The picnic seems as quintessentially British as queuing and discussing the weather. Come rain or shine, hikes in the countryside go hand in hand with picnics – from squashed clingfilm-wrapped sandwiches eaten in the car to gourmet hampers at posh outdoor events. Picnicking features in some of the greatest British literature from Wind in the Willows to Women in Love by D H Lawrence. But, what if I told you that the treasured picnic isn’t actually a British invention and was in fact concocted by the French, says British food writer Ally Mitchell.

The French are notorious trendsetters in the worlds of fashion and food, but it looks like they have a claim on the world of picnicking, too. Believe me, this is one to gnash our teeth about. Little do they know how treasured this outdoor dining activity is to Brits, along with the obligatory pork pies and crumbly scotch eggs – for the uninitiated, this favourite British snack is a boiled egg, wrapped in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs and either deep fried or baked.

Le Picnic!

The term “picnic” is clearly a direct anglicism of the French “pique-nique” – however, this French word has unknown origins. “Piquer” means “to peck” or “to bite” and “nique” – according to various sources – means “a small amount” or “nothing whatsoever” (and is also a slang swear word). Some historians say that there is evidence that picnics were popular in France as early as the 13^th century when nobles would take food with them on hunts. That said, “pique-nique” was first used in the seventeenth century in a burlesque comedy in which the protagonist, Pique Nique, was an outrageous glutton. “Pique-niques” in France in those days were all the vogue for members of the high society, always held indoors, included entertainment and required guests to contribute dishes, a sort of gourmet French potluck.

Picnics grew in popularity in the eighteenth century and were regarded as a feature of salon life in the homes of the wealthy, a place for intellectual conversations and refinement. However, France was on the precipice of change. We have the French Revolution to thank for modern French society and politics, and also for the picnics we know and love.

The picque-nique becomes the picnic!

Aristocratic picnickers were in line for the guillotine, and many fled to Britain. Trying to maintain their upper-crust ways of life, they introduced pique-niques to their adopted country. This practice was embraced with enthusiasm, in particular by a group of 200 wealthy Francophiles – including, rumour has it, the Prince of Wales – and in 1801 the “Pic Nic Society” was formed. In hired rooms in London, wild gatherings were held where admittance cost a dish and six bottles of wine per person. The Pic Nic was accompanied by general singing, dancing, gambling, risqué behaviour and an amateur play. Deeming it a risk to local West End profits, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, owner of London’s Drury Lane, petitioned for the Pic Nic Society to be shut down as a “threat to morality”.

Within a few decades, picnics emerged unscathed from the elite’s hedonism. And they moved outdoors, a practice shared in the journals of Dorothy Wordsworth (1800) and in Jane Austen’s Emma (1816). During this era of Romanticism, escaping to the country was at the height of fashion. Gone were the picnicking dances and gambling, instead food became the focus.

In France however, there was resistance to accept the new fad of outdoor dining as it was associated with the frivolous fêtes champêtres – garden parties – of the pre-Revolution aristocracy. Lavish outdoor luncheons had been routinely enjoyed by courtiers at Versailles, particularly by Marie Antoinette in her own on-site fully-functioning fake village, Hameau de la Reine, with its working farm and dairy. Eventually though the reluctance was overcome, and the trend caught on in France too.

The picnic goes posh!

Meanwhile, in Britain, picnics had become social occasions of high status. Mrs Beeton, one of the earliest celebrity British cookbook writers, included a chapter on picnic catering for 40 guests in her best-selling “Book of Household Management”. Her recommendations included ribs and shoulders of lamb, roast ducks and fowls, pies, a calf’s head, and six lobsters. Plenty of cakes and biscuits were listed to be served along with tea.

After the Bank Holiday Act of 1871 in the UK, the improved transportation links included “picnic trains” which carried working class passengers to the country. Picnics were no longer exclusive and became a distinct component of city-dwellers’ daytrips.

Another French revitalised invention to aid picnicking was the hamper. The “hanapier”, a goblet case (in days of old travellers took their own dishes and cups with them), was first introduced to Britain by the Norman invader, William the Conqueror. Over centuries, the cases morphed into refreshment baskets for travellers, and by the nineteenth century, Fortnum & Mason of London had the monopoly on ready-packed picnic hampers.

And it may surprise you to know that it was actually this luxury department store that invented the scotch egg as a snack for travellers in 1738. The pique-nique or picnic, is, it could be argued, a testament of what Brits can shape out of French inventions, even if it comes with our worryingly well-preserved scotch egg!

How to make a typical French pique-nique

A baguette fresh from a boulangerie is of course de rigeur!
Charcuterie – cured meats, ham, saucisson, and paté.
Cornichons – the little crunchy gherkins
Pan Bagnat – a southern French speciality. You take a large round loaf (a boule), Cut the top off and scoop out the inside, then fill it with layers of your favourite things – olives, herbs, salad, sliced tomatoes, roasted red pepper, cheese, cold meat, drizzle some olive oil and season the layers, put the lid back on – and it’s ready to eat!
Quiche Lorraine – a cheesy tart you can eat hot or cold.
Cheese – blue, creamy, goats’ milk, dry, crumbly, cows’ milk, brebis (sheep milk), slathered in herbs, edible flowers, truffled… so much choice!
In cooler months – raclette is popular, melted cheese scraped onto a slice of baguette!
Cake – from a patisserie or maybe a lemon tart or tarte tatin – perfect for sharing.

Spread out a red and white check tablecloth, place your picnic food on the cloth, Frenchify it by adding some fresh fruit, a bottle of wine and some glasses, a few sprigs of wildflowers – and there you have it – the perfect French pique-nique!

Ally Mitchell is a blogger and freelance writer, specialising in food and recipes. Ally left the UK to live in Toulouse in 2021 and now writes about her new life in France on her food blog NigellaEatsEverything.

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Art de vivre is something that French people take for granted every day. And, it’s something that people who visit France really love. But what actually is art de vivre, and where does it come from? Janine Marsh explains its roots, its manifestations, and how everyone can practice this cultural philosophy. 

What exactly is art de vivre?

Art de vivre means the art of living well, the good life. It’s a uniquely French approach to life, about savouring the moment, living life with passion and elegance. It’s a fundamental part of the French psyche, and embodies a lifestyle that prioritises pleasure, beauty, and sophistication in everyday activities. Art de vivre covers everything in daily life from leisurely meals that celebrate gastronomic excellence to the careful selection of fashion and décor. It’s about embracing joy, cultivating taste, and living harmoniously. And it’s a philosophy that has been woven into the fabric of French history, influencing how the French eat, dress, socialize, and even think.

Now that could sound a bit complicated, so let’s break it down. Writer Francoise Hertel described art de vivre as: ‘The art of living life to the full is not so much about complicating the simple things as it is about simplifying the unsimplified” (‘L’art de vivre pleinement ne consiste pas tant à compliquer les choses simples qu’à simplifier celles qui ne le sont pas’).

What art de vivre really means is a life that is joyful, spent surrounded by things that give us comfort and pleasure. But it’s more than that, fundamentally its about striving to find happiness in the small moments. It’s about appreciating and finding pleasure in the ordinary parts of everyday life, always discovering something to smile about.

History of art de vivre

But why do the French practice art de vivre you might ask! Well, the whole idea of it goes back to the time of the French Renaissance, the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries. It was a time when France was a crucible of artistic, intellectual, and culinary innovation. Leonardo da Vinci lived in the Loire Valley, King Francois Ier of France who was known as the Renaissance King, encouraged an appreciation for beauty and pleasure in all forms. And that appreciation for the finer things in life never went away, and became a part of every day life.

How does French art de vivre work in daily life

Today when we say art de vivre, we mean the art of appreciating beautiful things. It’s taking the time to admire a place, the efforts that someone has gone to in order to create a delicious dish, a good wine. It’s something that encompasses small pleasures and big celebrations. For instance, it’s time spent with family without rushing, or going to a cultural event. It’s sitting at a table on the pavement outside a café with nothing to do except sip black coffee from a pure white cup and watch the world go about its business. It’s taking time to appreciate a beautifully laid table, a jewel-like cake. It’s nibbling the end of a baguette on the way home from the boulangerie or sharing a bottle of wine with friends.

Art de vivre is about visiting an art gallery to admire the work of an artist, or reading a book at home that moves you. It is about enjoying a beautifully arranged vase of flowers, the details of well-crafted clothes, the label of a wine bottle or a stolen kiss… It’s taking the time to appreciate a platter of cheese, made more beautiful by the addition of seasonal flowers.

Art de vivre is in the details of small things. Take Petit Lu biscuits! They’re like miniature works of art when you look closer. At first glance, these popular cookies look just like any other square cookie, albeit with an ornamental jagged edge. But if you have nothing better to do, you may count the jagged bits around the edges which number 52 and represent the number of weeks of the year. The four corners represent the seasons. The words L.U. PETIT-BEURRE NANTES are cut into the biscuits, and around them are 24 pinhole perforations – the 24 hours of the day. The design hides a message: you can eat these biscuits any time of the day, all year round!

It’s embracing life to its fullest every day, noticing the small things and finding them a big pleasure. It’s taken for granted in France, it’s something the French grow up with, being taught to appreciate how much effort has gone into something to change it from ordinary to extraordinary, and they teach their children to do the same. The perfect example is gastronomy. The French meal, which is recognised by UNESCO as a cultural treasure, is about emphasising local ingredients, meticulous preparation, and sharing. You could think that it’s fairly mundane to prepare an evening meal for the family, especially if you buy something convenient from the supermarket, perhaps sat in front of the Television to eat it. And yes of course in France people do that – but not all the time. The French meal often starts with planning it, discussing it, buying the ingredients then eating it, each stage to be savoured.

My French neighbours love to talk about what they’re going to cook and where they will buy the ingredients. And meals with friends can go on for many hours, it’s about sharing and showing appreciation of the ingredients and those you share with.

How to practice art de vivre

To practice art de vivre, embrace simple moments and elevate them to a moment of pleasure. Don’t rush your cup of coffee, take time to relax and enjoy. You might stroll through the forest on a sunny afternoon, feeling joy at a beam of sunlight cascading through the leafy canopy, when you share a meal with friends – revel in the experience.

Practicing art de vivre means paying attention to the small things, embracing the simple things, and transforming everyday rituals into memorable moments to savour and appreciate. In essence it means slowing down and relishing the moment.

Janine Marsh is the author of  several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com. Join Janine on her week long Perfect Paris Tours (spring and fall) and enjoy art de vivre in the city of light!

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A light-hearted look at some of the common stereotypes about the French – from fashion to rudeness and smoking like chimneys. From the famed French culinary prowess to reputation for romance. A land where people apparently say ‘Oh là là’ every five minutes and eat frogs’ legs at a drop of a hat (or beret). Let’s separate the fact from the fiction, confirm or debunk those French stereotypes, and have some fun along the way…

Berets, baguettes and beyond!

If pop culture – and Emily in Paris – are anything to go by, every French person owns a striped shirt, a beret, and walks around with a baguette under their arm. Last time I was in Paris, I must’ve missed the mandatory beret shop! But seriously, while berets are a traditional French accessory, they’re not a daily fashion staple for most French folks. Some people do wear them, you do see old timers wearing them at the bar sipping a pastis (another stereotype but it is true!), especially in the south. And in the Basque country, berets are quite traditional still.  But no, it’s not something you see every day in most of France so that’s false.

And the baguette? Well, that part’s true I think – the French do love their bread! And quite right – French bread is the best in the world. And a baguette does fit nicely under the arm. I’m going to say this is true.

The French learn to love baguettes from a young age. Parents give the crunchy end to teething babies, baguettes are eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner. And a good baker to be an artist.

The striped T-shirt that’s so French

The stripy t-shirt that is considered an icon of the French wardrobe is called a marinière in France, and was traditionally worn by sailors. Coco Chanel made it a French couture item when she introduced it into her collection in 1917 – and it’s a been a firm favourite ever since! Pretty much everyone seems to have one here in France. You can the wear the striped top with jeans, tailored trousers, accessorise with a scarf – simple but sophisticated.

The French are rude

I don’t even know why people think this, perhaps partly from the idea that waiters in Paris can be a bit surly at times. But, that’s Paris – that’s not France. Paris is like a different country even to the French! I think that partly this myth comes from a slew of new stories and popular culture – like the 1985 film European Vacation, about an American family who visit Europe for their holiday and in France they come across a Parisian waiter who insults them and offers them dishwater to drink!

Meanwhile a French waiter in Canada was from a restaurant because his bosses said he was aggressive and argumentative and a bit of a bully to his colleagues. But he said that he was not at all rude, he was only guilty of being French! He appealed against being fired because he said that being French, he was more direct and honest than his colleagues and they mistook this for rudeness! Apparently, his bosses said he was a very good employee, professional, great with customers but brusque with colleagues. The appeal committee granted him the chance to present his case against being fired and provide evidence about what exactly the stereotype is with respect to people from France. I don’t know what the outcome was. But clearly a lot of people believe that French people are rude!

Of course, I can’t speak for every French person, there are after all some 67 million people in France and logically there must be some really really rude ones in amongst that lot. But after 20 years of having a home here, I haven’t seen a shred of evidence to support the common belief of many that the French are generally rude and arrogant.

In fact, if anything, they are the politest race I know, and I’ve been to more than 15 countries! Everyone says bonjour when they enter a shop, and I think that’s so polite and respectful, when I go back to the London to visit my family, I always say hello when I walk into shops – some people do say hello back, but mostly they just look at me because it’s not that normal in London.

But there are some cultural differences that may seem a little off to other nationalities. For instance, while Brits are taught from a young age that it’s important to be polite and smile at strangers, this is not so important in France. The French smile pretty much only when they really mean it. So, if you come across a French person, you don’t know and wonder why they don’t smile back at you, don’t think they are being rude – it’s just their way! There’s a scene in Emily in Paris where her boss, the fabulous Sylvie, says to Emily “Stop smiling. People will think you’re stupid.”

In fact, if you smile too much at strangers, they may think you’re odd though not necessarily stupid. And you shouldn’t smile too much in meetings, or job interviews either – they might think you are trying too hard or trying to hide something, and they get a bit suspicious! It’s not that the French don’t smile though, they just think there needs to be a reason to smile!

The French may not seem as outgoing as some other nationalities, but this is more about cultural differences. The French value privacy and politeness in public interactions, so they might come off as cold compared to more overtly friendly cultures. But if you try to speak a bit of French and get to know the customs you know like saying bonjour madame or bonjour monsieur when you enter a shop, you’ll find warmth and friendliness are reciprocated. I also think that so many people go to Paris – but not to the rest of France, so they base their findings on Paris, which is not France.

Dubbing the French rude as a race is totally false. Vive la difference.

Do the French really say Oh La La every 5 minutes?

Oh la la. Do the French say this every 5 minutes? Well maybe not that much but in my experience they do say it quite a bit, but not quite in the way that some imagine them too. The syllables are not long and drawn out, and the tone is not over the top as we might think. While the stereotype has it that the French say ooh-la-la when faced with some kind of naughtiness or nudity for instance, in fact it’s more likely to be used to express surprise – anything from admiration to dismay.And it’s not just oh la la either. The more dismay the more ‘la la’s’! I’ve heard many a time ‘Oh la la la la la la.’

But do French people say it every other sentence? Non! It’s more of a versatile exclamation rather than a conversational crutch – but yes, it’s popular.

French people are all great cooks!

According to statistics by a French cookery site – 78% of the French cook every day! French people love to cook, to talk about what they’re going to eat, to plan what they are going to cook, to share with everyone where they buy great ingredients, the best markets, share recipes and a meal together. The French generally have a deep appreciation for good food and the tradition of sharing meals, which, let’s be honest, is pretty fantastic.

France is the nation that invented the restaurant, haute cuisine and Cordon Bleu, the picque-nique (read about it in issue 38 of our free magazine), baguettes and crème brulée. The French certainly live to eat, not eat to live.

In France, great chefs achieve legendary status like Hollywood film superstars. And it doesn’t matter if you’re not a great chef with a Michelin star, all chefs of whatever level take the profession seriously and though the divide between haute cuisine and home cooking is wide, but there is a shared quest for perfectionism.

The great American cook Julia Child once said ‘In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.’ She wasn’t wrong.

Frenchmen ride bikes with strings of onions round their necks

Right I think I’m just going to get this one over with. When I was a kid, my nan, my grandma, told me that all Frenchmen ride bikes with strings of onions round their necks! My nan was pretty old and I was just a little kid when she told me this, but it came from the fact that in the UK, it actually was a thing! Onion Johnny was what British people called French onion sellers who used to come over from Brittany and cycle round the streets of Britain, strings of onions tied to their bikes, knocking at doors and selling their onions!

They wore their berets at a jaunty angle, Gaulloise cigarettes hanging from their lips, bicycles smothered in plaited strings of onions – each of which weighed between one and two kilogrammes. French onion sellers were once a familiar sight on the streets of Britain, plying their trade from door to door, from the Channel ports to as far north as the Orkneys and Shetlands.

Born during the first half of the 19th Century, at its peak, the trade involved some 2000 so-called Onion Johnnies – all of whom came from one tiny area around the Breton port of Roscoff. There’s even a museum dedicated to them in Roscoff.

So – not a true stereotype, but it does have some foundation in truth. A bit.

French people smoke all the time

It’s not true. Statistics are that around 25% of French adults smoke regularly. 15% more than Americans, 12 % more than Britain. So, it’s high that number, but smoking in France is on the decline. So, it’s false, French people don’t smoke all the time!

All French men are romantic

Is it true that all French men are romantic? I had to research this topic for my book How to be French. Being a married woman, I wasn’t able to personally experience the reputation French men have for being romantic and masters of seduction. This is what I found. Ask any French man and they will say yes. I asked some of my French girlfriends what they think of this belief. And they laughed!

It’s the accent! And also the language. I say – I love you – the French say: je t’aime.  The stereotype that French is the language of love might be subjective, but it’s hard to deny the romantic allure of a sunset by the Seine or a stroll through the lavender fields of Provence.

My conclusion was that it’s no different in France than anywhere else in terms of romance. But I do think that French men are generally flirtatious, and the language is really romantic. I remember meeting a French journalist and he emailed me later and signed off “je t’embrasse” and I though ooh blimey, but then I found out that actually this is quite normal to sign off emails between friends, he wasn’t being romantic – but it felt like he was to this non-Frenchie!

All French people are wine experts

The French treat wine with respect. They don’t just fill a glass to the top and glug. The wine is poured so that there’s enough room for it to breathe. Then it is swirled in the glass to release the vapour, all the better to sniff it. They may observe it in the glass, comment on the colour, the aroma, and the ‘legs’ – the traces of wine that stick to the side of the glass when you swirl, an indication of its ‘body’

I think the biggest indication that the French are all wine experts is the tradition of pairing wine with food. When I grew up wine wasn’t a big thing in the UK really – at least not for ordinary people like us. I remember wines being called Blue Nun and Black Tower – and we knew nothing about them except they were white. And there was Mateus rosé. Red wine was claret – or port which we sometimes put lemonade in. We didn’t really think about the grape, whether the wine was pinot noir or pinot gris, whether it was dry or very dry or whether it went with roast dinner on a Sunday or Christmas pudding. It was white, pink or red. But in France it’s long been a tradition to teach a healthy respect and understanding of wine, even in kids – though you might be surprised to learn it was only in 1956 that the French Government banned the serving of wine in school canteens!

Yes. All French people are wine experts

All French women are chic.

Coco Chanel once said La mode se démode, le style jamais, fashion fades, style remains.

Well not everyone in France is Coco Chanel, and I have to say that it just isn’t true that all French women are chic – it’s not that simple. In Paris yes perhaps, being stylish is almost a cult. But where I live in a rural farming community in northern France – I’ve never seen anyone wear a pair of high heels, let alone a little black dress, in all the years I’ve been here.

That said – there is a difference in some ways that all French women treat fashion. Lingerie for instance. French women love good lingerie. Nearly every town has a good lingerie shop and a knowledgeable assistant who can size you up with one glance! And French women say if you wear good lingerie it makes you feel good, and if you feel good it can help you look good. And it’s true that most of my French friends do believe that you should have a couple of very well-made staples in your wardrobe – jeans, jacket, shirt. And everyone seems to have a selection of scarves to accessorise their outfits with.

French women are not all chic, but they do have chic rules for dressing – well made staples, scarves, good lingerie. I’d say it’s an in between stereotype.

All French people eat frogs’ legs!

Not true! I’ve only seen them on sale twice in France – once in the supermarket they had a bag of frogs legs in the frozen section. And once in a Chinese food restaurant I saw on the menu that they had crispy fried frogs legs!

French people are always on strike!

Many people seem to think that the French are always on strike. Or they are always on holiday!

Well this stereotype is an exaggeration, but there’s a kernel of truth here. The French do value their leisure time, and they’re not afraid to protest for workers’ rights. It’s not about working less, but about living more.

Work-life balance is something the French fiercely protect. So half true maybe.

Vive la France!

Janine Marsh is the author of several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life. Find all books on her website janinemarsh.com

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In France superstitions and odd customs are a daily way of life says Janine Marsh as she takes you down the rabbit hole of the superstitions and weird beliefs of the French…

Treading in dog poo is lucky in France

Now I must say, being superstitious is normal in most, if not all, countries. And plenty of superstitions are the same in France as they are in many countries – like not walking under a ladder and lucky black cats. But France also has some superstitions that are very peculiar like believing it’s lucky to tread in dog poo. But it’s only lucky if you tread in merde with your left foot. If you tread in it with your right foot – not so lucky.

There used to be a shop in Paris which sold “lucky dog shit from Paris”. They obviously didn’t follow their own advice because it wasn’t a best seller and the shop has now gone. Imagine someone coming to Paris for a holiday and then taking home a souvenir like that for their friends. “Here you are grandmother, I bought you a gift from Paris!” Maybe you would wrap it up nice, the French way, you know stylish paper, a ribbon, maybe some glitter. And then imagine the anticipation of the person you’re giving the gift to, they pull the ribbon, they gently peel back the paper, they lift out the tin and read those words… and then look at you as if you have  gone totally bonkers!

Even French people don’t know why they say this really because it’s not very lucky at all, you have a mess to deal with whichever foot. It probably started as a joke because in Paris some people don’t clear up after their dogs and somehow the joke became a superstition that spread…

See an owl and give birth to a baby girl! What?!

One day I was in our local supermarket, queuing at the checkout with the usual kiss on the cheek and chit-chat going on at the checkout, while we all waited in line. This is normal in France. The checkout staff in rural French supermarkets pretty much know everyone that comes in and they always have a catch up and a kiss over the counter. It wouldn’t matter if a top Hollywood star was in the queue and late for an awards ceremony. If the President popped in for a bottle of milk (which maybe could happen as he has a second home in the seaside town of Le Touquet near where I live) he’d still have to wait. It doesn’t matter who is in the queue, or how long it is, we all have to wait for this important social ritual.

Anyway, I was next in line to be served and the woman in front of me who was pregnant said to the lady at the counter that she had seen a “hibou” (an owl) and therefore her bébé was going to be a girl! Now my French is ok, though it’s not perfect but I was sure that I heard that right. So when I got home I l looked it up and sure enough it’s an old French superstition. Seeing an owl when you’re pregnant foretells that you will be give birth to a female child.

Halloween in France

And it gets weirder. Some French people say that if you sing on Halloween, it will create stormy weather! It’s Halloween, and the sky is clear and you’re singing a nice little song in the kitchen as you make your pumpkin pie, all happy, feeling festive, glass of wine, maybe a nice white from the Loire Valley or a deep red Bordeaux. You pop the pie in the oven, it’s been a lovely sunny day… and then a clap of thunder, a storm arrives – that might be your fault! Literally singing up a storm! I did that!

Weird cat superstitions

One of my neighbours used to say it was bad luck to cross a stream carrying a cat! Actually in the old days they used to believe that if you did that, someone in your family would die. Yep. That’s weird.

If a cat sneezes near a bride on her wedding day – great, because that means the marriage will be happy!

Strange marriage superstitions

The French say “marriage pluvieux, marriage heureux”, meaning: if it rains at your wedding, you will have a happy life as a couple.

And when you move into a new home, you don’t carry your bride over the threshold, you carry the dining room table first if you want to be lucky! That’s so French isn’t it. The table for the food first, most important!

Very odd teeth beliefs

Now, let’s talk about the tooth mouse! In some countries when you’re a kid and your tooth falls out, the tooth fairy comes and leaves you some money. But in France they have a tooth mouse – called la petite Souris. The little mouse collects the tooth and leaves a euro!

Talking of teeth, how’s this for a really really odd French superstition. My friends who live a couple of villages along from mine, had a really old dog called Bob, and he had some bad teeth that had to be taken out. So they went to the vets to get it dealt with. When they went to collect Bob afterwards, the vet asked them if they wanted to keep the rotten teeth. “Why would we want his teeth?” my friends asked. “For the moles” said the vet and my friends said they did actually wonder if the vet had had a glass or two of pastis.

But no, it turns out that there was a waiting list for dogs teeth as it’s said that they keep the moles away. I wonder if that’s why they’re called molars?

Strange food customs in France

Ok, let’s talk about some foodie customs because when it comes to France, we cannot talk for long without talking about food.

Never place a baguette (or even bread in general) upside down on a table. This superstition comes from long ago days when executioners could take things from shops without paying – I mean who’s going to argue? Bakers would leave bread upside down for them. If you leave it upside down, it’s said that the people who were meant to eat will be cursed, and you will invite famine into your house.

One of my favourite food superstitions is when you go to a restaurant and there are 13 people in a group. As you know 13 is unlucky – so the waiter puts an egg on the table to make it 14 and ward off the bad luck!

Lucky Friday 13^th in France!

Napoleon was quite a superstitious man. He believed that Josephine, his beloved, brought him good luck and it seems she really played up on it. Once when one of his ministers suggested to her that it may be in the best interests of France to grant Napoleon a divorce as she couldn’t bear him children, she reported it to Napoleon and told him she was afraid a divorce would bring bad luck. Napoleon, who likely got the minister to talk to her in the first place, didn’t push it, at least for a while. It’s said that he really believed he was guided by a lucky star, he hated the number 13, and he didn’t like Fridays! Which is actually the opposite to the French belief, Friday 13^th is supposed to be lucky! In fact it’s the best day to buy your lottery ticket in France.

Lucky places to visit in France

Places can be lucky too! Like in the  the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris where some of the thousands of graves in there are said to bring luck… At the grave of French writer Allan Kardec, an unusual dolmen-shaped tomb known as the most floral in the cemetery, you can make a wish and by touching a certain spot on the grave, it will come true. And if it does come true, you have to come back and lay flowers – which is why it’s the most flowery grave in the cemetery.

And, near the famous Sorbonne university there is a statue of Michel de Montaigne, a French philosopher born in 1533. He is sitting with his legs crossed and there is a tradition for students to rub his right foot while saying “Salut Montaigne” and it will bring good luck during the exams!

If you go to Dijon in Burgundy, on the corner of the church of Notre Dame building is a little brass owl, it’s said that if you rub the owl with your left hand, not your right hand, that doesn’t count, and make a wish it will come true. If you stand there, you’ll see loads of people come past and rub the owl – locals and visitors. I’ve rubbed it myself a few times. My wish hasn’t come true yet, but maybe if I buy a ticket on Friday the 13th it will!

Lucky ladybirds!

The French believe that if you see a ladybird, or ladybug, fly away – it’s good luck, or it can mean good weather is on the way! If the ladybird lands on you, count the dots on its back and that’s how many happy months you will have. Or you can make a wish and the ladybird will take it to heaven for you. Or if you hold it in your hand, and it doesn’t try to fly away – it means the bad weather is coming! It’s a very old superstition and goes back more than 1000 years. King Robert the Pious (born in the year 972) was watching a prisoner being executed and as the poor man bent over to have his head lopped off, a ladybird landed on his neck. The executioner tried to wave it away but it stayed. So King Robert said it must be a sign from God that the prisoner was in fact innocent, and he pardoned him.

How to get good luck – according to the French!

If you really want some good luck to flow your way, what you have to do is find a French sailor, dressed in uniform and wearing his traditional bonnet on which is a little red bobble. And then you have to twiddle to the bobble. I don’t know about twiddle, sounds like twaddle to me!

Janine Marsh is the author of  several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more!

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The post Superstitions and weird beliefs of the French appeared first on The Good Life France.

A world record breaker. An unusual, unique beauty. A towering icon that’s as hard as iron. Discover the fascinating history of the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower isn’t just a symbol of Paris, it’s a symbol of France. But this wasn’t supposed to happen. The Tower shouldn’t even be there. But first, we need to go back to the beginning of the tower’s story to find out why it’s even there in the first place.

The birth of the Eiffel Tower

At the end of the 1700s, fairs began in France known as Expositions des produits de l’Industrie Francaise – an exhibition of French industry and products basically. Fairs where you could buy products from around the world have been held in France and other countries since way back – at least as far as the Middle Ages. The Expositions were held regularly in France until the mid 1800s.

In 1851 a new type of fair was held in London – the Great Exhibition – a world fair featuring products from around the globe. It was visited by 6 million people, featured a ‘crystal palace’ a giant glass exhibition hall. And it was a roaring success. Meanwhile in France, the fairs were held only on rare occasions because they simply didn’t make enough of a profit to continue. In fact the fair of 1878 made a horrible loss.

To commemorate the centenary of the French Revolution (1789), it was proposed that France should hold a world exhibition. A huge Exposition Universelles, a Universal Exhibition, to take place in Paris from May to November 1889. And the organisers wanted it to be as successful as the Crystal Palace fair. It would require something special

Now this caused a problem because several countries weren’t happy to take part in something that celebrated cutting the heads off of kings and queens on account of them having royal families. For that reason some countries officially boycotted taking part in the exhibitions – including Great Britain, though funnily enough, the British royals did go to the event as visitors. And some British exhibitors used private funding to have stands.

Now what’s this got to do with the Eiffel Tower you might ask?

Well, the organisers of the Exposition Universelle drew up grand plans for a truly spectacular event. They needed to attract millions of visitors to their fair so as not to lose money, and they wanted to improve the French economy by showcasing the skills of French engineers, designers, chefs, artists – everything and anything, as well as products from all around the world – in one of the world’s great cities – Paris. Although it was about the Centenary of the French Revolution, it was also very much for economic reasons, they hoped that French companies would find new customers.

A winning design

And the organisers wanted to show case something so incredible that people wouldn’t be able to resist seeing it for themselves. They needed what they called a ‘clou’ – a spike, or a hook, basically they wanted a signature structure that would be seen as a symbol of French culture. A competition was announced in 1886 for an architectural design that would make the Paris Exposition irresistible. It required entrants to submit a design for a tower that was three hundred metres high. More than 700 designs were submitted to the committee.

Some of them were easy to judge, including a 300 metre high watering can which the designer said would be good for hot days. Another featured a creepy  300-metre high guillotine.

Now, a tower for an exposition wasn’t a new idea. In Philadelphia which had held a centennial exposition in 1876, the tower proposition had been discussed but went nowhere. But the idea was out there and known about. Some people even think that Gustave Eiffel may have suggested the idea to the Exposition Universelles committee himself. He was a prominent businessman with a construction company that specialised in building metal bridges, railways, cranes and lifting equipment, so it’s very possible. And some say that he had even begun working on the idea before the contest was announced.

It was actually two of Eiffel’s engineers who came up with the original concept of an iron tower. They sketched out the tall, metal tower and Gustave bought the exclusive rights to the draft ideas. He then developed the idea to completion.

On May 12, 1886, Eiffel’s design was announced as the winner of the of the contest.

The Eiffel Tower wasn’t always popular

At first Eiffel felt he was in a bit of a no-win situation. The deal was that he would have to provide most of the money to build it himself, the committee would only provide 1.5m Francs which was less than a quarter of the overall cost. To sweeten the deal the committee agreed that Eiffel would have exclusive rights to keep all income for 20 years created by the tower –from the entry fees and the operation of restaurants and viewing platforms. Eiffel took a risk as he didn’t know if it would be a successful but ultimately it was a brilliant arrangement – for Eiffel. He recuperated his entire input in less than a year and the tower made him a very rich man.

But his design wasn’t always popular. When the plans for the towering monument were published, many people complained. Another committee was formed – this time composed of artists and celebrities in France, they called themselves the Committee of 300 and they campaigned to have the tower cancelled. They wrote that it was ‘a ridiculous tall tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black factory smokestack, crushing with its barbaric mass Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the dome of Les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all our humiliated monuments, all our dwarfed architecture, which will be annihilated by Eiffel’s hideous fantasy. For twenty years, over the city of Paris still vibrant with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see, spreading out like a blot of ink, the shadow of this disgusting column of bolted tin’.

The tallest man-made building in the world – for a while

But Eiffel had the last laugh. The Tower was built. It took two years, two months and five days. 500 workers assembled 18,000 iron pieces and put them together with 2.5 million rivets. The building of the tower was completed on 31 March 1889. Gustave raised a French flag and announced: “I have just experienced a great satisfaction – that of having flown our national flag upon the tallest building man has ever built.”

Eiffel’s monument opened to the public 5 weeks later on 15 May. Forming the entrance arch to the fair, it was a jaw dropping sight.

Right from the start it was, excuse the pun, a towering success. It opened to the public on 15 May 1889 although the lifts weren’t ready until May 26. The first visitors were the British Royal Family and William F Cody, AKA Buffalo Bill. In the first week, when the lifts weren’t even working, nearly 30,000 people paid to climb to the viewing platform.

 It wasn’t cheap to get into the Paris Exposition– it cost 40 centimes, which doesn’t sound much – except at that time, you could get a meal for 10 centimes. And to climb the Eiffel Tower cost a whopping 5 Francs, a huge amount of money in those days.

By day people flocked to climb it. By night they flocked to watch it glow. It was one of the first tall structures in the world to have passenger lifts – and tourists absolutely loved them. By the time the exposition was over after 173 days, almost 2 million people had paid their 5 Francs to mount Eiffel’s tower. The views from the top, in the days before air travel, beign up so high was astonishing. On a clear day, it’s possible to see 42 miles in every direction from the top of the Eiffel Tower. There were four restaurants on the first floor, each seating up to 500 people, they were constantly booked out. You could even pay for a mini parachute or balloon and tie a message to it to toss over the side. Eiffel made an absolutely fortune.

In September 1889 the famous inventor Thomas Edison visited the tower and wrote in the guestbook: “To Monsieur Eiffel the Engineer the brave builder of so gigantic and original a specimen of modern engineering from one who has the greatest respect and admiration for all Engineers including the Great Engineer the Bon Dieu, Thomas Edison”.

The fair itself was a resounding success. There were 61,722 official exhibitors, 25,000 of them from outside France including from Argentina, Hawaii, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. The whole fair cost 41.5 million Francs to put on. And they made a profit of 8 million Francs. They were also left with an improved public transport system, their reputation was enhanced – and they had all these amazing buildings created for the fair.

A towering success

But the buildings were only supposed to be there for 20 years – including the Tower. It’s incredible to us now to know that the authorities destroyed almost all of the incredible monuments created for this humongous exposition. Only a few are left – the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais, both now museums. If you are ever in Paris and want a relaxing cup of tea or coffee, the Petit Palais is free to enter and has the most gorgeous garden café.

Eiffel was a very clever man. He proposed to the French Military that the tower could host a radio transmitter – and they agreed. So when the 20 years was up, the tower was saved.

Fun facts about the Eiffel Tower

It remained the tallest man-made building in the world for the next 41 years until the Chrysler Building in New York took the title. Currently the Eiffel Tower is now 330 metres tall (including antennas, the latest one was put on top last year) – that’s more than three times the height of the Statue of Liberty.

The tower weighs a whopping 10,100 tonnes.

The names of 72 French scientists, engineers and mathematicians are permanently affixed to the sides of the tower in 60-centimeter letters just beneath the first platform, with 18 names per side. They were chosen for their discoveries and inventions which Eiffel considered to have increased the frontiers of knowledge – and also because none of them had names more than 12 letters long – which was a necessity to fit into the space he had to place them!

Counting from the ground, there are 347 steps to the first level, 674 steps to the second level, and 1,710 steps to the small platform on the top of the tower. Every year there is a contest to run to the top up 1665 stairs, the fastest do it in 10 minutes. There is a man who holds a world record for climbing the tower by bike! He basically locks the brakes and hops up the stairs – the record is 19 minutes!

Repainting the tower, which happens every seven years, as Gustave Eiffel himself recommended. The old paint has to be scraped off, rust-proof paint applied and then paint – 66 tonnes of paint to cover the 2.5 million square feet of the structure and takes 50 painters up to 3 years to complete because they can only work in the right weather conditions. And it’s painted a different colour each time. Once it was yellow. When it was first created it was ‘Venetian red. The last paint job was finished in November 2022 and it’s called “yellow brown” the same colour it was between 1907 and 1947. The colour is darker at the bottom, it gets lighter as they go up, three different shades which creates an impression of uniformity!

The tower has had many different businesses installed – Le Figaro newspaper had an office and printing press on the second floor during the world fair, on the first floor there used to be a post office and a theatre.

In 1891, an engineer from Grenoble, proposed a giant steel ball-shaped device weighing around 10,000 kilos be installed. The windowless ‘carriage’ would carry passengers, strapped into their seats, and free-fall into a 57m deep filled water pit at the base of the tower. Thankfully they said ‘non.’

Here’s a strange fact – in 1925 the Eiffel Tower was almost sold by a conman by the name of Victor Lustig from what is now the Czech Republic. You can read the whole story here: The day the Eiffel Tower was sold.

In 1960, then President Charles de Gaulle proposed temporarily dismantling the tower and sending it to Montreal for Expo 67. The plan was rejected which must have made a lot of people breathe a sigh of relief – imagine if they had lost one of the 18,000 metal parts or some of the 2.5 million rivets, or if they lost the plans for how it all goes together!

If you’ve ever been up the tower in the wind and thought it was moving – you’re probably right. Maximum sway at the top caused by wind is around 12 cm (4.75 inches). Maximum sway at the top caused by metal dilation is up to 18 cm (7 inches).

The Chamber of Commerce of Monza and Brianza in Italy valued the Eiffel Tower at 434 billion euros in August 2012! Must be much more by now. This apparently makes it Europe’s most valuable commodity.

Today the Eiffel Tower has takeaway food counters, and two restaurants – one is on the first floor and one on the second floor called the Jules Verne after the French writer – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in 180 Days. It’s very posh, expensive, and it’s loved by celebrities. Jennifer Aniston, Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Arnold Schwarzenegger – they’ve all dined there. Not together of course – I’m not trying to start any rumours here!

There’s also a gift shop, a macaron bar and a Champagne Bar. And at the top you can visit a reconstruction of Gustave Eiffel’s apartment which he used for meetings with VIPS and as a laboratory to study astronomy, meteorology, aerodynamics etc. In 1909 Eiffel installed an aerodynamic wind tunnel at the base of the tower. It was used for thousands of tests including the Wright Brothers airplanes and Porsche cars!

At night Madame Eiffel sparkles. 20,000 bulbs twinkle for 5 minutes on the hour. It’s very lovely to see – and if you’re up the tower when it sparkles, the second floor is the best place to be.

The the tower brings out the romantic in some people – in fact it’s estimated that there are around 20 marriage proposals a day, between 7000 and 10000 marriage proposals every year up the Eiffel Tower or in the Trocadero, the area below. The Tower is one of the top ten places in the world for asking your loved one to marry you! Actually, there is even a woman who was married TO the Eiffel Tower in a commitment ceremony in 2007 though they have since parted.

There are more than 50 Eiffel Tower replicas around the world including in Tianducheng, China where an entire fake Paris town – where people live and work – has been created!

Around 7 million people a year visit the tower, and that’s how it’s a record breaker – it is the world’s most visited, paid monument – truly a towering success.

Janine Marsh is the author of  several internationally best-selling books about France. Her latest book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more! And you can also listen to this post in our Eiffel Tower podcast

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post The fascinating history of the Eiffel Tower appeared first on The Good Life France.

It might not surprise you to know that mostly – Christmas in France is all about food! So buckle up, or maybe unbuckle your belt, for the A to Z of Christmas in France according to Janine Marsh, a Brit who lives in France.

Aperitifs

A is for Aperitifs. An aperitif is a drink before dinner, and we are all agreed in my village that Madame Bernadette makes the most Christmassy aperitifs. Every Christmas she invites her favourite people to have aperitif and nibbles. Every year we know what to expect. We wander down the hill from our house to her house on the corner. We go from the cold into her baking hot kitchen which is the largest room in the house. Like many here she has a coal and wood oven. My glasses will steam up so that I can’t even see the cocktail that’s pressed into my hands but by now I know the smell of Calvados – her favourite spirit, an apple brandy. And I know it’s going to blow my socks off. I take a sip – and it feels like the party has started! Later I know we will all be sockless!

Boxing Day

B is for Boxing Day – they don’t have one in France. It’s straight back to normal the day after Christmas – and back to work. In the UK, Boxing day was about wealthy people boxing up leftovers from Christmas day to give to their servants or the poor. The nearest thing the French have is étrennes which came from a Roman custom for the rich to give gifts to charity or their servants.

Etrennes are still around, yes, but for kids, as money from grandparents, uncles aunties.

Clogs

C is for clogs. In my part of France – oranges, sweets in clogs… traditional footwear in days gone by and my neighbour Claudette still has hers but generally people don’t wear them now – except for events like folk dancing etc…

Dessert

D is for Desserts. In Provence they famously serve 13 Desserts after le gros souper, the big supper on Christmas Eve which is when most French people have the main meal – not Christmas Day. It’s a ritual at Christmas in the Provence but don’t worry it’s not 13 cakes, in case you’re wondering how on earth anyone can cope with such a thing. The tradition of Les Treize Desserts de Noël goes back several centuries, and it’s said that the roots of this custom lie in religion and represent Jesus and his twelve apostles at the Last Supper. The ingredients of the 13 desserts varies from village to village, and even from home to home. But it always includes dishes of nuts, fruit and sweets plus an orange flavoured cake. It’s a tradition to lay the desserts out on Christmas Eve and leave them there for three days and anyone that comes to your home is encouraged to get stuck in!

Eat

E = Eat. That’s all I’m going to say. In France, Christmas is all about eating and before eating, it’s all about planning what to eat. In my village we share recipes with each other and everyone agrees that our neighbours Madame Bernadette who is in her 80s, and Claudette who is in her 90’s are top chefs. They make melt in your mouth tarts ….

Fizz

F is for Fizz – Champagne – it’s the favourite drink for celebrating Christmas. Nothing more to add – I’ll leave it to Dom Perignon to have the last word on Champagne “Come quickly, I am drinking the stars”. Some people like to dip pink boudoir biscuits (ladyfinger/sponge biscuits) in their Champagne.

Gingerbread

G is for gingerbread which is really popular in northern France year round, but at Christmas it’s a must-eat. I found it really strange to discover that traditional gingerbread in my part of France has no ginger in it! Instead there are a mix of other spices and it’s actually called pain d’epices, spice bread but it’s translated as gingerbread generally! And yes, as you can see from the photo above, I love gingerbread!

H is for Happy Christmas

H is for ‘Appy Christmas – which is how French people say it when they speak English, they don’t like the H sound! In France you say Joyeux Noël, or bon Noël.

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas

I is for I’m dreaming of a white Christmas. Unless you’re in the French Alps, it’s unlikely you’ll get a white Christmas in most of France. The last time it snowed on Christmas Day in Paris was 2010.

Jolly farmers

Where I live is an agricultural area and, in my village, and the villages around there are lots of farmers and farm workers. It is not an easy job. It’s physically demanding, the weather can be seriously challenging and regulatory requirements are a nightmare. I admire farmers enormously – they work hard to keep us fed. The farmers in my village rarely get a day off – there’s always so much to do. But they do take a bit of time out at Christmas and my most favourite memory is of a party at my neighbour Madame Bernadette’s when four jolly farmers arrived from the next village along. Indulging in one too many of her Calvados cocktails, they went home by the light of the silvery moon in the bucket of a tractor that one of their friends arrived in to collect them!

K is for Kissing under the mistletoe

Or rather not – as the French don’t have this custom on Christmas Eve. Mistletoe is “gui” in French. It’s more common to use holly in France at Christmas for decoration. Le Gui is for New year’s Eve festivities and it’s more about bringing luck than kissing.

Long Christmas Eve dinner

L is for long, long, loooong Christmas Eve meal – called a Reveillon. I once went to one that started at 7pm and finished at 3am. I practically had to crawl home on my hands and knees.

Christmas Markets

Christmas markets in France are the best. That’s all I’m saying. I love Christmas markets. From Arras to Lille, Metz to Avignon – every town and city puts on a festive show and it’s pretty magical!

Read our ultimate guide to Christmas in France – the markets, lights, events and recipes…

Noël

N is for Noël – The French word for Christmas. Noël is also a name – for both boys and girls

Oysters

Oysters – French people go gaga for them. In fact half of the oysters eating in France are consumed between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve a whopping 75000 tonnes of them

16th century French King Henri IV was said to eat an eye-popping 300 of them at a time. His grandson Louis XIV had them delivered fresh daily to Versailles or wherever he was and was known to eat six dozen at a time. Diderot the French philosopher and Voltaire the writer and philosopher ate them for inspiration, as did Napoleon Bonaparte before going into battle. Casanova, the 18th century lover, used to breakfast on 50 oysters… he wouldn’t be kissing me on Christmas morning I can tell you that much!

Pere Noël

P is for Pere Noël… Everyone knows about Father Christmas Pere Noël or Papa Noël but what about Pere Fouettard? In the northeast of France, Father Christmas is said to have an assistant, Pere Fouettard and if you’re naughty instead of presents and sweets, he turns up carrying a small whip and punishes the naughtiest kids! What? If you’re only a little bit naughty you get a lump of coal instead. And if you’re really really naughty, he stuffs you into a basket and carries you off. Blimey. Motivational stories – French style…

Quirky santas

Q is for quirky swinging Santas …. horrible blow-up plastic Father Christmas figures, which hang from a rope or plastic ladder. In my part of France they are very keen on inflatable Father Christmases. They hang from the windows of houses and look like festive peeping toms clutching onto windowsills – the plastic Santas, not the locals. The Santas are tied to chimneys and gutters, swings and doorways, windows and gates. On a dark night, they’re quite creepy, a bit like festive peeping toms. On a windy day they sway back and forth, holding on to the rope for dear life or are blown away to burst on a prickly bush.

Galette des Rois

R is for Galette des Rois – Traditionally eaten on 6th January – the Kings Cake eaten in honour of the Day of the Epiphany. These cakes start appearing in shops just before Christmas. In the south they’re more a brioche cake with crystalised fruit on top, in the north we have a puff pastry pie filled with almond paste. A little figurine is hidden inside called a feve. Traditionally it would be a religious figure but now it can be anything – I’ve seen tiny Lady Gagas and Harry Potters!

Whoever has a slice of the cake with the ‘fève’ in is the King or Queen for a day. They get to wear a golden crown which comes with the cake when you buy it. Often, the youngest person at the meal sits under the table and calls out the names of those seated and slices of cake are served accordingly. That way whoever gets the ‘fève’ is completely randomly chosen!

When the cake is served tension mounts. Everyone chews their slice with an element of care – you don’t want to break a tooth. And it wouldn’t do to swallow the ‘fève’! Read about the galette des rois in Issue 36 of our free magazine The Good Life France Magazine 

Strasbourg – and snails

S is for Strasbourg – This French city, the Capital of Alsace is nicknamed the capital of Christmas. It’s fairy tale pretty and very atmospheric.

S is also for snails which are popular at Christmas with a strong green garlic sauce (to disguise the taste!).

Christmas tree

T is for Tree. Sapin de Noël. This custom first appeared in Alsace in the 14th century and traditional decorations included apples, paper flowers, and ribbons.

Utterly delicious

U is for utterly delicious cakes and pastries which you have to eat at Christmas! Every region has their specialities but I’m not sure anywhere beats my region of Pas-de-Calais!

Vin Chaud

V is for vin chaud. Christmas markets and bars all over France served mulled wine at Christmas. The best one I’ve ever had was at Arras market in the far north – a red wine with hints of spice and sugar and a prune from the Agen region (famous for its prunes). If I shut my eyes and picture it in my mind, I feel like I can smell the star anise, and cinnamon, a little hint of ginger perhaps and orange and the steam wafting up to my nose… Here’s how to make it at home: Vinchaudrecipe

What’s it like at Christmas in France?

W is for what’s it like at Christmas? In cities and big towns everything is decorated in festive style and there are Christmas markets. In rural areas it’s much quieter. On the whole, where I live you wouldn’t even know it was Christmas until maybe the week before when the Mayor organises for the single string of lights that hangs all year round in a tree outside the town hall to be switched on. The most obvious sign that it’s that time of the year are the quirky inflatable Santas (see Q).

Extremely full

X is for Xtremely full up. What we all are after Christmas. Even though we immediately start thinking about doing it all again for New Year’s Eve! It’s traditional at Christmas to have some kind a pre-main meal (for kids) before the midnight mass. Then you come back and you have the proper Christmas meal. Then a nice breakfast (a treat of croissants or pain au chocolat, dipped into hot chocolate), then the grandparents join the family for Christmas lunch – all afternoon. It never stops.

Yule Log cake

Y is for yule log cake – büche de Noël. The büche de Noel cake represents a traditional log that used to be burned on the night of the winter solstice to bring good luck. Now it’s a sweet treat that pretty much everyone enjoys at Christmas. In Antibes – they go over the top for the büche – there each year they create the longest büche de noel in the world – 50 feet long. It takes 800 eggs, 85kg of flour, 10kg am, 20kg sugar, 10 litres run and 40 litres of. Chantilly cream. If you’re a fan of the buche – head to Antibes in mid-December! Want to make one at home – here’s a recipe for French buche de Noel 

Zut alors

Z – Zut alors, I’m full up. What everyone says at the end of Christmas!

You can listen to a version of this post on our fun podcast

Janine Marsh is Author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream,  My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online. Her new book How to be French – a celebration of the French lifestyle and art de vivre, is out now – a look at the French way of life.

Want more France?

Discover more fabulous destinations in France with our free magazine The Good Life France

Love France? Have a listen to our podcast – everything you want to know about France and more!

All rights reserved. This article may not be published, broadcast, rewritten (including translated) or redistributed without written permission.

The post The A to Z of Christmas in France appeared first on The Good Life France.

Ever wondered how they make those huge bells that hang in places like the great gothic cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris? The village of Villedieu-les-Poeles in Northwest France is home to the Cornille Havard Foundry, one of the last two remaining Bell foundries in France (the other is in Haute-Savoie). It continues a long tradition of Bell Casters who settled in Normandy in the Middle Ages. We meet some of the last bell makers of France.

The last bell makers of France

Cornille Havard foundry has been making bells at its magnificent 19^th century workshop since 1865. Prior to this, bell founders worked more freely and would travel to churches and cathedrals to make their bells.

The company is named after Paul Havard who, succeeding his brother-in-law César Béatrix in 1836, and Adolphe Havard, a polytechnical engineer who took over in 1865 and had the workshop built, developed production and began exporting bells all over the world.

The company passed through the Cornille family before Marguerite Cornille sold the foundry to Françoise and Luigi Bergamo on June 1, 1981. Paul Bergamo is the second generation of the family to preserve the traditions and expertise of this unique company whose bells are world renowned for their aesthetic and musical qualities.

Specialising in big bells, the master bell casters combine the craft of metal work with the art of music using traditional techniques as well as the best technology.

Walking into the studio, which is open to the public, feels like you have stepped back in time and gives a rare glimpse into this centuries-old tradition.

How bells are made

The casting of a new bell is a fascinating process that draws on ancient skills. The bells are cast with two moulds consisting of the inner mould (core) developed around an interior template, and a false bell mould placed over it. This outer mould is covered with wax letters and decorations. The lost-wax process (also known as precision casting or cire perdue) is applied. The wax melts leaving the bell with indentations.

The furnace is fired to the right temperature to melt the bronze, an alloy of 78% copper and 22% tin and it is melted at 1,200°C in a double-vault reverberatory furnace which has a capacity of a whopping 13 tons. To withstand the temperature of the metal, the moulds are made of clay with horse manure and goats’ hair. The moulds, which are placed upside down in a pit, can weigh more than 500kg. The molten metal is poured into the gap between the two moulds.

A brick channel built on top of the pit allows the metal to flow by gravity from the kiln into the moulds.

After casting, the mould is left to cool for around a week depending on the size, then broken open to release the raw foundry bell. The final stages involve sanding, polishing, chiselling and fine tuning.

Where old meets new in bell making

These ancient techniques are combined with modern equipment which help to analyse the resonance enabling the foundry to achieve musical perfection.

In renovating this fantastic heritage using modern technology, Cornille Havard is the first bell making company in the world to model the layout of bells on a computer. Doing this allows them to constantly refine the bell profiles using CAD (computer-aided design). The templates are laser cut, and the sound control is carried out using an electronic spectrum analyser.

An incredible 100 monumental bells are made each year, making their way to peel out from clock towers, schools and churches around the world – including nine new bells created for the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris in 2013.

More information may be found at: cornille-havard.com

Jeremy Flint is an award-winning professional photographer and writer specialising in travel, landscape and location photography. His work is published extensively in National Geographic Traveller Lonely Planet and Country Life amongst others. He is a five-time finalist in Travel Photographer of the Year, Association of Photographers Discovery Award Winner and National Geographic Traveller Grand Prize Winner.

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In How to be French part I, we looked at things like dunking your croissant in your coffee, cheese etiquette, the French obsession with wearing scarves and talking – a lot. Plus heaps more things that make the French so French. In How to be French Part 2, Janine Marsh, author of How to be French: Eat, drink, dress, travel and love la vie Francaise, reveals some habits that are unique to France, fun, and sometimes just a little bit weird – but not to the French. Well ok, maybe even to the French sometimes just a little bit odd…

Weird French habits

Now I could mention things like couilles de mouton, sheeps testicles. In Dordogne they like to make something called frivolités beneventines. A big bag of, well, testicles which are peeled, soaked in cold water for three hours, sliced, and then grilled with lemon, parsley and white wine. Have I had them? No. So I can’t say that they are horrible. Would I eat them? Not if I can help it. Or how about andouillette – a sausage made with pigs intestines flavoured with pepper, wine and onions and which has a frankly disturbing smell. Makes me think of when I was young and we used to chant ‘yum yum pig’s bum.’ The smell is nightmarish actually. But I’m going to start with something sweeter – sort of.

Raw beef sweets – anyone?

Pastilles de musculines! They’re so French it might be that most people have never even heard of them! And they are sweets. But they are a bit different from your usual sweets. They’re made in Burgundy at the Notre Dame des Domes Abbey. And the ingredients are quince pear and orange jam, honey, sugar and – raw beef!

They are not like the number one sweet in France to be honest. But it’s said that they give you energy, especially if you eat them before you exercise. They’re made from a recipe developed by a professor and a doctor at the medical university of Montpellier and given to the monks at the Abbey.

Swimming trunks

Let’s move away from food for a minute, maybe not for long because this is France after all, and talk about swimming trunks. Yes you heard that right. Swimming trunks, swimming suits, bathing trunks, swim trunks whatever you like to call them – the bathing outfits worn by men in the swimming pool. And at the same time let’s talk swimming caps, those rubber hats that you have to yank over your head, and try and stuff your hair in so that you look like Jiminy Cricket on a bad day.

So let me explain. In France, it is the law that men must wear tight fitting trunks in public pools. None of that baggy surfer dude stuff here non non but the type sometimes referred to as budgie smugglers and I’ll leave that there.

It is also required that in pretty much most public pools, everyone must wear a rubber bathing cap. Even if you haven’t got hair.

Believe me – this is not a good look. You may be thinking Daniel Craig emerging from the ocean in his famous blue swimsuit in Casino Royale – the reality is somewhat different in French swimming pools. Now imagine him wearing a rubber cap – hmmm – not quite so good. But yes, in France we must all don these hideous things in the public pools.

You don’t have to wear them on beaches by the way, or in private pools like hotels – it’s only municipal, public pools. If you’re packing for a holiday in France – no need to rush out and buy a new costume and a matching rubber hat. And you can actually buy the rubber hats at swimming pools from a vending machine.

I thought this was very unusual when I first went swimming and had no idea of the rules. I emerged from the changing room without a rubber hat, jumped into the water, and was told by a guard to get out and go to the vending machine in the reception area to sort myself out.

Basically – they say – this is about hygiene. If you can wear the baggy shorts out on the street – you can’t wear them in the pool. And officially it’s also about public welfare and reducing the chance of pollution in the water – hair, sweat etc from wearing clothes maybe all day. And the same with the rubber head cover – it’s to stop your hair from going in the water.

But you still have to wear the cap if you haven’t got any hair. Democracy and solidarity say the French.

A friend in Paris told me that he didn’t know the rules and he went to a pool early one morning and jumped in wearing his Mark and Spencers long baggy shorts and the pool attendants staring blowing whistles, shouting and tried to fish him out with a long hook!

It’s a law that goes back 120 years when municipal pools first became popular in France and, often it comes up for discussion in the French senate  but it never gets approved. Very French.

French people are NEVER wrong

This is one habit  that for me is uniquely French and yup, just a little bit off the wall. So, I was recently on a tour in the north of France where I live, I take the train everywhere in France as it reaches everywhere and is easy. But this time I went local and there were a group of us, a small group on a coach doing a foodie tour – because the food here in Pas-de-Calais where I live is absolutely amazing. And the tour leader told the coach driver to go down a little road to get to where we needed to be.

The coach driver said that the SatNav told her not to go that way. The tour guide insisted. And we go down the road and there’s a low bridge and the coach can’t go under it and we have to reverse up a main road to get out of the situation. The driver was a tad peeved about this and said “oh dearie, dearie me, whoops a daisy” or words to that effect. She was British too so you know, a bit more colourful in her expressions.

We all looked at the tour guide who said “J’ai rien dit” which, and I know this because I speak enough French to fully understand that sentence, so it means “I didn’t say anything.” So I said, yes you did, you said to go down that street. And the tour guide said “Oui, mais je me suis trompé” “yes, but it was a mistake.” In all the time I have been here, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a French person admit to being wrong and the way round it is simply to say, if you’re French “J’ai rien dit” and that takes the wrongness away. Apparently.

Unfortunately for the tour guide, we were all British on the tour and we are always wrong about everything (I am not going to mention Brexit), and we like everyone else to be wrong too. It was a battle of wills. We lost. But we knew.

It is impossible for a French person to be wrong. French people drive on the right side of the road, eat cheese after dessert and don’t apologise. British people apologise for everything “sorry it’s raining today. Sorry I trod on your foot on this packed bus where I don’t have room to put my foot down. Sorry I just rammed you with my trolley in the supermarket”. In France, if someone breaks their mother’s favourite ornament by accident, burn dinner and has nothing to serve guests, or turns up really late – they never say sorry. And if they say ‘take this turning here’, and it’s wrong, yes they simply say “I didn’t say anything!”

Queuing in France

“What is queuing?” – a French person.

French people seem to have no concept of queuing. In fact no one in France appears to have been taught the art of queuing. We in Britain are masters of the skill. We will queue for many hours if need be, it is a national point of pride that we can stand in a line and wait our turn. If we know we are going to have to queue for a long time, it doesn’t put us off at all – we take a flask of tea and that will get us through anything.

Now, let’s look at France.

French people do not like to queue.

Once, me and my husband went to a summer fete in the town of Fruges near where we live. There was to be a hog roast in a big tent for lunch, but the roasted pig caught fire. Now, this being France, we were not evacuated from the tent but were given glasses of strong rum punch as we watched the pompiers, the firemen, put the fire out. It wasn’t very big.

So – rum punch plus a blazing hot tent and a late lunch. What do you think happened when a voice came over a tannoy announcing we should head to the buffet table to be served?

Here’s how it went down. We walked to front of the tent to queue to be served our lunch. I’m under 5 feet, he’s 6 feet 4 inches, we look like the Crankys. We’re ready to queue. But no, that’s not what happens. Grown men and women fought with each other to get to the front. Jean-Claude, my neighbour and our table companion, dragged Mark with him, dead-legging anyone who got in the way, pushing Mark in front of him as a human battering ram.

Me, I was forgotten about, no use to him to get to the front of the queue. The servers practically threw the food onto plates trying to clear the rabble from the front. Afterwards everyone sat very politely as if nothing had happened. One of those “j’ai dit rien” – I said nothing, or rather in this case I did nothing situations.

French people don’t like queuing on the roads either. They hate to be in a line of traffic behind a tractor, they want to be free!

Funny enough, when driving, the hand gestures used in the UK seem to be just as well understood in France!

Weird French food

And now, because this is France, let’s go back to food. It is pretty much the law to talk about food here! We’ve talked about sheep testicles and raw beef sweets.

But how about snail cake. I was at Dijon market, standing at a stall admiring the display of cold meats and hors d’oeuvres and the lady behind the stall said would I like to try something gateaux. That’s all I heard gateau which means cake. Now at one end of this stall they did in fact have some lovely looking cakes. So I said yes please and she passed me a plate with a fork and a slice of gateau – except it wasn’t millefeuille, or an opera cake or any of those delicious cakes the French make so beautifully. It was snail cake. There were little snail anennae sticking out. And yes I did eat it because I didn’t know how to be French then or I would have said “J’ai dit rien” – I didn’t say anything!

Janine Marsh is Author of How to be French: Eat, Drink, Dress, Travel, Love (Published October 2023)

Her international best-selling series: My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream,  My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France are available as ebooks, in print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online.

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Royal dynasties are often complicated, but none more so than the early Plantagenet kings who dominated France and England in the 12^th and 13th centuries. Arranged marriages here. Betrayals and treachery there. This was the soap opera that just kept on giving. Gillian Thornton follows in the footsteps of the Plantagenet English kings through Anjou and Normandy

The Plantagenets in Le Mans, Sarthe

It all began in Le Mans with Geoffrey, Count of Anjou and Maine, who tucked a sprig of broom, or genet, in his hat after hunting, thus earning himself the name of Geoffrey Plantagenet. In 1128, he married Matilda – granddaughter of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England – who gave Geoffrey the Duchy of Normandy as her dowry. But it was his son Henry and grandsons Richard and John who really put the family on the political map.

I love discovering the shared history of England and France but especially since my husband discovered a distant Plantagenet connection in his family tree. You don’t need any royal relatives, however, to enjoy visiting heritage sites associated with this colourful cast of characters.

The Angevin heartland

Best place to start any Plantagenet tour is in the historic province of Anjou, today part of Pays de la Loire. Geoffrey was born in Le Mans in 1113, baptised in its soaring Gothic cathedral, and married to Matilda in the Palace of the Counts of Maine, now the city’s Town Hall.

The cathedral itself is a stunner, standing at the heart of the historic quarter or Cité Plantagenet. Wander the cobbled streets today past colourful half-timbered facades and it’s easy to imagine life in the Plantagenet era. Harder though to grasp that the substantial Roman ramparts were already 800 years old when Geoffrey lived here and are largely still standing. www.lemans-tourisme.com

Despite fighting for his wife’s right to the English throne, Geoffrey never gained a crown for himself. But his first son Henry, born in 1133, would become Henry II of England and add vast lands to the family portfolio by marrying Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152, former Queen of France from her dissolved marriage to Louis VI.

You can spend hours in Le Mans but do take in the Royal Abbey of Epau just outside the city, to discover the story of Bérengère de Navarre who married Henry II’s son Richard, known as the Lionheart or Coeur de Lion, in 1191. Largely forgotten after Richard’s death in 1199, the widowed Queen of England returned to the family palace in Le Mans before founding Epau Abbey in 1229 as her last resting place.

Today, Epau is both a heritage site and a cultural centre for the department of Sarthe with an extensive permaculture vegetable garden that supplies the abbey café.  Berengère died in 1230 but lives on here through a recumbent stone effigy. The whereabouts of her bones however is still under investigation. www.sarthetourism.com

The Plantagenets at the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud

Whilst Richard’s widow rests in royal solitude at Epau, her parents in law are elsewhere. Henry II and his feisty wife Eleanor fell out big time when she sided with sons Richard and John against him over division of the Plantagenet lands. Henry had her imprisoned for 16 years and after his death, Eleanor retired to the Royal Abbey of Fontevraud close to Saumur in the Loire Valley. Here she commissioned painted stone effigies not just of herself, but also Henry and her favourite son Richard who both predeceased her.

She certainly had the last laugh, ordering that her own likeness stand higher than the others and be depicted with a book as a blatant symbol of her superior intellect. The figures were moved in times of religious unrest but today stand in splendid isolation beneath the lofty roof timbers of the main abbey church. Completing the quartet is Isabelle of Angoulême, wife of Eleanor’s younger son John. As King John – of Magna Carta fame – he chose Worcester Cathedral in England for his last resting place, but his son Henry III brought Isabelle to the Plantagenet necropolis in 1254.

Fontevraud’s extensive walled complex was converted to a prison under Napoleon, but has been sympathetically transformed into the Regional Arts and Culture Centre for Pays de la Loire. Wander the historic buildings, visit the Museum of Modern Art, and enjoy eclectic outdoor art installations. Best of all, stay overnight at Fontevraud l’Hôtel and you can explore freely after dark and enjoy the spotlit Plantagenets and illuminated buildings in solitude. An unforgettable experience. Advance bookings are strongly recommended for the Michelin-starred restaurant in the hotel cloister. www.fontevraud.fr

From Touraine in the Loire Valley to Normandy

Henry II of England spent much of his time on the road across his vast Plantagenet Empire which stretched from the Scottish Borders down the length of western France to the Pyrenees and across the Auvergne. In 1189 Henry died from an infection at the Château de Chinon which today is part of the Loire Valley’s Touraine region and whilst much of this strategic hilltop fortress is in ruins, the exhibition in the former Plantagenet Hall includes a handy silent film that neatly wraps up the family squabbles. www.forteressechinon.fr

From Chinon, I headed north into Normandy, a region also rich in Plantagenet sites.  Richard the Lionheart spent much of his reign fighting the crusades in the Middle East, but the border with France was a constant worry too. Ruins don’t come much more atmospheric than the Château-Gaillard at Les Andeleys, commissioned by Richard on a rocky promontory high above the Seine east of Rouen. Wear flat, non-slip shoes to climb the uneven path to the inner courtyard for sweeping views over river cliffs and plain. www.nouvelle-normandie-tourisme.com

Richard’s death in 1199 was something of an anti-climax for such a seasoned fighter, the result of an infected arrow wound in south-west France.  But whilst his body was buried at Fontrevraud, his heart lies in Rouen Cathedral, a common practice in the Middle Ages to spread the opportunities for local income from pilgrims. An effigy of the warrior king lies in the spectacular Gothic cathedral, famously painted by Claude Monet more than 30 times. www.visiterouen.com

Avranches

Less obvious but equally interesting for a Plantagenet hunter is Avranches, close to the Normandy coast. Excommunicated by the Pope for instigating the murder of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, Henry II met here in 1172 with delegates of the Pope to seek absolution. The crumbling cathedral was demolished in 1794, but the site of the meeting is now a hilltop green space with distant views of Mont St Michel, the place of penance marked by a stone pillar and plaque. Just ask any local for directions to Place Becket. www.normandie-tourisme.fr

King John died in 1216, but the Plantagenet dynasty was to carry on for another 300 years until Richard III died on Bosworth Field in 1485, overthrown by the next dysfunctional dynasty, the Tudors. But none of the Plantagenets who followed John would have the same influence across two countries as those first three kings.

Henry II had built up the empire; Richard fought hard to maintain it; and John – nicknamed Lackland or Jean sans Terre – managed to lose most of the French lands to Philip II of France. But their ambition and animosity have ensured that 900 years later, we are still fascinated by those early Plantagenet monarchs and the sites they left behind – quite some legacy!

By Gillian Thornton, one of the UK’s leading travel writers and a regular writer for The Good Life France Magazine and website.

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Want to know how to be a Parisian? Ever wondered what makes Parisians different from the rest of the French? We caught up with French comedian Olivier Giraud, whose one man show in Paris “How to be a Parisian in one Hour” has been seen by more than half a million people from around the world. And he explained all!

Olivier Giraud is a Parisian, a comedian, an author, and a legend. He’s a man who makes people roll off their seats laughing in the packed theatre he plays to in Paris with his one man show where he’s taught more than 1 million people how to be a Parisian too – in just one hour. And if your parents taught you to grow up to be a kind person with values such as politeness and punctuality, well forget all that because if you want to be a Parisian Olivier says, you just can’t do that. His brilliantly fun show ‘How to become a Parisian in one hour’ at the ‘Théâtre des Nouveautés’, at Boulevard Poissonnières, is an absolute essential Paris visit. It will explain the cultural differences between Parisians and well, everyone else. And it will make you laugh out loud. And I promise you will look around you in Paris with renewed awe. So students, sit back, pay attention and get ready to find out more about life in the Parisian jungle according to Olivier Giraud.

Are Parisians arrogant?

When it comes to Parisians – it’s almost like we think of them as a separate race from the rest of the French, maybe the rest of the world. But what’s myth and what’s reality. Let’s look at some of the cliches starting with the famous arrogance of Parisians. Is that true? Or false? Are Parisians arrogant?

Olivier Giraud We Parisians are all arrogant. I mean, we live in the most beautiful city in the world. We speak French without any accent. We have the best restaurants. It would be such a pity to be a nice person. So yeah, of course we are all arrogant.

Janine Marsh You say that, but I have to say that most of the Parisians I’ve met are nice!

Olivier Giraud Most of them are nice? Hmm but most of the time, if you see a nice person in Paris, if you ask them questions and they answer nicely, they come from the ‘provinces’!

Are Parisians all slim?

Janine Marsh This is what everyone believes everywhere around the world. And actually, I believe it too, because I was once in Paris having lunch at the Cafe de la Paix, near Opera Garnier. And it’s a famous restaurant. It’s very gastronomic. And I was sitting there having a delicious steak chips. And a woman sat next to me at the table. And she was clearly French, and clearly Parisian because she ordered a bowl of lettuce for lunch, just a bowl of lettuce, nothing else. And then she said: “Can I have the ketchup please?” And she put some ketchup on it. And she had nothing else for the whole lunch that I was there, anyway, so true or false? Are all Parisians slim.

 Olivier Giraud I would say that Parisians are quite slim. I used to live in America for five years. And when I came back to Paris, I was very shocked about the Parisians. And I checked all the numbers. Like, in Paris, there is only 10% of the people who are overweight. And I think it’s because the people run all the time. We are walking like more than five kilometers per day with the Metro and all the steps. And Parisians are very careful about food. Even at the food market they try to find like a good product, organic product. And we do not snack. And there is a cliche of the Parisians every morning with the croissant, the French baguette, the jam… all the charcuterie and the cheese. We try to be very careful about the food and the way we look.

Janine Marsh It’s a really strange thing because everybody around the world think French people just eat croissants and, and chocolatines or pains aux chocolat and Nutella spread thickly on toast and baguettes and cakes and wine and cheese all day long. But actually…

Olivier Giraud No, it’s not. It’s wrong.

Janine Marsh So what do you have at breakfast?

Olivier Giraud Only a coffee. A ‘cafe allongé’ which is like a kind of American coffee. It’s like espresso with hot water. For Parisians – coffee only, though sometimes if I have guests in my house, I’ll buy some croissants – maybe three times per year…

Janine Marsh 3 times a year!

 Olivier Giraud Yeah. Or 4 times.

Janine Marsh Who eats all the croissants then?

Olivier Giraud Who eats the croissants? I think that the young people, I think the youngsters like the kids they love the pain au chocolat. Or you say pain au chocolat in Paris or otherwise in South of France is chocolatine. It’s like a big war in France. There is the team chocolatine and the team pain au chocolat, who are always fighting. The kids have the pain au chocolat you know after school. They love to have one. Otherwise, tourists love the croissant and the pain au chocolat, but Parisians, not very often.

Janine Marsh I love a croissant for breakfast!

Olivier Giraud You don’t live in Paris.

What do Parisians wear?

Janine Marsh My friend Vanessa is a true Parisian. And she was born and bred in Paris, and she will never ever leave Paris, she says. She also will never ever wear any colour but black. Seriously, I’ve known Vanessa now for I don’t know, maybe 12 years and I’ve never seen her wear anything but black trousers or black suit or a little black dress when we’re going out in the evening. Is this a Paris thing?

Olivier Giraud Yes, it is. For me too, I wear only black. And sometimes someone is like, let’s be crazy,  put on some grey or dark blue. But I think Parisians try to feel invisible, you know. And you can see in the Metro, the tourists with the flowers and black and red, like red, pink, yellow… But Parisians yeah, they like to wear a dark colour.

Janine Marsh Wow, to be invisible. Is that because it’s such a busy town? Well, you know, it’s not really a busy city compared to London, I suppose, or New York, which is, you know, quite a bit bigger. But I guess in terms of France, it’s quite a busy big city. So being invisible is a good thing?

Olivier Giraud I think it’s a good thing. And like Coco Chanel used to say, I like any colour as long as it is black.

Janine Marsh Do you wear black pyjamas?

Olivier Giraud All the time? Black or grey.

Olivier Jauffrit What about pants?

Olivier Giraud Pants? Dark blue jeans

Janine Marsh Wow.

Olivier Giraud Only. And then in the theatre it’s only in black.

Janine Marsh So you push the boat out with blue jeans and some flash of colour amongst all the black shirts and pants and socks. I must say when you’re in Paris, you do notice a lot of people wearing black. So right now I must assume that everyone wearing black is a Parisian and everyone not wearing black is either from outside of Paris or a visitor.

Olivier Giraud Next time you come to Paris Janine, only in black.

Janine Marsh I’m actually going to Paris on Wednesday, and I’m gonna wear black and see if anyone thinks I’m Parisian.

Olivier Giraud You have to.

What is a Parisian BoBo?

Janine Marsh  Okay, this is a question from a friend of mine, who lives in London and she said she went to Paris and she was overhearing people in a café and they were chatting and they were saying: ‘Bobo’, il est ‘Bobo, elle est ‘Bobo’. What is a Paris Bobo?

Olivier Giraud So the term bobo is a mixture of two words. Using the first letters to each word. First ‘bourgeois’ which means a rich person. And then ‘boheme’ as in Bohemian. The two first letters of each are ‘bo’, so it’s bobo. Translation: a rich person who lives like a poor person.

Janine Marsh So does a bobo eat croissants for breakfast?

Olivier Giraud They can eat croissants but I think they love the croissant with some pumpkin seeds! This is really bobo and the bobo is kind of ‘we have to fight to save the planet’ for example. They go on holidays like 10 times per year. They go to the Reunion island, they go to America, they travel a lot. So I think that they save the planet only you know with friends… talking like this, but not doing that too much.

Janine Marsh Do they wear black? Because that’s not very bohemian.

Olivier Giraud Yeah, they put some colours the bobo! A bit more colour and a bit of flowers. You can find some bobos close to Canal St Martin, in the 11th arrondissement. You can find them every Sunday morning in a market buying like 10 euros a kilogram apples. But they’re so happy like ‘yeah, it’s a good quality’, of course for 10 euros! You find some of them in the 19th arrondissement, the 20th and now in Montreuil. It’s a suburb with a lot of bobos!

Janine Marsh So, if you want to go bobo-spotting, head to Montreuil or the 11th arrondissement. And spot people wearing black clothes with a splash of colour and maybe eating croissants, for a true sight of Paris.

Are Parisian waiters rude?

Janine Marsh: Right, now this might be a tough question actually. Because I think there are two different answers to this personally. But there is one answer that I have experienced and it’s about Parisian waiters. You know if you read any magazines, if you read any websites about Paris, people will go ‘oh, Parisian waiters, they are so rude. They are also arrogant to clients.’ You would think that going into a restaurant spending money by buying food, buying wine and dining there that you would be treated really well. But how true is it that a Parisian waiter will be rude to a client?

Olivier Giraud  I will say that in Paris, we have different kinds of restaurants. If you go to a really high class restaurant, most of the time, I mean 95% of the time the waiter will be nice, because they have a big reputation, and they have to be nice. But if you go to a Brasserie, even for Parisians it’s very hard to find a nice one that is like, when you arrive: “hello, how are you? Welcome!” I think it never happened to me in the past five years. So yeah, okay, I’ll sit, and their facial expression means, ‘ahhh, another guest, I’m fed up with this job.’ We’re used to this in Paris. But yes, so so many tourists are very shocked about the way they are treated by the waiters. But that’s a Paris thing, it’s like this, and they are not too nice, but they can be fast. And you eat well. And the problem is – the tips are included in Paris, and in all of France. So that means that they don’t have to be nice, because the service is paid already. In America: ‘hey, welcome to the Cheesecake Factory!’ They’re very nice and then you give them a 20% tip. In Paris, perhaps you can give one or two euros if the service is good. But most of the time you leave nothing.

Janine Marsh You could go into a restaurant and they could just be absolutely awful for you. And they’re still going to get a tip, whether you like it or not.

Olivier Giraud Yes! There are some visitors you know, they think the tips are not included. So they add like 10 or 20%, even if the service is bad, but, reallly they don’t have to be nice.

Janine Marsh I haven’t really had that many bad experiences. But I’ve had the look that you described, you know where I’ve walked in and just asked for a cup of coffee. And then they look at me as if I’ve I asked for something really unspeakable, rather than a cup of coffee. But you’re right – they’re fast. And you get what you want.

I saw a sign once in a cafe and it said if you ask for a coffee and you say ‘Bonjour un cafe s’il vous plait’ you’ll get it for one price. And if you walk in and just go ‘un cafe!’, you get it for a much higher price. I don’t know if that’s true.

95% of the time, you’re not going to get a rude waiter in Paris. Simple as that. Smile, say Bonjour. Say ‘s’il vous plait’. You’re probably going to get a really nice happy waiter. Yeah, yeah, that’s what I reckon.

Where to go shopping in Paris?

Where does a typical Parisian go shopping for clothes? You know, I suppose we all think it’s going to be the Champs-Elysées, which is always full of shoppers, but I’ve to be honest, most of them do seem to be visitors. So I’m assuming that Parisians go somewhere else.

Olivier Giraud Yeah, Parisians don’t go on the ‘Champs-Elysées’ because there’s not too many shops, it’s only like very expensive shops. Parisians go to ‘Les Halles’, close to ‘Chatelet’. It’s a place where you have many shops. Rue de Rivoli, now it’s better than because there’s no more cars. And Rue de Rennes as well, in the 6th arrondissement. If you have a lot of money you can go close to the Champs-Elysées, to Avenue Montaigne, for Dior, Chanel, Jean-Paul Gaultier… you know expensive shops.

Janine Marsh Millionaire’s row huh? So the Parisians never leave Paris to go shopping? Do they ever leave Paris?

Olivier Giraud Of course we have friends in the suburbs. But for us, it’s horrible to go to ‘Banlieue’ (suburbs). It’s takes so long. It takes less time to go to Greece than going to the suburbs, with all the strikes! No, I’m kidding, but it’s hard for Parisians to go to the suburbs. It’s not easy for real Parisians.

Janine Marsh So from your experience. I mean, you said you lived in America for five years. So is shopping in Paris a bit different from shopping in America or anywhere else for that matter. Is Paris shopping, you know, a special thing?

Olivier Giraud Yeah. In Paris, a lot of people like going shopping on Saturday. And the service is like it is in restaurants. It’s funny. You know, if you go to America: Hey welcome to H&M, welcome. My name is Tracy.’ They’re very nice. In Paris, it’s different I mean, you, you get in, you don’t have to smile, you know, you look for what you want, and then you leave. It’s kind of different.

Janine Marsh It’s very different. I mean, I went shopping in Paris, and I saw this beautiful dress. And I went in – and it was in the shop window. And I said, Oh, I really love that dress in the shop window. Do you think you have it in my size? And she just looked me up and down and said ‘non’.

Olivier Giraud Non – c’est pas possible

Janine Marsh This is what she said. She gave me a look that said, I don’t want you to wear my beautiful dresses you are not worthy!

Olivier Giraud When you’re Parisian and you go shopping, if the sales advisor ask you ‘you need some help?’. Even if you need some help, just say ‘non je regarde‘. You need to be alone, you know, you don’t want to be disturbed by somebody. And, if later, you need some help you say ‘yeah, oh, come on, I need some help.’ And then the person comes and will help you but just look alone – and don’t ask for any help.

Janine Marsh Just look at the clothes where everything is black in the corner.

Olivier Giraud Completely. Then you leave.

Where do Parisians go on holiday?

Janine Marsh Where did Parisians go on holiday? I mean, we read in magazines that Parisians go to ‘Ile de Ré’ or they go to Deauville. Nowhere else in France do they go. Occasionally Provence…

Olivier Giraud Provence? Yeah, but it’s more common to go to Deauville or Trouville in Normandy. I don’t like Deauville. It’s all the rich Parisians going there you know with the Chanel and Jean-Paul Gaultier’s shops everywhere, and the beautiful cars. But if you cross the bridge you have Trouville, which is like Deauville, but when you have a bit less of money than Deauville. The weather’s not amazing there, but Parisians go there for a weekend or a long weekend. They also go to ‘Ile de Ré’. And Brittany is very famous now – everybody wants to go to Brittany and, it’s funny when the Parisians go to a Brittany, they dress like people from Brittany you know the ‘marinière’, a shirt with stripes, you know? And also the plastic boots…

Janine Marsh I think we call them crocs.

Olivier Giraud Oh yeah, the crocs. It’s kind of funny. You can see the Parisians in Brittany: all look the same.

Janine Marsh Wow. So Parisians go on holiday and they fling off their black clothes and they put on black and white instead.

Olivier Giraud And then for the bobo, they love camping, you know. The Parisian bobo, they go camping. They spend so much money for a little space in the country. No water or electricity – they pay so much, but they’re very happy. We all take August holidays all the time. That’s why everything is closed in Paris, if you’re looking for a bakery or even a bank – everything is closed in August most of the time.

Janine Marsh It’s astonishing, isn’t it? I can’t believe it. Sometimes I go on holiday. Or I go out for the day in July or August and restaurants are shut and there’s a sign on the door saying ‘we are on holiday’.

Olivier Giraud C’est ferme !

Janine Marsh This is peak tourist season. How can you be on holiday? Hotels close in July and August too!  I love that in France you are either a July person or an August person. And there is a name for this and I find it almost impossible to say August in French.

Olivier Giraud If you go on holidays in August, you are an ‘aoutien’. If you go on holidays in July, you are a ‘juilletiste’.

Janine Marsh Wow, I’m beginning to get a picture here. It’s either Pain au chocolat or Chocolatine. You either go on holiday in July or you go in August, so there are two different tribes going on here.

 Olivier Giraud And August is even more expensive. Everything is so expensive in August. More than July.

How to be Parisian!

Janine Marsh Is there one thing that you should do or that you shouldn’t do to make you look more Parisian and less a tourist when you come to Paris?

Olivier Giraud The way you dress – you know try to put some black or grey. So many times I can see like tourists and you can see they’re tourists they’re wearing like a shirt with like ‘God Bless America’ with the cap ‘In America we trust’. No don’t take this cap, keep it at home. And if I see very smiley people on the street, I’m sure they are tourists. Don’t even move your eyes or lips or whatever, just try to be depressed… And the way you speak as well you know. When you go to a bakery (a boulangerie), and this is something that makes me laugh all the time, the tourists say: Yeah, we would like the crapes, crapes. No, come on, crêpes when you say crapes, you’re making three mistakes. It’s not a cray. It’s crrr crrr, it’s Crêpe. And it’s one crepe, 2 crepes. Even if you’re right theres an  ‘s” at the end. You don’t pronounce it. So when you say crapes, you’re a tourist. And, the biggest mistake people can make is like: Yeah, we love Macron! Macron is our president. Macaron is a pastry. You know, that’s a big difference.

Janine Marsh I’m guilty of having friends who call him Macaron as well and Mrs. Macaron…

Olivier Giraud Emmanuel Macaron and Brigitte Macaron. Hmmm…

 Janine Marsh You’re saying about don’t smile, because sometimes I have to go to meetings with French people. And they always say to me, you smile too much. People won’t trust you. But I like to smile. I’m happy.

Olivier Giraud You know, when you’re walking in Paris in the streets, and you see people smiling, you’re like, what happened? Why did they smile? What happened? And we feel like the person is weird. So yeah, don’t be nice.

Janine Marsh So now we have learned from this: always wear black, have a cup of coffee for breakfast and nothing else. Never eat a croissant, never a pain au chocolat. Don’t smile, don’t wear a baseball cap. And you will be a Parisian in Paris.

Olivier Giraud You can smoke as well.

Janine Marsh Yeah. Well, you know, I don’t think I can condone that, actually, Olivier, on this on this show…

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Janine Marsh is Author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream,  My Four Seasons in France: A Year of the Good Life and Toujours la France: Living the Dream in Rural France all available as ebook, print & audio, on Amazon everywhere & all good bookshops online.

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