Paris to the North

Posted on 27/02/2024 by Mayken

Gare du Nord is both the busiest and the most international of the six Paris train stations.

It was opened in 1846. Today, according to SNCF estimations, nearly 300 million travelers pass Gare du Nord every day, on SNCF trains, Eurostar train, and RER trains, not counting the three metro lines stopping at Gare du Nord (lines 4 and 5) and nearby La Chapelle (line 2, linked via a pedestrian tunnel).

The Gare du Nord building is on the list of historic monuments. When it was enlarged in the early 1860s (and the façade was moved to Lille), most of the columns were made in Glasgow (Scotland) whose foundry plant was the only one capable of creating pieces that size.

The long distance trains connect Paris to northern France, notably Lille. The train station Lille Flandres inherited part of the old Gare du Nord building when the latter was enlarged. However, the Eurostar train linking Paris to London via Lille, stops at the newer Lille Europe station.

Since the United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen area, passengers taking the Eurostar to London have to go through customs and passport checks in a separate area on the +1 level in the main hall.

Stairs and escalators leading up to the UK Hall

The UK Eurostar area is not accessible on ground level

The continental Eurostar, formerly known as Thalys, connects Paris to Brussels (Belgium) and from there, Amsterdam (Netherlands), or Cologne and Dortmund (Germany). Since all these countries are part of the Schengen area, no passport checks are required and the passengers can access the platforms and trains without any barriers on ground level.

The continental Eurostar (ex-Thalys) can be accessed directly from ground level

The main hall seen from the track side with Thalys trains in 2023

Suburb trains can be found in the newer glass-roofed hall on the eastern side of the historic building. This is also where numerous escalators lead to the lower levels and the RER and metro trains serving Gare du Nord.

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Horses in Paris

Posted on 30/01/2024 by Mayken

Have you been in the area between the Place de la Bastille and the Seine and happened to cross riders on horseback?

Chances are you met members of the Garde Républicaine, the Republican Guard, on patrol. Yes, those same ones you see parade on July 14 on the Champs Élysées.

Note the traditional helmets which date back to 1876, inherited from the dragoons and cuirassiers of the First Empire.

The cavalry of the Republican Guard is housed in the Célestins Quarter with its main entrance on boulevard Henri IV.

Its most visible role is in the honor missions (escorts, also carried out by the motorcycle squadron) although those represent only about 20% of the total. The majority consists of security missions such as patrols in Paris, the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes, but also in the forest of Chambord royal palace and other royal forests.

They also carry out surveillance of the sites at summit meetings for certain sports events and in areas with difficult access, for example a missing person search in the woods, and also surveillance of tourist areas.

The origins of the Republican Guard go back to Napoléon I^er, who created the Municipal Guard of Paris in 1802. After many back and forth over the turbulent period of the early 19^th century, it was integrated into the Gendarmerie in 1849 by Napoléon III.

Contrary to other cavalry units, the Republican Guard did not participate in WWI as its mission was to maintain order in Paris and oversee the city’s defense. That is how it survived as the last mounted regiment.
During WWII, the Republican Guard was demobilized and attached to the Police Prefecture under the name of Paris Guard. Part of the troops secretly joined Charles de Gaulle, and the Guard participated with the French Forces of the Interior in the combats for the liberation of Paris.
The Guard also participated in the Indochina War from 1947 to 1954, and in 1978 it changed its name back to Republican Guard.

President Emmanuel Macron initiated a “horse diplomacy” by giving a Republican Guard horse to the Chinese president in 2018. He gifted another Republican Guard horse to Queen Elizabeth II for her Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

On Heritage Days in September, the Republican Guard will open the doors of the Célestins Quarter where you can see riding demonstrations, visit the horses in their stables and see the blacksmith at work.

Did you know the horseshoe sizes range from 28 to 50, with the smallest fitting inside the largest?

At the Paris International Agricultural Fair 2024, the Republican Guard, including their fanfare or orchestra, put on an impressive show. A few highlights below.

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Where am I calling?

Posted on 29/08/2023 by Mayken

French phone numbers are composed of ten digits, except for the emergency numbers—as a visitor, all you need to remember is 112, it’s a centralized number for all emergencies, you can call it from a mobile phone, and they will be able to help you even if you don’t speak French.

But back to regular French phone numbers. In France, there are no regional area codes any longer, they were ditched during the great phone number reform in 1996. So how do you know where in France you’re calling?

Easy-peasy. Just look at the first two digits of the number. Landline numbers start with 01, 02, 03, 04, or 05. We’ll get to that in a minute.

If you’re calling a number in 06 or 07, it’s a cell phone, and then your guess is as good as mine as to where you’re calling.
A number starting with 08 is a value-added service number which might be free (“Do you have any comments about our product? Let us know!”) or cost up to 3 € per call or 0.80 € per minute. So check the source of your number which should indicate the fee.
Number starting with 09 are new, VoIP numbers that can be anywhere in France.

And when you dial a number starting with 00, you’re calling abroad. (The next few digits will indicate the country you’re calling.)

So lots of numbers where we can’t tell where you’re calling, and since the recent opening of landline portability, thing swill slowly get even more confusing. But while people still have their landline numbers (this is decreasing too), here’s what you need to know.

If your French ten-digit number starts with 01, you’re calling somewhere in the Paris area. Let’s say you want to reserve a table at Fouquet’s, for example, you dial 01 40 69 60 50.

If your number starts with 02, you’re calling the northwest of France, such as Brittany and Normandy, but also the overseas departments La Réunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.

an excellent crêperie in Brittany, to book a table call 02 97 52 35 50

Should your number begin with 03, you’re calling the northeast, think along the Belgian, German, and Swiss borders.

If you dial 04, you’re in the southeast, such as Marseille and Nice, but also the island of Corsica.

Finally, with the 05, you’ll reach the southwest, as well as the Atlantic Ocean départements, régions and collectivités, that is Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, French Guyana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and the other French Caribbean islands.

Sometimes, you still find old phone numbers:

This place still shows the 8-digit number pre-1996 reform

The sign on this youth hostel must be from before 1985, when the 7 digits gave way to the 8 digits

So now you can easily tell where in France (hint: it’s on the mainland) I found this hairdresser.

Questions? Call me!

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On the Road with Smart Bison

Posted on 25/07/2023 by Mayken

The French love going on holidays in their own country. Annual leave stands at five weeks and school holidays in the summer at two months, so there’s plenty of time to choose from and many lovely places to go to. Mer ou montagne? (Sea or mountains?) you will hear, or Mer ou campagne? (Sea or countryside?) In the end, lots and lots of French holiday-makers will head for the Mediterranean or the Atlantic coast in July or August. As holiday rentals start and end on Saturdays in high season, I’ll let you guess on which day traffic volume is highest.

Queuing for cheap gas at the start of summer holidays

Back when autoroutes were built and expanded and more and more people got cars, a traffic information system slowly developed. It got a big boost after tragedy struck during an August Saturday in 1975 when a combination of heat wave and traffic accidents killed almost 150 people.

Authorities realized they needed to work on three main points:

Spreading the traffic over a larger time period
Reinforcing alternative itineraries
Communicating with the travelers

The *Saint Arnoult* toll station, with 39 toll gates one of the biggest in Europe, a dreaded congestion point on holiday weekends

It was in this context that Bison Futé (Smart Bison) was created, a character who’d tell people the smart time to travel to avoid traffic congestion, and the alternative routes to take.
You’ll have guessed given the time (1970s) and the name, what this character was. Fortunately, French authorities have gone with the times, and the present logo of Smart Bison is the outline of a bison head made to look like an itinerary. The Smart Bison has become an icon that couldn’t simply be removed.

The Smart Bison website is run by the Transport Ministry, and both website and the Smart Bison Twitter feed will also warn of adverse weather conditions, like heavy thunderstorms.
But its main focus is traffic. Smart Bison will tell you if it’s a green, orange, red, or black day for departures and for returns.

Green means normal traffic (including rush hour traffic in urban areas)
Orange means heavy traffic with difficult driving conditions locally or generally
Red means very heavy traffic with very difficult driving conditions locally or generally
Black means traffic is extremely heavy and driving conditions are extremely difficult on the entire road network

For example, on July 12, 2023, a Wednesday preceding the weekend with the national holiday July 14 falling on the Friday, and school holidays having started the previous weekend, Smart Bison predicted the following traffic conditions for the weekend:

Thursday
Departures
Orange everywhere but red in the greater Paris area
Returns
Green everywhere

Friday (national holiday)
Departures
Orange in the north and northwest, including the greater Paris area
Green for the rest of the country
Returns
Green everywhere

Saturday
Departures
Red for the entire country
Returns
Green for the entire country

Sunday
Departures
Orange for the entire country
Returns
Orange for the entire country
Red for the greater Paris area

The pattern here is easy to spot:
It clearly was a weekend of departures, not returns, with a peak on Saturday (remember those holiday rentals?). The Red for the greater Paris area and Thursday for departures and Sunday for returns indicates many Parisians going away for the long weekend.

Not all that hard to read, is it? So next time you plan to drive in France, consult Smart Bison!

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School’s out

Posted on 27/06/2023 by Mayken

Summer is here, and that means school’s out in France. Summer holidays (les vacances d’été) start around the beginning of July (or earlier, when younger students are sent home while older students take exams in the school building), and last until the end of August. La rentrée (back to school) is at the beginning of September.

But French students have several shorter breaks (les petites vacances) over the year:

All Saints holidays (les vacances de la Toussaint) around All Saints Day (November 1^st)
Christmas holidays (les vacances de Noël) at, well, Christmas
Winter holidays (les vacances d’hiver) in February
Spring holidays (les vacances de printemps) around or at least sometime near Easter

Each of these is two weeks long, and though the first two are usually at the same time for everyone, the winter and spring breaks are staggered by region (“zone”) as shown in the map below:

For example, in the upcoming school year 2023-24, the first region to start winter break is Region C, which includes the Paris area. After one week, it is joined by region A. And when Parisians and other Region C residents go back to school, those in Region B start their holidays.
Spring holidays have the same order so that all students have the same amount of weeks between the breaks.
Let’s go one year back: in the school year 2022-23, the first region to start into winter break was Region A, followed by Region B with Region C going last.
There is a regular rotation to ensure all three regions are treated equally, because it can be a long stretch between Christmas break and winter break if you’re in the last group, and a long stretch between spring break and summer holidays if you’re in the first group.

This information might be helpful if you’re visiting France and trying to figure out opening hours of places that say “pendant les vacances de la zone A”.

Enjoy your holidays!

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Don’t be alarmed at noon

Posted on 30/05/2023 by Mayken

If you happen to be in France on the first Wednesday of the month, any month, a word of warning: Don’t be alarmed when the alarm sounds.

Depending on the region, at 11.45, noon sharp or 12.15, the wail of the sirens will cut through city noise as part of the SAIP (système d’alerte et d’information des populations), to make sure the sirens are working properly and people recognize the signal.

The origins go back to the Middle Ages, when the tocsin, or alarm bell, rang to alert the population to a danger. After World War II, church bells have been replaced by the sirens sitting proudly atop the fire stations or town halls. As recently as 2019, they alerted the population of the Normandy city of Rouen and the surrounding area as a chemical products plant caught fire.

Even more recently, in 2022, these alert measures were completed by an alarm system called “cell broadcast” that will send alert messages to the cellphones in an area affected by a threat.

So don’t be alarmed by the alarm, as long as it’s sirens and not your cellphone wailing.

Paris firefighters at the Bastille Day parade

Postscript: While we’re on the subject of alarms, firefighters and emergencies, do you know what number to dial for an emergency in France? There’s a bunch of two-digit numbers to call depending on what your emergency is, but thanks to the European Union, all you need to remember is one three-digit number that will work no matter in which EU country you are, and even in many other European countries, and get you an operator speaking English:

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Market Day in Paris

Posted on 28/03/2023 by Mayken

Have you ever been to a French market? I don’t remember my first experience which dates back to a school exchange in 9^th grade, but I do remember first venturing by myself to what I think is the biggest market in Lille, the city in northern France where I began my studies. It was a little disorienting at first, all those marketers advertising their wares in loud voices, sometimes trying to shout one over the other. This is a staple of every French market I’ve visited so far.

And the sheer quantity of food on offer! There are fruit I’ve never seen before but fortunately a little sign will give me the name. There are many kinds of fish (all much fresher than those on offer in a certain Gaulish village), including shellfish, and don’t get me started on the cheeses!

Unhygienix’ fishmonger’s stall in the village of Asterix

A huge advantage of a market over a supermarket is that when you want to buy fresh fruit such as, say a melon de Charente, the market seller will ask you when you plan to eat it (Tonight? During the next few days?) and find you one with the matching degree of maturity. Another highlight of markets for me are the local farmers selling their yogurts and other fresh milk products that you would have a hard time finding on supermarket shelves. Finally, and that’s my husband’s go-to place, the chicken-roaster. Go to the Sunday market, buy your groceries, and get home with a chicken fresh from the spit (or half a chicken, or chicken legs) for Sunday lunch.

But let’s go back and look at Paris markets. According to the City of Paris website, the first market was located on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Lutetia in the 5^th century.

Though not in Paris, this is an old French market hall

Fast forward to 1860, when there were already 51 markets. One of them is the oldest existing covered market, dating back to 1615 under King Louis XIII, the Marché des Enfants Rouges. It is located in the 3^rd arrondissement and open every day except Mondays from 8h30 till 20h30, (closing later on Thursdays but earlier on Sundays).

Place d’Aligre market in the 12th *arrondissement*

As of today, Paris has a total of 95 markets, with around 9,000 marketers. This number includes food markets, flea markets, and specialized markets. The City of Paris website gives these details: 72 open-air food markets (including 3 organic markets), 10 covered markets, plus the specialized markets such as flower market, bird market, clothes market, flea markets and 2 creative markets where artist show their original art.

Generally, the food markets are open from 7am to 2.30pm on weekdays and from 7am to 3pm on weekends. Due to customer demand, five markets were created that are open in the afternoon once or twice a week.

For outdoor markets, the market team of the City of Paris sets up the “skeleton” of the market stalls. Indoor markets have it easier, everything is already in place.

If you travel across France, you will find old market halls that are basically wooden roofs open on the sides, or open-air markets in small villages or mid-sized towns. Every town in France has a market, just check their website or ask at the tourist office about market day. And don’t be afraid if you don’t speak French, you can always point at the items and hold up a few fingers.

Markets and old market halls across France

Enjoy!

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Cows cows cows

Posted on 21/02/2023 by Mayken

The International Agricultural Show (Salon International de l’Agriculture, or SIA) is a huge annual event, one of the world’s largest and most important, dubbed “the biggest farm in France”.

It lasts nine days at the end of February/beginning of March, and is open to the public for all of those, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year (2019: 672 568 visitors according to the official website, four of which were me).

The show is held on the Porte de Versailles fairgrounds, where it occupies most of the halls, only the one where the Concours Général Agricole is held is closed to the public.

Agriculture is written large in France, as one of the main economic activities in the country. “Don’t anger the farmers” is advice any French politician knows well to heed, or face the consequences.

So it is no surprise that the show is opened by the French president himself. Jacques Chirac (president from 1995 to 2007) was a big fan of agriculture, and his memory is honoured today with a collection of photos in the main hall.

A number of elected officials, and in election years, candidates, parade through the show during the week, and it is not unusual to run into a crowd of journalists and bodyguards around, say, the prime minister.

The main attractions of the show, according to who you ask, are either the food (two entire halls are reserved for delicacies from the different regions of France, French overseas territories, and a number of guest countries) or the animals – over 4,000 of them in the 2022 edition, representing 360 different breeds of cows, sheep, goats, horses, ponies, donkeys, bunnies, pigs, dogs, cats, and various poultry.

The stars of the show are unquestionably the cows. Since 2000, a cow has featured on the official posters, entry tickets and other promotional material. Every year, one bovine breed is in the spotlight, and for the past few years, an individual cow of that breed occupies the place of honor and becomes the star of the show. The 2022 cow, for example, was a 4-year-old cow of the Abondance breed from the Savoy Alps named Neige (Snow).

But it’s not all about the animals and the food, a major part of the show is also reserved for the presentation of technologies, companies, equipment, research, linked in some way or other to agriculture, from veterinarians to high-tech tractors to hunting outfitters.

Another important aspect of the show is educating the public. Here kids (and adults) can see up close how cows are milked, chicks hatch, and win prizes in various activities and quizzes.

Speaking of prizes, all week long, the different breeds are presented in the ring, and proud farmers return home with medals and plaques. Food also gets prizes, at the prestigious Concours Général Agricole, and the gold, silver, or bronze medal will feature prominently on the products when they hit store shelves.

My favorite part? Hugging cows, winning a useful prize (like an eggplant screen wipe or a lunch box) or adding another cow-themed object to my collection. Occasionally I get interviewed for the radio or TV, and I’ve made friends with the owner of the 2016 poster cow Cerise (a Bazadaise from the Landes, in southwestern France).

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Bones beneath the Stones

Posted on 25/10/2022 by Mayken

When you find yourself with an avalanche of human bones in your basement, you know it’s time for change.

Which is what the city of Paris did when exactly that happened to neighbors of the Cimetière des Innocents in 1774. Looking for a place to store the bones from the overflowing inner-city cemetery, they came up with the idea to put them in the decommissioned stone quarries underneath the city.

After arrangements had been made, bones from the various cemeteries of Paris, Les Innocents included, were carted to a chute in the avenue René Coty (near Place Denfert-Rochereau) to be stored underground. The name Catacombes was borrowed from Ancient Rome, even though there were no graves and funerary monuments. At first, the bones were stacked along the tunnels over hundreds of meters. It was only after the first VIP visits at the beginning of the 19^th century that the bones were somewhat organized. More cemeteries had to be closed as the city grew, and their bones were added to the ones already in residence.

Signs were added to indicate the cemetery of origin, and the gravediggers arranged skulls and bones in patterns that can still be seen today.

In 1809, the Catacombes became a museum that today is part of the Musée Carnavalet and gives visitors access to a small fraction of the tunnel network of Paris’ ancient stone quarries.

In one of the first sections of the visit, sculptures made by a quarryman in the late 18^th century can be seen. They represent sites from Port-Mahon on the Spanish island of Minorca where he was said to have been a POW.

There used to be a long line of visitors starting out from the old entrance and winding back around the square behind the eastern lodge of the barriére d’Enfer (entry point of the General Farmers’ Tax Wall), but recently, it was closed in favor of a new entrance, and the ticket sale has shifted online, so now visitors can book their spot in advance and don’t need to queue any longer.

signage in the métro station *Denfert-Rocherreau*

N° 2: *Catacombes* entrance, n° 5: *Catacombes* exit

Location of the *Catacombes* entrances on a map of Paris

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European Heritage Days – French edition

Posted on 27/09/2022 by Mayken

The European Heritage Days, based on an initiative of the then French Minister for Culture, Jack Lang, in 1984, now exist in 50 countries across Europe. In France, the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine, take place on the third weekend of September. This means sites that are usually closed to the public will be open, other sites will be free of charge, many will offer special activities and/or guided tours. Some will require reservations, but many will just let you drop in, from well-known institutions in big cities to ancient buildings in small villages. Often there will be activities for younger visitors.

At some point, when you got in line at 5am at the Elysée Palace, you might be lucky and shake hands with the president, or do the same with the prime minister after queuing at the Hôtel Matignon. I once stood in line at the Senate, the Palais du Luxembourg and indeed met the president of the Senate, the upper house of Parliament. He is the third person of the state in order of importance, after the president and the prime minister, and before the president of the national assembly.

Gérard Larcher, President of the French Senate

I am not sure though if you still queue for these institutions nowadays or sign up online, as I did to visit the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, more recently.

When you choose your visits, don’t overlook small events. You never know a hidden gem until you find it. For example, on year in the Latin Quarter, a college offered the visit of ongoing preventive archaeology digs – it turned out there were Gallo-Roman ruins on a site marked for construction, and archaeologists were trying to unearth and save as much as they could. This is something that will never be seen again!

Here are glimpses of some other interesting places I’ve visited during Heritage Days in and around Paris over the years: