Carla visits Maine-et-Loire

With connection to her foundation's programme to combat analphabetism, Carla visited the area of Maine-et-Loire.

The First Lady visited the workshop of Francepal, in Durtal. The association helps people to learn how to read and write and, all in all, integrate into community.

She also explained these type of organisations are what makes her foundation possible and said it was willing to help.

View a video of the visit here!

Photos by Ouest-France: check all the pics here!

Carla goes skiing in Megeve

Just after receiving the Haitian orphans at the Airport Charles de Gaulle in Paris, Carla left for the station of Megève, where she spent some time with friends.

Source Hola

I came across not long ago this interview that Carla gave to Vogue just after being First Lady for a year. I found it quite interesting and it has a lovely photo on the cover of Carla with one of her puppies.

Here's the bits that caught my attention about Carla, but it's definitely worth a read!

On lifestyle:

"I have an austere temperament," she says. "There are things that give me no pleasure: objects, clothes, jewelry. I've worn them all, but all that stuff interferes with my daily life." She does her own hair. According to her friend Farida Khelfa, "Carla hates shopping and would wear the same pair of trousers every day if she could." Makeup doesn't interest her—"It takes forever and doesn't make you look better after 30." A beauty at 41, she looks a little like a cat, a little like her mother, a little like an actress during rehearsal: all there, no facade.

About life changes when she married Sarkozy:

"It opened my eyes. Before, I lived in a privileged bubble. My view of the world was constructed in a life where I never saw real action, only listened to a lot of words, and words spoken by people who live in Saint-Germain des Près. There's a big difference between the intellectuals of the Café Flore and people who actually have power, between thought and action. Thought can be free, but action is never free—it has to deal with reality."

On her impact on Sarkozy:

"Sarkozy was perceived as a man without much culture when Carla came on the scene. She drags him to desperately abstract plays that he sleeps through, but he's thrilled; she makes him watch DVDs of foreign films in the original language; she's made him into the kind of man intellectuals can be seen with. She ennobled him; she made him elegant."

Carla gives interview to RTL, confirms visit to India and Haiti

Carla gave an interview to Harry Roselmack and they spoke about several affaires concerning France (Villepin in particular), about her visit to Bening and also about her role. In the interview she confirmed a visit to India in March or April and a possible visit to Haiti in May, but still unsure due to the situation.

She also described herself as a "bit of an ermite":

J'ai toujours vécu comme une ermite. Et cela ne s'arrange pas avec le temps. Je ne suis pas forcément quelqu'un de très sociable. Et en tout cas, je n'ai pas envie d'intervenir sur les sujets d'actualité à tout bout de champ. [...] Moi, je répugne à m'exprimer quand je suis incompéténte ou ignorante. Certains devraient peut-être d'ailleurs suivre mon exemple, cela ferait des vacances à tout le monde. Il me semble que ce qui intéresse les Français, c'est ce que je peux faire pour eux. J'essaie d'être utile, voilà tout."

Translation by Google Translate:

I have always lived as a hermit. And this does not improve with time. I am not necessarily someone who is very sociable. And in any case, I do not want to speak on the topics at every turn. [...] I reluctant to speak when I am incompetent or ignorant. Some may need to also follow my example, it would make a holiday for everyone. It seems to me that what interests the French, that's what I can do for them. I try to be helpful, that's all. "

You can view a short video here on the Villepin case