 |
| Not Disney; Lapopie! Image: Adam Baker via Wikimedia Commons |
Earlier this week, the second French national TV channel (the appropriately named France 2) announced this year's preferred village of the French in a program entitled (also appropriately), Le village préféré des français, said preference apparently established by an internet vote inclusive of the opinions of some 66,000 Frenchpersons. This perhaps then does not count as a strictly democratic election in a country of at least 65 million Frenchbeings (quadrupeds excluded), but it is certainly large enough of a random sampling to satisfy any modern marketing survey client, and this with no irregularities reported by international watchdog agencies, which these days is a rare thing indeed.*
The program, hosted by the omnipresent and gregarious Stéphane Bern, involved much discussion of food, drink and partage**, followed and/or preceded by actual partaking of food, drink and partage, and also featured cameo appearances by various French celebrities touting their favored localité (The iconic and equally omnipresent gastronomic critic Jean-Luc Petitrenaud is an adherent of Barfleur, par exemple).***
Whereas the actual program lists the Top 22 French villages of 2012, we here at ze Tao, owing to the recent digital ink shortage**** will forthwith cut to the chase and name the Top 10. All names link to their corresponding France 2 pages, which, while not at all in English, do contain some excellent pictures and further links.
Nord-Pas-de-Calais
(Welcome to Ch'ti country.)
(Welcome to Ch'ti country.)
Limousin
Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
(Easily the most famous of the list.)
(Easily the most famous of the list.)
Aquitaine
Alsace
Rhône-Alpes
Auvergne
Basse-Normandie
(A Norman embarkation site; 1066 & etc.)
(A Norman embarkation site; 1066 & etc.)
Languedoc-Roussillon
(Le « coup de coeur » du Tao de France / our personal favorite)
Midi-Pyrénées
À savoir: The full program, while perhaps not available in your area, is available in magazine format worldwide (en français, bien sûr).
 |
| Hors Serie = Special Edition Image: Uni-éditions |
And for those requiring more than 22 authentic French-village type getaways, (obsessive travellers, compulsive list-makers, obsessive-compulsive comparison shoppers, village people et al.), we suggest perusing the official site of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, which, as the name rather strongly hints, is a network dedicated to promoting its member villages, which do indeed appear to be among the most beautiful in France (appropriately).
Post by Monsieur Ouestbrouq
* We have since learned that at least one international watchdog agency was across the street grabbing a quick croissant and petit café and paying absolutely no attention whatsoever, which may go some ways to explaining the 93,714 (later discounted) votes cast for "Casa Berlusconi".
** Partage = sharing, a fundamental French social value.
*** "Petitrenaud Sings; Barfleur Bar None", now available on 8-Track, wire spool, eggbeater or manual whisk from all reputable kitchen supply outlets.
**** You're on your own with that one.
No comments:
Post a Comment