Christmas in Paris
France 24 shows us Galeries Lafayette‘s fabulous Christmas tree and explains how Covid has affected holiday shopping in Paris.
French cuisine
A marshmallow made by a good French chef is a work of art, nothing like those chewy, sickeningly sweet white pillows from the supermarket. Gastro Obscura explains the difference.
Travel in France
Something to dream about when travel becomes possible again: a trip to France’s beautiful Jura, known for its mountains, Comté cheese and unusual wines. Condé Nast Traveler takes you there.
Bikers will be glad to hear that they will soon be able to cycle from Paris to Normandy on a new bicycle path, according to Time Out.
Literary prizes
Hervé Le Tellier has won the Goncourt Prize 2020 with the novel L’Anomalie and Marie-Hélène Lafon the Prix Renaudot for Histoire du Fils. Bookshops in France have reopened just in time to take advantage of the news, says France 24.
Rebuilding Notre Dame
The scaffolding that melted when Notre Dame Cathedral burned last year has been cleared away, a major step in its reconstruction. France 24 offers a photo reportage.
Serious matters
The beating of a black music producer by police, which was caught on security cameras and caused a major scandal in France last week, has resulted in charges against four of the officers, according to the Guardian.
And the controversial proposed law that would have banned photographing or filming police has been suspended by the government and will be rewritten in the face of widespread opposition and after violent protests over the weekend. Euronews reports.
No more making fun of regional or foreign accents in France, a favorite sport that many expatriates have been a victim of. A new law makes it illegal to discriminate based on a person’s accent, according to The Local.
On the lighter side
Atlas Obscura has a story about a crowdfunded monument built to honor the adorable French spacecat Félicette, who in 1963 became the first feline to travel into space.
French pompiers (firefighters), who also serve as emergency medical technicians, are fed up with frivolous requests from the public and have made a humorous video warning against calls asking for help in killing a spider, for example, or finding lost keys. Read about it in the Guardian.
The backside of France
Two photographers, interviewed by the Guardian, are documenting sights that tourists prefer not to see in poorer areas of France.
Speaking of poverty, The Local summarizes a report showing that 8.3 percent of the French population lives below the poverty level, less than in many European countries but still too high.
Charity auction for the Louvre
The Art Newspaper reports on an auction of such valuable works as a painting donated by Pierre Soulages to raise funds to encourage locals to visit the museum.