A taste of life in France! Bienvenue to the free bi-weekly newsletter of Snippets in Paris. With some news and plenty of odds and ends, we cover it all with a touch of humor.
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Printemps! Or rather, springtime in France, what could be better! The clouds are drifting away, the covid cases are falling and the streets are filled with foreign visitors again, after 2 years of restrictions. It was French school holidays again (let's face it,…
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but for the majority voting French, the word of the week has to be "soulagement". In other words, "a big relief". Yes, election polls had indicated President Macron was leading against right-wing Le Pen,…
Yes, it is another newsletter about the French election. I know, I know, I'm over all the rhetoric as well, but there is no help for it, we've all got to hold on till April 24th. (Until the legislatives that…
Did you know in French the word for rollercoaster is “montagnes russes”? The name dates back to the time someone had the bright (dumb?) idea to go down hilly slopes at high speed for fun, around the Ural mountains in…
The Ides of March, which is a lunar date around March 15th, once signified the new year with much celebrations and rejoicing. Until Julius Caesar happened to find himself in the way of Brutus’s knife on that fateful day. It would be centuries…
So you may have noticed that I haven’t sent a newsletter over the past couple of weeks. (Or not noticed at all, there is a lot going on in the world and this is hardly that important!) It was actually school…
I don’t know about you, but lately I’ve seen a lot of chatter over the past few months about something that we can only dare to dream about: the 4-day work week. With a variety of media from Le Monde…
So the hot potato of the moment in France is what to do about the schools. Schools, it would appear, seem to be frequented by those germy little monsters who lick the banisters and don’t seem to know that there…
Bonne année and Happy New Year from Paris! Yes, it is actually 2022, or “2020 two” as some folks are calling it. It has been a rather quiet start to the year, however with a major communication fail on New Year’s…
It is the last newsletter of 2021 as we’re hobbling along to Noël and counting down the greek alphabet. I hope you and yours are doing well where ever in world you are. School in France is out at the end of the…
We’ve had quite a few discussions about French politics in the last couple of newsletters, so I thought I would talk about something different for a change: French football! (Aka soccer for those North Americans out there). Now don’t tune…
What is your favorite hue of blue? That is the question that French people having been asking themselves this week, when one intrepid reporter noticed that French President Macron appears to have changed the color of the French flag: https://twitter.com/bevmalta_/status/1459990979927236612?s=20…
So my cher readers, once again we are filled with dramatic headlines about international politics and France. Yippee! This time, the France and the UK are preparing battle stations over approximately 50 fishing licenses that were supposed to be granted to French fishermen…
The earth-shattering news in the French media this week is that our beloved favorite, the fromage camembert, has been outsold in France for the first time. By an Italian cheese upstart no less: the ubiquitous mozzarella (link in French). If you…
The big scandal in France this week involves that oh-so-hoity-toity prize, the Prix Goncourt. It is the equivalent of the Nobel prize and the Pulitzer for Literature, all rolled into one, version française. And the big issue this year is that one…
So in case you haven’t heard, the U.S. has agreed to sell nuclear submarines to Australia. (I do realize you have probably already heard this, because the French have loudly made their feelings extremely clear!) The diplomatic sandstorm started when…
The rentrée is here! Also known as “back to school”! I should note however that the rentrée in France is not just for kids. It is for the adults too, even if you don’t have any children. Of course for parents there are new schedules…
Oh look, the end of August. Also known as that time of the year in France when you you turn on the TV and notice that every newscaster, journalist, and commentator has that sunburnt look that is a couple of…
Well I can finally report, in mid-August, that summer has finally come to Paris. The word of the day is “canicule”, meaning “heatwave” where temperatures are finally over 85F (30C)! Yes, it actually has been grey and rainy all this…
Bienvenue à l'ete in France… where nothing much happens! I have to say, I struggled writing this week’s newsletter because there is not much happening at the moment, everyone is on holiday. That is, other than those few protesters who are…