few photos of the Tower of London.

A group picture; a guard; Melanie and a Beefeater, also called a Yeoman Warder.

(Do you remember the correct pronunciation of "guard"? I told my students to remember the film "Bodyguard".... Remember we don't say [gWard]!! NO "W".

Beefeater???? Melanie adds some interesting information on the origin of this name:

'Some people think the name Beefeater comes from the French word - 'buffetier'. (Buffetiers were guards in the palace of French kings. They protected the king's food.) However, it is more probable that the name Beefeater comes from the time when the Yeomen Warders at the Tower were paid part of their salary with pieces of beef. This took place right up until the 1800s.'

Melanie