Tag: France

End of Covid-19 lockdown serves up relief for Paris restaurants

Restaurant and cafe owners in Paris cheered their chance to get back to business Monday after the government said they could once again open their dining rooms, three months after being shut to blunt the coronavirus outbreak.

The sooner-than-expected reopening for the Paris region was announced by President Emmanuel Macron late Sunday, shortly before officials reported just nine COVID-19 deaths in the previous 24 hours — the lowest figure since March.

“The bulk of the epidemic is behind us,” Health Minister Olivier Veran said Monday, though he cautioned that “this doesn’t mean we can stop fighting the virus.”

Until now, restaurants in and around the capital could only serve clients on outdoor terraces, even as eateries in the rest of the country opened fully earlier this month.

Read More at FRANCE24: End of Covid-19 lockdown serves up relief for Paris restaurants

How much does a French vineyard cost?

vineyard

A single hectare of Burgundy grand cru vineyard cost €6.5m euros on average in 2019, which is up by 4% versus 2018, according to French land agency Safer.

That’s if you can find anything to buy, of course; if vines change hands within top Burgundy climats then buyers often deal in values of less than one hectare.

Safer figures show that average prices for Burgundy grand cru vines have risen by 71% since 2012.

If that you think that sounds prohibitive, then some winemakers in the Côte d’Or would likely agree. Safer cited ongoing concerns among producers about rising land costs and the difficulties this poses for wineries within France’s inheritance laws.

Elsewhere in France, it will come as no surprise to see the best-known appellations topping the vineyard price charts.

A single hectare in Bordeaux’s Pauillac appellation cost €2.3m per hectare on average in 2019, up by 5% on 2018, while Pomerol rose by 6% to €1.9m per hectare.

In the Côte des Blancs area of Champagne, vineyards cost a little more than €1.6m per hectare last year, up by 2% versus 2018.

However, there is a huge disparity in vineyard prices in France – as you might expect, given the size of the country’s wine industry.

Across France, appellation controlée (AOP) vineyards cost €148,000 per hectare on average in 2019, up by 0.5% versus 2018, said Safer.

Prices for AOP vineyards have more than doubled since 1997, but some were still well below the average.

A single hectare of Faugères vineyard in Languedoc (now Occitanie) cost €16,000 per hectare on average in 2019, having not changed since 2018.

Prices can vary significantly within some areas for different plots, depending upon their quality potential.

Outside of the AOP zones, French vineyard prices rose by 1.5% on average in 2019, to €14,400 per hectare.

It’s worth noting that buying a vineyard is just one step in a winemaking dream that is likely to involve significant up-front costs in general. Seek professional advice before making any decisions, of course.

Source: How much does a French vineyard cost? – Decanter

Paris bans George Floyd protest planned at US Embassy

PARIS – French police have banned a demonstration planned to take place in front of the US Embassy in Paris on Saturday as protests mount around the world over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The Paris police department said on Friday it had decided to ban the demonstrations because of the risks of social disorder and health dangers from large gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trouble had broken out at another anti-police demonstration in the French capital on Wednesday. Thousands had turned up despite a police ban on the event in memory of Adama Traore, a 24-year old black Frenchman who died in a 2016 police operation which some have likened to Floyd’s death.

Unrest has broken out across the United States after the killing of Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25.

Source: Paris bans George Floyd protest planned at US Embassy

French Resistance hero Cécile Rol-Tanguy dies at 101

French Resistance member Cecile Rol-Tanguy, who risked her life during World War II by working to liberate Paris from Nazi occupation, has died. She was 101.

Rol-Tanguy died on Friday at her home in Monteaux, in central France, as Europe commemorated the 75th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany to Allied forces. The cause of her death was not disclosed by French officials.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Rol-Tanguy on Saturday, calling her a “freedom fighter.”

“It was just what you did,” Cécile Rol-Tanguy told the author Anne Sebba in an interview for The Times in 2014. “I never was afraid in my stomach. If you are, you can’t do anything. If you arrive at a Métro station with the Germans in front of you there’s no point in turning round as there are probably Germans behind you.”

From 1940 to 1944, Rol-Tanguy was a member of the French Resistance, working with her husband, Henri.

 

Hear Camus’ 1946 lecture: “The Human Crisis” – even more profound today

Albert Camus delivered this lecture on “La Crise de l’homme” in 1946 at Columbia University, on his only trip to the United States. The lecture is presented here in English translation.

Camus
““I think my life is of great importance, but I also think it is meaningless.” – Albert Camus

00:20 Introduction by Shanny Peer, Director of the Maison Française
05:35 Introduction by Alice Kaplan, Professor of Yale University
11:50 Reading of ‘The Human Crisis’ by Viggo Mortensen
56:50 Discussion with Viggo Mortensen, Alice Kaplan and Souleymane Bachir Diagne

On April 28, 2016 a reading by Viggo Mortensen of a speech by Albert Camus, and roundtable discussion with Viggo Mortensen, Alice Kaplan and Souleymane Bachir Diagne Albert Camus originally delivered this lecture on “La Crise de l’homme” on March 28, 1946, to a very full house at the McMillin Academic Theatre at Columbia University,

on his first and only trip to the United States. 70 years later, to celebrate Camus’s visit to New York and Columbia, his lecture will be delivered in a dramatic reading by the actor Viggo Mortensen, in a version newly translated into English by Alice Kaplan.

Continue reading “Hear Camus’ 1946 lecture: “The Human Crisis” – even more profound today” →