C’est la Rentrée! The French Season Opener – School, Politics, Art and Fashion

Today is the French Rentrée, the start of the school year, but also the start of the fall season with its accompanying political activities, art festivals and fashion shows. Since there is still a very strong tradition of taking at least some vacation in August, people are returning to work with memories of relaxing or adventurous vacations still fresh in their minds. The beginning of September is a time when friends start to reconnect after the holidays, perhaps fitting in an after work verre or drink to catch up.

Paris Manif’ Rentrée 2010

© Isabelle Vianu

For parents of school-age children, today is the rentrée scolaire. For those who have not yet braved Carrefour, BHV or their local papeterie for back-to-school supplies, they will get their chance at mass befuddlement alongside other harried parents, wrinkled list in hand, no doubt fished out from their child’s sac à dos or cartable. The French Ministry of Education has published the list below of 30 essential school supplies (my English translations). These are the basics, but teachers have their own terminology. I remember searching in vain for a lutin. For me, and for my dictionary, un lutin was a gnome or a goblin, or a sprite, but not something you’d find on a school supply list. Unfortunately, the young salesman had no idea what a lutin was either. So, I asked a mom, a French mom, not one of the other confused ex-pat moms. Life Lesson #1: Ask (a) Mom. A lutin is a plastic notebook (it can be small or large) filled with plastic sleeves. You slip a document or sheet of paper in the plastic sleeve. You can put class notes in these sleeves which facilitates review and preserves the pages so they don’t rip from frequent turning as happens when you put loose paper in a three-ring binder, for example. The trade name for a lutin is a porte-document. The folder will also list the number of views, for example, avec 60 vues, which would be 30 sheets since you have two views per sheet. They can also be called porte-vues or protège-vues.  

It seems odd for American parents that their elementary school child needs a fountain pen and a special re-write pen to go with it, but that’s how they learn to write in school here. Those four colored pens (and yes, you have to have blue, black, red and green, ALWAYS) will be used for underlining, boxing and otherwise organizing their writing. Be prepared to be either dazzled by the orderliness of your child’s work, or baffled by the teacher’s utter conviction that your child will be a failure in life if he or she is unable to write clear copy by the Toussaint holiday (more on vacations and the school calendar later).
  

30 fournitures scolaires essentielles/ 30 Essential School Supplies

o Grand cahier de 96 pages (21 x 29,7 cm) / Large 96-page notebook

o Petit cahier de 96 pages (17 x 22 cm) /Small 96-page notebook

o Feuillets mobiles perforés (21 x 29,7 cm) / Perforated loose leaf paper

o Copies doubles perforées (21 x 29,7 cm) / Perforated double sheets

o Cahier de musique de 48 pages (17 x 22 cm) / 48-page music notebook

o Agenda / Planner

o Classeur rigide (21 x 29,7 cm) / Hard cover binder

o Classeur souple (21 x 29,7 cm) / Soft cover binder

o Protège-cahier / notebook cover

o Pochettes transparentes (21 x 29,7 cm) / plastic sheet protectors

o Rouleau de plastique pour couvrir les livres / Roll of plastic for covering books

o Stylos à bille (4 couleurs) / Ballpoint pens (4 colors)

o Crayons à papier / pencils

o Stylo plume / fountain pen

o Cartouches d’encre (bleu et/ou noir) / ink cartridges (blue and/or black)

o Pochette de 12 crayons/feutres de couleurs / packet of 12 colored pencils/felt-tip pens

o Effaceurs-réécriveurs / eraser-rewriters

o Boite de gouaches – 10 tubes / box of gouache paints – 10 tubes

o Pinceaux de tailles différentes – lot de 3 / set of 3 paintbrushes – varying sizes

o Trousse / Pencil case

o Gomme / Eraser

o Bâton de colle / Glue stick

o Taille-crayon / Pencil sharpener

o Rouleau de ruban adhésif / Roll of adhesive tape

o Règle plate en plastique – 30 cm / Flat Plastic Ruler – 30 cm

o Rapporteur en plastique – 12 cm / Plastic protractor

o Equerre en plastique – 21 cm – 60° / Plastic square – 21 cm - 60°

o Compas / Compass

o Paires de ciseaux de 15 à 17 cm en acier / Stainless steel scissors – 15-17 cm

o Calculatrice pour collégien (6ème à 3ème) / Calculator for middle schoolers

The school calendar also influences the beginning of the political, art, fashion and literary seasons. The first political demonstration of the season was held on September 1^st to commemorate the expulsion of 300 undocumented immigrants from the Saint Bernard church in Paris. As budget discussions get underway, more political marches will be organized. The 41^st Festival d’Automne with offerings in visual arts, theater, dance, music and film, begins on September 13^th and wraps up just before Christmas. The Invalides is host to the outdoor opera festival this year with performances of Aïda beginning Friday, September 7^th and running for a week. See my September calendar for more ideas for enjoying la rentrée and remember to take advantage of the new weekend Navigo dézonage. On Saturdays and Sundays, you can now travel anywhere in the Ile de France region on your Navigo pass. Versailles and Eurodisney just got cheaper.

Paris iPad Apps

I’m neither a technie nor an Apple acolyte, but I love my iPad. It’s perfect for traveling and for tourism. Wireless access is improving in Paris all the time so you really don’t have to spring for a data plan. Since I don't have a data plan on my iPad, I especially appreciate apps that function off-line as well. Below are my picks for French language and Paris-specific iPad apps.

Le Français – Langue et Culture

*** 1) Larousse French-English dictionary ($5.99)

This replaces my Dictionnaire Hachette-Oxford CD-ROM which has no equivalent in the iPad app world and is not compatible with my new computer. (I tried the on-line subscription, but it is inaccessible off line and with the annual subscription fee of about $70, simply not worth it.)The Larousse dictionary works off line and has a voice function for pronunciation. It offers a fairly broad range of options for each entry and pretty much replicates the Hachette-Oxford experience. Now I just need to find a laptop version.

 

** 2) Google Translate (free)

This is a great online app. The translations aren't always perfect, but you can type in a word or sentence and have the translation read to you. You can make a list of frequently needed expressions, but unfortunately you do need to have a network connection in order for it to work.

*** 3) France Culture (free)

France Culture is part of the French state radio system. The app has a radio icon that you press and then select from six national radio stations on a round dial. France Info has round the clock news, sports and weather bulletins every fifteen minutes. Because of the repetition, it's a great resource for French language learners. France Bleu (regional radio), France Inter (general public radio), France Musique (classical music and discussion) and fip (jazz) are also options.

** 4) RFI & MCD (free)

Radio France Internationale airs in ten languages, including French, English and Arabic. The app provides access to live programming on RFI Monde (World) and RFI Afrique, music and the Journal en Français Facile/New in Easy French. “Easy” means that delivery is fractionally slower, the presenters enunciate clearly, there is greater repetition and perhaps more thought given to vocabulary choice, although the overall impression is not one of a learner’s version of the news. The web site provides a very helpful transcript of each newscast, unfortunately inaccessible from the iPad app. I give the app two stars because it doesn’t rotate, which shouldn’t matter since this is RADIO and I’m not looking at the screen, but still.

* 5) France 24 (free)

France24 is the French equivalent of CNN and broadcasts on TV and online in French, English and Arabic. I have problems viewing the video content, but the programming is good so I’m hoping that a future update will fix the bug so I’m not deleting it just yet.

6) Francetv info (free)

It appears that Yahoo news stories were the inspiration for this app. Today’s “top selections” are fascinating titles such as “Pourquoi le nouveau “Dallas” risque de faire un bide.”/“Why the new Dallas may be a flop ?”. Not worth the icon screen space. Delete.

Practical Paris – Daily Life and Tourism

* 1) RATP (free)

The RATP is the Paris transportation system for the métro, bus, RER and Tram lines. The maps can be consulted offline, which is useful. Route planning is possible although somewhat awkward and connectivity is required for most of the tasks.

The itinerary planner is not as effective on the app as on the ratp.fr site. Searches by name rather than address can be difficult. If you attempt to request an itinerary from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, typing Louvre in the 'place' space, one of the options is the Collège Les Louvrais, a middle school in the Paris suburb of Pontoise. "Musée du Louvre" is the sixth suggestion.
Since you need to be connected for all but the most basic tasks, and the random mixing of French and English is not particularly helpful, it may be more helpful to go directly to the www.ratp.fr site, which has an English site button.

** 2) J'aime Paris ♥ "Free Paris" ($2.99)

Free and Frugal paris - Sutro Media

Free and Frugal Paris is written by Christopher Pitts, an American writer living in Paris. A dial in the upper left corner lets you filter for topics such as “Practical” “Picnics” and “Architecture” and very importantly “Wi-Fi Hotspots” which explains in detail how to connect to the free city wireless hotspots. 

The site offers a nice selection of low cost and free things to do and see in Paris off the beaten track. Each entry has a photo (or two or more), a description with address and telephone, and a map. If you touch the photo for an entry, a slideshow will start with multiple photos for that entry.

I don't care for his breakdown of Paris neighborhoods, although I see the reasoning. It would be useful to add the arrondissement number to each of the neighborhoods, for example, his section on the Louvre, located in the 1st, includes entries in the 1st, 2nd and 4th, well out of the neighborhood traditionally associated with the Louvre. There is a nice, detailed city street map and the app functions well off-line.

A very nice and friendly touch, one I haven’t seen on an app, is the space for comments and suggestions from users.

** 3) Fotopedia Paris (free)

This is great armchair travel. The photos are gorgeous and it’s enjoyable to just flip through them. Choose from a selection of 36 themed ‘stories’ from the ubiquitous ‘Paris with Kids’ (but with interesting entries such as the Bercy Kitchen Garden) to more unusual ‘Ceilings’ and ‘French Words’ (one of my favorites). Photos and interesting entries can be saved under “My trips”. After each mini slide show, you’ll be subjected to images from other Fotopedia publications, but they are so beautiful you find yourself dreaming of the next vacation rather being than annoyed by the intrusion.

*** 4) mPassport Paris ($0.99) – Doctors, Dentists, Pharmacies

This is an amazing app and one that travelers should have on hand. The drug glossary alone is worth the download. Drugs are listed with the generic and commercial names in the US and in Paris as well as the preparation types available. Emergency numbers are listed, along with Emergency Rooms and hospitals. A localization function tells you the address of the closest doctor, dentist, hospital or pharmacy. The doctor profiles list their training, languages spoken and you can even request an appointment online. The medical phrases and terms translator is very useful and there is a voice function, although mine doesn’t function and updating the application did not fix the problem.  

Paris Pratique I: Getting around and les transports en commun

[updated July 3, 2012]

The Paris public transportation system is efficient and easy to navigate. Tickets and passes are valid for travel on the métro, bus, tram and RER. If you are staying in Paris for a week or longer, the easiest way to get around is to purchase an unlimited pass, called the Passe Navigo Découverte. The weekly passes are valid Monday to Sunday. To avoid lines, you can purchase or recharge your pass the Friday before. Monthly passes are valid for the calendar month and can be purchased beginning the 20^th of the month before.

Paris Visite offers several tourist options which include unlimited travel for 1, 2, 3, or 5 days, within the selected zones as well as line-jumping privileges at many Paris museums and attractions. Unless you are planning on visiting two or more major museums per day, it’s usually not worth the extra expense. The city center is small enough that if you purchase a book of ten tickets, called a carnet, you’ll be fine for very short stays.

 

Acquiring, charging and using your Pass Navigo Découverte

You’ll need a small photo of yourself for the pass. You can take a photo in a photomaton, photo booth, (choose 'miniphoto' if you have a choice, otherwise the 4 photo option) located in some stations. The cost is 5€, payable with a bill or coins. You can also
cut a small headshot of yourself out of a larger photo. The headshot should measure approximately 1½” high and 1” wide (you can trim to fit). In a pinch, a photocopy of your passport photo will do.  

If you have a credit card, you can purchase both the Pass Navigo Découverte for 5€ and charge it for one week or a month at one of the information booths inside major métro stations. 

If you only have cash, you must first purchase your Pass Navigo Découverte at the automated kiosk, pick up a coupon and then retrieve it back at the information booth. After you get the plastic card, then you have to take it back to the machine to charge it.

To begin at a kiosk, touch the screen for English, then select Touch to buy tickets here, followed by Coupon Pass Navigo Découvertea This will give you a coupon which you then take to the Information window. 

At this point you will probably be weary of the entire process, but please remember to greet the agents at the window and ask politely for their help.

Pronunciation note: the soft ‘j’ or ‘g’ in French is pronounced ‘zhe’ like the ‘s’ sound in ‘pleasure’. It is the voiced counterpart to the ‘t’ sound in ‘nation’ or the French word for chair, ‘chaise’.

Bonjour, Madame (Monsieur). Pourriez-vous m’aider à acheter un Pass Navigo Découverte et me montrer comment le recharger ?

[pronounced : Poureeay-voo mehday ah ashtay un Pass Navigo Daycuverte  ay muh   montray komo luh resharzhay?

If the agent realizes you are a tourist, he or she may try to upsell you to a Paris Visite tourist pass and may even tell you that you’re not eligible for one. Just smile and say you’re not a tourist. You live in Paris now.

Je ne suis pas touriste. J’habite Paris maintenant.

            [pronounced: Zhe nuh swi pah touriste. Zhahbeet Pariy mentenan.]

The actual pass includes a smart card to which you affix a small photo of yourself and fill in your NOM (last, or family, name) and your PRENOM (first name). Then you plastifier the card by folding the sticky plastic over your photo and name and slipping the card into the hard plastic case. This is your Pass Navigo Découverte, but it is not valid until you charge it.

If you have just arrived in Paris or are in France for a short stay you probably do not have a smart credit card that can be used in the violet colored kiosks. You’ll want to look for a kiosk with the roll bar or touch screen and the orange band with the pictogram showing bank bills and coins. Apparently the kiosks are now set up to accept foreign credit and debit cards. You’ll choose Rechargement Pass Navigo, Zones 1-2, Hebdomadaire (Weekly) or Mensuel (Monthly). Place your card on the machine when requested and wait for it to be charged. 

Zones and Fares

The center of Paris is considered Zones 1-2. All métro stations and Paris buses are in Zones 1-2 (NB: Buses that go to the suburbs will enter Zone 3 and require additional fare). The RER system (Regional Express trains) serves the Parisian suburbs and crisscrosses Paris. If you take the RER within Paris, your Zones 1-2 ticket or pass is valid. If you leave central Paris, make sure you have the appropriate ticket, or you can be fined on the spot. Popular destinations outside Paris include Orly Airport (Zone 3) Versailles (Zone 4), Eurodisney or Charles-de-Gaulle Airport (both Zone 5).

RER A Paris Stops : Charles-de-Gaulle Etoile (Champs-Elysées) – Auber (Opéra and Grand Magasins) – Châtelet-Les Halles – Gare de Lyon – Nation.

RER B Paris Stops : Gare du Nord - Châtelet-Les Halles – St. Michel Notre Dame – Luxembourg – Port Royal – Denfert-Rochereau – Cité Universitaire.

Fare Information

Paris Passe Navigo     19.15€ (weekly); 62.90€ (monthly) for Zones 1-2.

Tickets                          1.70€ (single); 12.70€ (carnet of 10) for Zones 1-2

Paris Visite                   9.75€ (1 day); 15.85€ (2 days); 21.60€ (3); 31.15€ (5) 

Prices usually change on July 1^st each year. These prices are valid as of May 2012.

Hours of Operation – Heures d’Ouverture

The metro runs from around 5:30am – 1am Sunday through Thursday, and until 2am on Friday and Saturday. You can check online at www.ratp.fr for first and last trains at your station. Buses start about an hour later and finish an hour earlier. The night buses, or Noctiliens, begin around midnight and continue until the metro opens, around 5:30am. The night buses start from the center of Paris and go to the suburbs. Night bus numbers are preceded by “N”. If the driver is signaling that you should not get on the bus, he’s probably telling you that it’s not the right bus for you. To avoid being stranded in a distant suburb, politely tell the driver where you want to go before getting on the bus.  

 Je voudrais aller à ____.

[pronunciation: Zhe voodray allay ah ____. I would like to go to ____.]

Traffic, Routes and Timetables

You can calculate your bus or train itinerary online at www.ratp.fr or with the iPhone/Pad RATP app. On the screen you’ll see something like this:

Rechercher un itinéraire ou un plan de quartier.

Top of Form

Départ / Plan de quartier *    

Arrivée

* Remplir un champ pour un plan de quartier et deux champs pour une recherche d’itinéraire. Fill in one box for a neighborhood map (Plan de quartier) and both boxes, departure and arrival, for an itinerary.

Select the green Rechercher box for search and Recherche avancée for an advanced search.

Advanced search options include Heure, hour of departure or arrival and Date. You can also select for the Mode of transportation – Tous (all), Ferré (Métro, RER, SNCF, Tramway), or Bus, Tramway; and from among several Critères – Le plus rapide (fastest), Le moins de correspondance (the fewest transfers) and Le moins de marche à pied (the least walking). 

You can compare various options and will be given information on traffic delays, if applicable as well as and a map. You can also select to show detailed instructions (Afficher le détail de la feuille de route).

 

Metro and Bus Etiquette

If you’ve read my entry on bus attitude, you’ll know that the first thing you do when you enter the bus is greet the driver with a Bonjour, Madame. Bonjour, Monsieur. Always enter the bus at the front and validate your titre de transport, your ticket or pass. Exit through the rear doors. Route maps are usually posted in the bus and some buses have monitors that announce the next stop. To request a stop, press one of the buttons placed throughout the bus prior to arrival. The sign in the front of the bus will light with Arrêt demandé , stop requested.

The “métro attitude” is more impersonal which can be less intimidating for tourists. Greeting or speaking to fellow passengers on the métro is neither required nor encouraged. Since everyone enters and exits through the same doors, let the passengers exit first and then step into the car. Do not attempt to board once the doors have started to close and never attempt to force the doors open. You only need to see someone caught in the doors once to learn that lesson. Not to mention that you don’t want to be the person who shuts down the entire line and then cannot retreat when irate passengers start yelling. Line 1 is now fully automated and work is being done on other lines as well which is meant to improve traffic flow and to prevent situations like the one above.

If you’re traveling alone at night, avoid entering cars where there is no one or people you’d rather avoid. If the behavior of another passenger makes you uncomfortable, get off at the next stop and enter a car closer to the driver, if there is one. Do not engage in eye contact or discussion with anyone you do not want to talk to. Any engagement will most likely be taken as an invitation. 

 

For an entertaining take on the perils of eye contact, see Steve Buscemi below in the Tuileries segment of the film Paris, Je T’Aime.

Culture Métro

The RATP strives to make your travel as enjoyable as possible, offering reading material, musical interludes and visit suggestions. For the last fifteen years, the RATP has held annual auditions for musicians who are authorized to perform in the hallways and on the trains. Each July, the winning entries from the annual Concours Poésie RATP are posted in métro cars and buses.

 

One of my favorite historical guides to Paris is the illustrated version of Lorànt Deutsch’s book Métronome, which offers up anecdotes of 2000 years of battles, basilicas and interested events associated with today’s métro lines. His videos are on the RATP site here. Click on the X to show the Paris map with a full list of historical sites and explanations here.

Making the Most of Your Paris Stay: 5 Tips

There are so many books on the market this year about life in France that I can’t keep up. One book I won’t be reading just yet is Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down, by Rosecrans Baldwin. Based on some of the reviews I’ve been reading, it could have been entitled What Not to Do: Being Miserable in Paris in 5 Easy Steps. Imagine William Hurt in Accidental Tourist grumbling his way through rainy streets and metro strikes with a background of breathtaking beauty and missed encounters unwinding behind him like a film reel. Here are a few tips for making the most of your Paris stay.  

A beautiful day or perhaps a night ... near a lake I fell asleep

© K-Rae Nelson

1. Learn Some French!

Unless you already speak French, learning the language for a short stay is unrealistic. However, anyone can learn a few essential phrases. Practical expressions like Combien? and Où est ___? (How much? and Where is?) are much less important than a few polite phrases. In France it is essential to establish a connection and to make a good impression before initiating any type of exchange. It seems like overkill to Americans, but you should always begin any exchange with a Bonjour or Bonsoir. Before you ask for a bus ticket, before you ask for directions, before you purchase a newspaper, always start with Bonjour, or Bonsoir in the evening. The Paris bus system has a campaign called Bus Attitude emphasizing politeness with its slogan “Adoptez la Bus Attitude !” Line 38 which runs through the center of Paris on the north-south axis even has a web site with pages in English explaining appropriate behavior. The Attitude in the Bus page in English acknowledges that:

“Relationships in big cities like Paris are not very easy...Stress, traffic jam, crowd, noise... and Paris citizens known for not being very friendly and talkative sometimes!... None looks at the other, respects the other... This is probably the most boring thing we're facing each and every day in our work driving the bus for you.

It's probably ours first to welcome you aboard with a gentle look... but you know, it's seems so rude to us when someone's boarding in the bus without saying the basic 'Bonjour'... This isn't a good start really, and it happens so often that smiles seems to disappear from our faces too at the end! It shouldn't be so... and we don't want it to be so!”

The page offers an initial French lesson and even an optional compliment to the driver, Vous êtes mignon (You’re cute). On another page, you can read an encounter from the passenger’s point of view as well as the driver’s point of view, and there’s even an amusing automatic translator for you to practice French requests for the driver, such as “I would like to eat frog legs not too expensive?” which produced “J’aimerais manger des cuisses de grenouille pas trop cher?”

You’ll notice an immediate difference when you preface any request with Bonjour. If you don’t feel comfortable trying out your French, follow up with Parlez-vous anglais? (Do you speak English?). Chances are the response will be ‘un petit peu’, a little bit, which is probably more English than your French. Don’t forget to end any encounter with Merci, if appropriate, and always say good-bye, au revoir, or à bientôt (see you soon). 

2. Spend time in cafés.

© Victor Vianu

Instead of breakfasting at your hotel, head to a local café. Grab a newspaper from the bar and dunk your croissant in your café crème. (Note: a café au lait is drip coffee with milk, usually served in a bowl and at home. Café crème is espresso with steamed milk. Don’t pay extra for a cappuccino and its dash of cinnamon. A café noisette, a Paris specialty, is an espresso with a noisette, literally, a hazelnut, or spoonful of steamed milk.) Parisians typically drink coffee with milk only in the morning. You can usually order un grand crème or un petit crème (un crème is masculine because it refers to un café crème).

Sit down to a three course lunch, or a formule, an abbreviated meal of either an entrée/plat, appetizer/main course, or plat/dessert, main course/dessert. A good lunch option is a salade composée, a hearty salad that may include foie gras, duck confit, and roasted potatoes (Salade Périgourdine). You’ll need another café to get going again!

3. Follow the Parisians.

The major tourist zones are in the immediate areas around the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame and the Champs-Elysées. Walk just a few minutes out of these high density zones and you’ll find quiet streets. For example, the medieval streets parallel to Notre Dame are often deserted, as is the beautiful Galerie Véro-Dodat (entrance 19 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1^st), minutes from the jostling craziness of the Louvre. On Sunday afternoons, the river bank expressway is closed on the north side. See here for more information on Sunday closures. The Viaduc des Arts houses art galleries, artisan shops and cafés in the renovated arches of an old railway viaduct, and La Promende Plantée, also called La Coulée Verte, a garden walkway that begins along the old tracks above and continues the length of the 12^th arrondissement.

Galerie Véro-Dodat, entrance 19 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1^st, M : Louvre-Rivoli

Viaduc des Arts, La Promendae Plantée, 1 avenue Daumesnil, 12^th, M: Bastille.

© Victor Vianu

4. Take the bus.

It’s very easy to use the subway system in Paris, and it’s fairly impersonal which can be reassuring to a tourist. The bus, however, is very Parisian. The bus drivers know and greet the regulars, children will take the bus alone to school before taking the metro, and it’s much easier for parents with young children and strollers, and the elderly with limited mobility to take the bus. The bus is more intimate and people are more likely to strike up conversations than in the metro. Remember your Bonjour, Madame, Bonjour, Monsieur!

Line 38 runs through the center of Paris on the north-south axis, Line 96 runs from Montparnasse through Saint-Germain des Prés, the islands and up through the Marais, Line 80 takes you from the Eiffel Tower to Montmartre, and Line 24 cruises along the Left Bank next to the Seine. For other routes, see this Paris bus map and the RATP, the Paris Transportation System site, to plan your trips.

5. Read up on local events.

Find out if there are any special events going on while you’re in town, such as Movie Festivals, la Nuit des Musées, Nuit Blanche, the Salon du Chocolat, la Fête du Pain or la Fête des Vendanges, the wine festival in Montmartre. Pick up a free newspaper - 20 Minutes and Metro are available at metro stations and on buses - or read the Paris City Hall web site in English to keep abreast of special events.

Paris Festivals in May

La Fête du Pain, May 16-21, 2012 in front of Notre Dame. The annual Bread Festival takes place around the St. Honoré, the patron saint of  boulangers (bakers) with events promoting le Pain de Tradition Française, traditional French bread.  The 2012 prize for the best Parisian baguette goes to Sébastien Mauvieux, 159 rue Ordener 18^th , M: Jules Joffrin, a good excuse to wander around this non-touristy area.

La Nuit des Musées, May 19, 2012. Information in English. Expect a crush for the annual Museum Night. Museums are open until 11pm or midnight, and and in some cases 1am. My particular favorites are the The Grand Evolution Gallery of the Museum of National History, the Orsay, newly opened after extensive renovations, Chopin piano recitals at the Musée de la Vie Romantique and Eugène Atget photography at the Carnavalet.

Monumenta 2012: Daniel Buren at the Grand Palais, May 10-June 21, 2012. The Grand Nef of the Grand Palais is only open to the public during special exhibits. Each year an artist is invited to play with the vast space. See today’s SF Chronicle article on the exhibit.