On this page, I’m going to share with you the pictures and videos of our trip to Mont Ventoux in April 2022. I was planning on writing this audiobook, so Olivier and I rented a house in Malaucène and based the story on activities and places we actually experimented ourselves!
I would take notes and pictures, then write the next morning, then we’ll take off on our adventures in the afternoon. We even rented electric bikes – I had not been on a bike for… ages! We had so much fun – and hopefully, you’ll have too through the story of this audiobook.
A fun exercise I could suggest: first study the chapter and its vocabulary. Then use the vocabulary and expressions you’ve learned to describe the pictures out loud. The story is full of landscape descriptions – these were actually quite challenging for me to write. See what you can come up with!
Enjoy!
Chapter 1- Départ Pour Le Ventoux
This chapter presents the various characters in the audiobook: Thomas and Angela, the main characters of my audionovels Une Semaine à Paris and Une Semaine à Paimpol, and their friends: Isabelle and Tugdual, Malika and Jean-Pierre.
On the pictures, you’ll see me: Camille, founder of French Today, writer of the all the French audiobooks and the voice behind the recordings of the audio blog posts, audiobooks, audio magazine, and my husband Olivier, technical genius in charge of all the tech and IT behind the site, and the gentleman who answers the support emails you may send our way.
I don’t have many pictures to share on this chapter because our friends are on the road… But this is how the road looked like during a portion of our 10 hour drive from Brittany to Provence… De la neige ! Zut alors !
It really felt good when we arrived in Provence : look at these colors at sundown! As soon as we got into the house, I made a fire. Ahhhh… Les vacances peuvent commencer ! (With a good piece of meat cooked on the fire…. and of course a glass of wine – or two – À votre santé !
Since we’re talking about transportation, follow the links to visit related free articles on French Today blog.
- 70 French Train Words & 15 Sentences w/Audio & Video🚂
- French Plane Vocabulary & Useful Sentences & Audio Pronunciation
- Prepositions Used When Driving
The next article will be useful throughout the story – and your French studies !! – so you may want to bookmark it: 125 French Weather Terms w/ Audio Recordings
Chapter 2 – Description De La Maison
I loved the house we rented! So typical of Provence, and very private. The description in the chapter fits the reality as you can see with virtual visit: as a fun practice exercise, why don’t you describe the various rooms using the chapter and also the vocabulary in these related free blog articles?
- 80 French House Terms & Audio Pronunciation
- Flowering Trees in my French Garden
- Fine Arts, Painting French Vocabulary 🎨
- Painting in France
Chapter 3 – Visite De Malaucène
Malaucène is actually quite a large town, but with a cozy feel about it. Climb to the top of the mount in its middle and you’ll have an amazing view over the whole city. I love it!
Related articles on French Today:
- French Architectural Vocabulary
- Flower/Plants Vocabulary
- French Christian Religion – La Chrétienté ⛪️
Chapter 4 – Promenade Dans Les Vergers
Olivier and I did this walk many times during our stay: it’s so nice to be able to just leave the house and walk. I took so many pictures of these landscapes… Hard to choose! The pointy mountain with some snow on top in the background is Mont Ventoux!
Do you know how you can figure out the name of a fruit tree in French?
In general, you just remove the final “e” (if there’s one) and add “ier” to the end of the fruit:
Une pomme = un pommier
Un abricot = un abricotier
Therefore, with this free lesson 60 French fruit names with audio, you’ll be learning both the names of the fruits and the names of the fruit trees! There’s much more than fruits in this article : 450 food names, and I recorded them all for you. You may want to bookmark it.
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We’re talking birds in this chapter, so you may also enjoy 45 French Bird Names.
Now, my audionovel series “Une Semaine à…” are great to practice your French and learn a lot of vocabulary in context. Should you need help with the structure of the language, the grammar and the tenses, I strongly suggest you study with my “À Moi Paris ” French learning method. Clear explanations in English with many examples, illustrated by an ongoing bilingual novel: you’ll understand the theory and then you’ll get to see it used in the story (recorded in enunciated and modern French).
I’ve totally reinvented the curriculum to adapt the logic of French to English speakers: my method is structured and proven, and will help you create a strong French foundation, then gradually build up on it. Check it out!
A new approach to learning both traditional and modern French logically structured for English speakers.
Chapter 5 – Location De Vélos Électriques
We did rent electric bikes. They are awesome!!!
I actually recorded the explanations Alex gave us at “Provence Cycles” so that chapter pretty much wrote itself! I didn’t take many pictures… Hey, you know what a bike looks like, don’t you? But you may be interested in this bike vocabulary and Tour de France video (yes, they did ride through Paimpol !!). Here’s also a French English bilingual story about biking in Switzerland.
And here’s a fun video I shot when Le Tour De France rode through Paimpol!
Chapter 6 – Au Marché De Vaison-La-Romaine
Ahhh, the markets of Provence. We have a nice open market on Tuesdays in Paimpol, but it’s nothing compared to the one in Vaison-La-Romaine! Believe it or not, I actually bought a tablecloth there… So much of the story reflects what we actually did, I had a blast recording the story and reliving my stay!
The next four chapters are taking place in the beautiful town of Vaison-La-Romaine: I took so many pictures! So I’m going to display them in the various chapters, even though it may not exactly follow the story…
Vaison is infamously known for its river, which can become very dangerous very fast when it rains hard. Check out my French water vocabulary article and this bilingual story about floods in Paris.
I don’t have a blog post about buying on a market specifically, because I cover this topic in many of my French audibooks. However, you may enjoy this free article about the flea markets in France. It’s quite complete and comes with vocabulary, but also a bilingual story and even a video!
You’re interested in our audio method, but aren’t sure about your level? Follow this link to figure out your French level and take our audio quiz to test your spoken French level.
Modern French Level Test
20 Questions to REALLY test your modern French comprehension. All audio-based with full explanations. Completely free, no signup required
Chapter 7 – Au Marché – Achat De Légumes
The story now takes us to the food sections of the market: here again, I suggest you visit my French Food Names With 450 Audio Recordings article. You may need to review how we use quantities in French.
You may have noticed I went a bit crazy in the audio of this chapter and tried my best to replicated a French southern accent for you. Just like in any countries, the French accent varies depending on where you are. Here’s my article explaining the different French accents, with an interesting video.
The French southern accent is a bit closer to Italian… It “sings” more than my regular Parisian accent. Also, they tend to pronounce the French vowel E in words where it’s typically silent in the rest of France. I don’t know if I did it quite justice, but I surely tried my best.
Chapter 8 – Au Marché – Achat De Fruits
Ok, buying tomatoes and fruits… Here I’m going to go ahead of the story and include pictures of the medieval town of Vaison, across the bridge… And lunch!
In this chapter, I use the French imperative mood a lot. By the way, do you understand the concept of moods in languages? And just for fun, here’s a cute video of Leyla showing you the best way to eat strawberries…
Chapter 9 – Visite De Vaison
This chapter is rather long, and full of descriptions. It may have been a bit more challenging for you, and it’s OK. Dialogues are usually easier to follow than descriptions because you can guess a lot from the context and flow of the story. Here again, why don’t you practice your French by describing the pictures using sentences you’ve memorized from the story.
To be totally honest, this trip around we didn’t go to visit the Roman ruins. I did take a guided tour on another trip and remembered quite a lot, as you see. So no pictures, but you’ll find everything on the website of Vaison, which is worth a visit!
To complement this chapter, what about learning about archaeology in French?
If you’re subscribed to our montly French audio magazine, you may want to listen to this article about prehistoric France.
Chapter 10
Now you guessed it! My husband Olivier, who’s a great cook, actually made a ratatouille for us that night. You’ll find his very detailed ratatouille recipe here.
Did you know there was a very big food and wine section on French Today? Many recipes, tips about food and wine etiquette etc… Bookmark it and go there for fun or inspiration!
BTW, if you love cooking French food and have your own recipes (with original pictures) and would like to contribute to my blog, I’m looking for a regular “food and/or wine specialist”. Contact me if you’re interested!
Chapter 11 – Piquenique À Crestet
What a beautiful, beautiful village : don’t take my word for it: here’s the video! The video comes with music: why don’t you do the voice over and describe what you’re seeing?
Yeah, yeah… I took pictures as well! You’ll see the ones about the Dentelles in the next chapter… Toooooooo many pictures! It’s just too beautiful around here!
In the chapter, I refer to a vertiginous hike on the Dentelles: Olivier and I went with my family a couple of years back: enjoy!
After seeing all these pictures, you may be ready to jump on a plane and go to France: before you pick your destination, here are my tips to maximize your French practice trip to France.
Chapter 11 – Vues Grandioses Et Petites Frayeurs
I actually was poor Angela… It took me some time to get over the fear of the speed, but once I did, I really got a kick out of it! So, what about studying the French fear vocabulary?
Now, as you may have guessed, I actually know the Ventoux area pretty well because my sister lives there, and I often vacation in this part of France. You’ll find more videos of my various hikes, some with music, some where I talk (then you may turn on the subtitles in French or English).
Chapter 13 – Visite D’Un Vignoble Bio
We had such a good time at the Domaine Vignoble Alain Ignace. Alain gave us the grand tour and we had this great conversation, which I recorded for the story.
You’ll notice that Alain says “bé” a lot. It stands for “bien” and is a typical pronunciation of Provence. In French we have many “filler” words, like “et”, “donc”, “puis”, “hein”, or the sound “heuuuuu”… We use them when we’re looking for our words, or to punctuate our speech. Just as you may hear “like” or “then” in English. Follow the link to my article 15 French filler words with audio to learn more about this concept.
This filler words are quite disturbing for students who often try to translate everything (which you should try to avoid… Here are my tips to learn French efficiently). Yet, filler words and hesitations are an important part of modern spoken French.
And now for the pictures… Can you imagine drinking wine in this decor?!
Chapter 14 – Dégustation Et Oenologie Géologique
During our visit, Alain guided us as we tasted a few of his wines. It was super!
There are many articles about French wine on French Today in the wine and food section of the blog, but you may like these in particular:
- French Wine Phrases & Expressions
- 7 Tips For Drinking Wine Like The French
- 60 French Wine Terms
- Burgundy Wine Pronunciation With Audio Recordings
And now, more pictures!
Oh wait! I just remember I have an article about the French stone vocabulary!! There’s even a video!
Chapter 15 – Le Mont Serein À Vélo
We’re approaching the end of our story… Although Olivier and I didn’t climb Mont Serein on our bikes, we did drive to the top of it. And yes, we did go for the hike described in next chapter of the story…
If you follow French Today, you may be familiar with the concept of the French immersion homestays at a teacher’s home. Chantal is an immersion teacher and she wrote a bilingual story about climbing Mont Ventoux on a bike: enjoy!
Chapter 16 – Promenade En Montagne
If you enjoy hiking as much as I do, you’ll enjoy my article 60 French hiking terms.
What about another bilingual story about a hike in the Pyrenees this time?
And my final surprise for you: a video of our vertiginous hike!
If you enjoy these little videos, check out my YouTube channel: subscribe, react: it really encourage me to do more!
I hope you enjoyed studying with “Une Semaine au Ventoux” as much as I enjoyed writing and recording it. Actually, I have a favour to ask of you: if you could take a minute to leave a review on our site, it would be super helpful: we are only a 2 people company, we don’t advertise so word of mouth is our marketing strategy, and we rely solely on customer feedback. https://www.frenchtoday.com/review.
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