Summer in the city, when the city is Paris – The Washington Post

In August, the capital slows way down as Parisians claim their right to a long vacation.

August here is a phenomenon as French as they come. Employees in France are entitled to five weeks of paid vacation every year, more than in other European nations. Sometimes the French get even longer if they opt to work more than the standard 35 hours a week. This is why — and how — certain French restaurants, shops and small businesses can close for essentially one month of the fiscal year, a reality that never fails to mystify Americans.

But France is not the United States, and here, vacation is not a privilege. It is a right [ . . . ]

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Arrogant Frog: making fun of France pays off for vigneron

Jean-Claude Mas might just be the last playboy to fly the flag of the long lost world of the 1960s jetset crowd, a crew of cosmopolitan travellers who flew from party to party across Europe and the US indulging in the best wine, food and parties the world had to offer.There was a stint as a cultural attache to the French embassy in Miami in the 1980s where Mas was in charge of promoting French cuisine and consumer brands to the locals — yes, that is a real job — and then of course a few years as a professional racing driver in [. . .  ]

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