In August 1986, I had a particularly enjoyable walking/language course at St. Bonnet le Froid in the Massif Central.

Another language course was at St. Maur, near Paris in May 1999. At the end of a week of perfect sunshine, a tornado struck the city causing widespread damage and three deaths. I was returning to the city centre in the metro from a visit to Eurodisney and was held up there, so I was unaware of what was happening until I regained street level to discover leaves, floodwater, branches and even whole trees (in the Bois de Boulogne) scattered around!