Category: Travel

Paris Already Canceled Its Christmas Market This Year—Its Ferris Wheel Might Be Next

The wheel isn’t part of France’s history.The mayor of Paris wants the city’s tourist attractions to reflect its heritage.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has announced a host of changes in the French capital this year, including a plan to ban gas-fueled cars. While that won’t happen until 2030, City Hall’s most recent project will have a more immediate effect. Paris will no longer host its annual Christmas Market on the Champs-Elysées, and the mayor wants to pull down the big ferris wheel that stands nearby at the Place de la Concorde.[ . . . ] More: Paris Already Canceled Its Christmas Market This Year—Its Ferris Wheel Might Be Next

Paris Is Installing Sparkling Water Fountains All Over the City 

The French capital hopes to have at least one of the fountains in each arrondissement.Paris—the city of love, lights, and… sparkling water fountains? That’s right: Because tap water is so passé, the French capital decided to give their public drinking fountains a carbonated upgrade. The fontaine pétillante, as they’re locally called, have been around since 2010, with eight sparkling fountains located around the city. This past month, however, Paris’s City Hall scaled this project into a full-blown initiative, with the ultimate goal of having at least one carbonated fountain in each of the 20 arrondissements—Parisians, you’ll never have to settle for still water again.

Source: Paris Is Installing Sparkling Water Fountains All Over the City – Condé Nast Traveler

November Is the Best Time to Visit France

If you’ve been dreaming of packing your bags for a quick, spontaneous European getaway, now’s your chance as flights to several cities in France are insanely cheap and just begging for you to buy them.According to Scott’s Cheap Flights, tickets to places like Bordeaux, Nice, and Paris are running under $500 round-trip from origin cities like Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Charlotte, and Las Vegas.But why head to France in November? Two words: Shoulder season. | More: November Is the Best Time to Visit France | Travel + Leisure

Let’s Talk Wine: Lovely Loire Valley reds

The Loire Valley, referred to as the Garden of France, is known for its magnificent chateaux and rich history, and runs at the heart of France with five distinct wine regions – Pays Nantais, Anjou, Saumur, Touraine, Centre-Loire – each with its own characteristics of grapes, appellations and styles. The wine-growing regions dotting the Loire’s banks feature about 4,000 wineries, 170,000 acres of vineyards and 61 appellations of origin, making the Loire Valley the third largest French wine-making region, producing [ . . . ]

More: Let’s Talk Wine: Lovely Loire Valley reds

What’s on in October

Montmartre vendange, Paris, October 11-15
As reported in July’s Connexion, Paris has a thriving vineyard scene and the annual harvest (vendange) is celebrated in style at the most famous of these among the historic streets of hilltop Montmartre. Expect wine-themed parades and exhibitions as well as concerts and plenty of tasting opportunities. On the Sunday afternoon at 17:00 on Square Louise-Michel there will be a glamorous street disco, called Le Bal Dalida, to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of the celebrated chanteuse.

Read about all the wonderful October events at: What’s on in October

How you can live happily in Paris without speaking French

Living in Paris

 

Writer Charli James, who has recently set up home in Paris, testifies to the fact you can lead a rich and happy life in the French capital even if you can’t communicate with the locals in their own lingo. Here’s how.

I barely speak French but I didn’t let this stop me from moving to Paris. And I do know I’m far from alone.Now I’m not advocating remaining French illiterate, especially if you plan to live here long term, and I am working hard to improve my own French, but soon after moving here, I realized you don’t actually have to speak the language very well to have a full life in Paris.Now this may sound implausible, but I promise there are a truckload of people doing this in Paris. [ . . . ]

French sheep

Read Full Story at: How you can live happily in Paris without speaking French – The Local