Holidays are a fun time to be in Paris. Explore what they have to offer a curious traveleer.
In the US, we often give small monetary gifts at Christmas time to certain people who supply services, such as hairdressers or housecleaners. In France, this is done at New Year's and the gifts are called 'les etrennes'. Some of the recipients are similar: the...
For the non-francophiles among us, the poisson d'avril (fish of April) is the French equivalent of our April Fool's Day. Paper fish are surreptitiously stuck on someone's back and when the person discovers this: Ha-ha! Poisson d'avril! But until I read a recent...
I've been researching French Hanukkah and Judaïca vocabulary. And I've noticed that l'orthographe (the spelling) of Hanukkah is all over the place in French as it is in English. Additions and corrections appreciated. English to French Chanukah - Hanoukka Hanukah -...
Halloween may not be as popular in France as it is in the US, but you'd never know it from the crowd in front of these side-by-side costume stores in Montmartre. The line went around the corner for more than the two hours I was in the area.
November first is La Toussaint, All Saints Day, a far weightier holiday in France than is Halloween. It's a day for commemoration of the dead, and this is done primarily with chrysanthemums (chrysanthèmes). If you didn't know about Toussaint, you'd think France was...
One year the BHV Christmas windows were all about bunnies. They captured the attention of little children who run from one window to the next squealing with delight. The bunnies were in motion, thanks to little puppet-strings on their paws. They were stirring and...