THE PARISIAN PARTY YEAR PLAN

September

La rentrée scolaire (return to school) remains the real starting point of the year. University students start next month. Around the middle of the month you have two antipathetic cultural events: Les Journées du Patrimoine/‘Portes-Ouvertes’ when you can visit the embassies and state palaces normally closed to the public; and the Technoparade, which is Paris’s limp response to the Love Parade in Berlin. Just to add to the mayhem, the fashion pack flies in for a week of shows and showing-ofF.

October

Le Prix de 1'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamps, the greatest horserace of the year equivalent to the Derby, takes place on the first Sunday. Halloween is now popular in Paris with plenty of costume parties in clubs, bars and private homes. Trick or Treat is not really accepted practice. Half-term holidays for Toussaint fall at the end of the month. A popular new innovation in October is La Nuit Blanche, when the Mairie de Paris organises events, concerts and ‘happenings’ across the city.

November

November 1 is Toussaint, All Saints Day, 11 November is Armistice Day. These are both national holidays when shops and businesses are shut. There is a wreath-laying ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe at 11am by the President, and a service at Notre-Dame for the British community in the afternoon. The third Thursday is Beaujolais Nouveau, the festival of a wine too young to drink, except that the more you drink the better it tastes. Parties in bars across Paris, the most famous being in rue du Marché St Honoré in the 1st.

December

Only Christmas Day is a bank holiday in France, and you can legitimately be expected to work on the 26th. The French tradition is a grand family dinner on Christmas Eve, then off to Midnight Mass, and presents after Mass or early next morning. New Year’s Eve is also known as St Sylvestre. Le réveillon (name for an evening banquet used at Christmas and New Year) is a special occasion for yet more gluttony. Avoid the Champs-Elysees and Place de la Concorde at these times. Greetings cards are normally sent to wish Happy New Year rather than Christmas, and can be sent between mid-December and the end of January.

January

New Year’s Day is a national holiday. January 6 is the Fête des Rois. The tradition is to buy a galette of pastry and almonds at the boulangerie, invite family and friends to share it with you, and the person who finds the gift (fêve) in their slice of cake is the king/queen for the day and wears the supplied paper crown. The youngest person is expected to crawl under the table to announce the distribution of slices.

February, March and April

Chandeleurs, (Candlemas, 2 February) is the French pancake (crêpes) day. The half-term holidays (vacances scolaires) are a popular ski season in February. Both Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday) and Ash Wednesday (Cendres) depend on the date of Easter. Paris does not hold a carnival unlike other some other cities in France. Good Friday is not a holiday in France, but Easter Monday is.

May

The favourite month of the year! Three national holidays: 1st Labour day/May Day (Fête du travail); 8th Victory in Europe Day (Fete de la Victoire); and Ascension Day (depends on Easter). If the dates work out, you can find yourself with three long weekends. On Labour Day, the popular tradition is to give a sprig of Lily of the Valley (un brin du muguet) to friends and family for good luck. The last Sunday in May is the French Mother’s Day (Fêtes des Méres).

June

Officially the Pentecôte, (Whit Monday) bank holiday has now been abolished, but the situation is unclear. June 21 is the Fête de la Musique, with free open-air concerts across Paris. The main venue is at Republique with top-name billing. Check the press for listings. Gay Pride on the third Saturday normally draws a huge crowd, so be ready for traffic problems. The Prix de Diane at Chantilly, the equivalent to Ascot Gold Cup day, is at about the same time as the Roland Garros tennis championships equivalent to Wimbledon or Flushing Meadow.

July and August

Bastille Day on 14 July is the French National Holiday (fête nationale). The parties begin on the 13th in the evening, with parties at the fire stations (bals de pompiers). On the 14th there is a grand military parade in the morning and a spectacular son et lumiere firework display in the evening at the Eiffel Tower. The fête de l'Assomp-tion on August 15th is celebrated as a national holiday. It is traditionally one of the hottest and quietest times of the year in Paris. There is an open-air mass in front of Notre-Dame, but most Parisians are by now travelling to or from the coast. If you don't have that luck, you can try out the other Parisian novelty, Paris plage, the artificial beach on the banks of Seine in the city centre. The hugely popular urban beach replaces the traffic on the riverbank roads, and includes sand and sun-loungers, a swimming pool, palm trees, games and picnic areas, and free evening concerts and activities.

EATING OUT IN RESTAURANTS

Finding good restaurants which offer value for money can be difficult. The best Paris restaurant guide in English is the annual Time Out guide, but all major newspapers and entertainment guides have regular weekly updates, depending on the style of meal you are looking for. For business lunches note that both Le Figaro economie, Les Echos and La Tribune all include restaurant reviews both for business lunches and for general guidance.

Generally, restaurants offer a choice between meals at a fixed price chosen from a menu or formule, or allow you to choose from the whole menu, which is known as eating a la carte. The formule is normally more economical, and generally involves a selection of the dishes offered in the menu. It may be a starter (entrée) and main course (plat), or a main course and dessert, or all three. A small jug of wine (pichet) is also sometimes included. Alternatively, you can ask for a jug of tap water (une carafe d'eau) which is free. Mineral water must be paid for. NB: Some restaurants will only offer a lunchtime set menu (formule du midi). Be careful to check this before you set out for the restaurant in the evenings, especially if you are on a limited budget.

The menu should always indicate if service is included (service compris). This may effect your decision as to whether to leave tip, especially in expensive restaurants. If you order a meat dish, depending on the meat you will be asked how you liked it cooked – quelle cuisson?

• saignant – rare
• á point – medium rare
• bien cuit – well-done.

The French like their meat cooked very rare compared to the Americans and British, so you should perhaps over-compensate if you do not like rare meat.

Foreign and regional food

The choice of restaurants available will depend on your location. Non-French food is widely available, and as in the UK the choice reflects France’s colonial past. Vietnamese and North African food (couscous) are popular, and Chinese and Italian food is widely available. Indian food is rarer, although in Paris once again you should go to the Passage Brady near Strasbourg-St Denis. British cooking is still eyed with suspicion and/or mirth in France, and there are no truly British restaurants.

What you will find in France is a great choice of restaurants offering regional specialities. Some of these are now universal, and you will find boeuf bourguignonne (Burgundy beef stew), for instance, available everywhere.

Fast food and take-aways

Fast food is widely available in France, and major international chains have outlets in most principal towns and cities. Chinese and Indian take-aways are still not common, but home-delivery services are widespread. Some restaurants do offer plats à emporter, but this involves ordering your food at the restaurant and squeezing up to the counter while you wait. Alternatively go to a traiteur who offers Italian or Chinese/Vietnamese/ Thai (the three tend to be mixed together) dishes sold by the portion.

Gastronomic Paris

• Chinese. The two Paris Chinatowns (but including plenty of Vietnamese and Thai) are in Belleville (19th and 20th) and Place d'ltalie (13th).
• St Germain des Pres, the Marais, Bastille. A mix of intimate and trendy restaurants of varying quality. Brasserie Lipp at St Germain remains an institution, and Chez Paul in rue de Charonne is full-hearted French fare with lashings of Gallic arrogance from the staff.
• Chartiers, rue du Faubourg Montmartre. The original French canteen, in an original nineteenth-century interior. The food is good but basic, prices are reasonable, and the atmosphere guaranteed.
• The great classics. La Tour d'Argent, quai de la Tournelle (for very special occasions and if you have a silver tower of your own to pay the bill); the Jules Verne restaurant on top of the Eiffel Tower (three months’ waiting list for a table, the sky is the limit for the price range ... save it for really special occasions).

CAFÉS AND PUBS

Cafés are one of the great traditions of French society, ranging from the high-brow literary salons of St Germain des Prés in Paris to scruffy street-corners, and encompassing every style in between.

Drinking at the counter (comptoir) is cheaper than at a table (en salle) or on a terrace (en terrasse). The same rules apply in cafes to ordering alcohol as to ordering coffee or tea. Exploring the local cafés and finding one that suits you, where you can while away half an hour with the newspaper, a book or friends for the price of a coffee, is another of the joys of France.

Those cafés which display a red tabac sign also double as tobacconists, offering a wide range of products at the cigarette counter (eg, phone cards or fiscal stamps). Many also offer a service restauration at least at lunchtime, with sandwiches and hot meals available. Some of the terms for these meals you will need to know include:

• Croque-monsieur – ham and cheese toasted sandwich
• Croque-madame – as above, but with a fried egg served on top
• Chévre-chaud – hot goat’s cheese normally served on toast, with a small mixed salad. Either a starter or a main course
• Francfort-frites – Frankfurter sausage and chips. Sausages such as saucisse de Toulouse, are more like a Cumberland sausage and will be served with other vegetables and a sauce.
• Garnis avec... – served with: chips (frites), mashed potato (pommes vapeur), fried/roast potatoes (pommes sautes), pasta (pâates).
• Salade – Be careful here. In French this means both lettuce, which may be all you receive, or for instance, you may receive a salade de tomates (a plate of sliced tomatoes). A salade mixte will be a side-salad of lettuce plus perhaps chicory (endives) and tomatoes. Salads which are served as main courses will normally have a list of their ingredients.
• Omelettes are normally also available in variety of styles and content.

In Paris, some cafes also become centres of nightlife. This cafe scene is dominated by two brothers, the fréres Costes, who own Café Beaubourg outside the Pompidou Centre. Now they have gone one better and taken over the top floor of the centre itself with Chez Georges, a ‘sweetie darling’ paradise with stunning views across Paris. They also have Cáafe Marly at the Louvre (the best summer terrace in Paris) L'Esplanade opposite Les Invalides, and La Grande Armée next to the Arc de Triomphe. All Costes cafes offer high but not unaffordable prices; great locations; fantastic modern decor; sultry staff clad in black; and plenty of star gazing. The ultimate is now the Hôtel Costes round the corner from Place Vendôme, where Mick Jagger celebrated his 50th birthday, and the resident DJ has produced three highly-successful albums of lounge music. The courtyard restaurant is bliss in summer, even if the majority of the people hanging around it are hell.

A selection of other cafes/bars and districts to know are:

• Abbesses – Le Sancerre and Le Chinon in rue des Abbesses, and La Fourmi in rue des Martyrs.
• Oberkampf – Le Café Charbon, the Mecano Bar, and all the bars in between on rue Oberkampf, although you should also check out neighbouring rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud.
• Marais - The Café Trésor in rue du Tresor for trendy night-owls; and Le Petit Fer á Cheval for its on rue Vieille du Temple for its interior and La Belle Hortense bookshop-wine bar opposite. The rue des Archives is the centre of the gay district, stretching from Les Halles to Bastille.
• Bastille – An embarrassment of riches. Check out the rue de Charonne, rue de Lappe and Faubourg St Antoine. The Barrio Latino is the place everybody wants to be, but snug little hideouts like the Bar sans nom are really the places where the seductive atmosphere is at.
• St Germain des Prés – The great literary cafes are to be found next to the church, but try heading round to La Palette on rue de Seine for a great interior and exterior in fine weather. Round the corner in rue Mazarin is L'Alcazar’s AZ Bar, is now one of Paris’s top lounge bar, above the restaurant.
• Latin Quarter – At one end head for the Place deContrescarpe off the rue Mouffetard with its cafés, or if you prefer lusher surroundings try the chic Closerie de Lilas at Port-Royal.
• Canal St Martin – On the quai Jemmapes and quai de Valmy from the Hôpital St Louis down towards République. To check out the local Bobos, try the Antoine & Lib cafe on a Sunday.

There are over 60 Irish pubs across France in the principal cities, most notably Paris.

The cost of a glass of wine will depend on its size and quality. The standard French person will drink a half-pint (demie) of whatever is on tap (pression). This is one local custom you should take up quickly! Spirits are generally more expensive.

CABARETS AND CLUBS

The French have been famous for generations for their cabarets and nightclubs. In Paris, the Folies-Bèrgeres, the Lido, the Crazy Horse and the Moulin-Rouge continue to offer high-class, but expensive, entertainment, with a champagne dinner and a grand musical show. Smaller cabarets are also very popular, allowing singers and comedians to perform in a more intimate atmosphere.

Nightclubs, almost by definition, fall in and out of fashion very rapidly and regularly. You should check the style of a club by using a guide, or by asking somebody whom you know already goes to the club. Styles vary widely, even at the same club, depending on the day of the week. The trendiest Paris nightclubs have a very exclusive door policy, so swot up in advance on what to wear and how to act.

At the time of writing, the nightclub scene is thriving in Paris, although it is now a lot more industrial than it used to be. One-night events are becoming more and more popular with DJs jetting in from the US and the UK. Flyers can be found in the trendy bars (ie where ‘people like us’ hang out); so find the bars and you will find the info. Otherwise listen to the daily updates on Radio FG, read Nova magazine, shave your head and grow a goatee beard (unless you are a woman ...), and you should soon fit in at most of the top nightclubs. Time Out in Pariscope provides an objective view separating the hot from the hype in Paris nightlife.

French nightlife gets going much later than in the UK. Bars generally close at 02h00, and nightclubs will generally start to fill up from about OlhOO, and then stay open until dawn. The entry price may include one drink (une consommation), but after that be prepared for high prices.

Paris clubs are not grouped together but can be found in a number of different areas; including:

• Champs-Elysées. The extravagant predominantly gay Queen, and the exclusive VIP Room and L'Etoile head the local hit-list. Nirvana is a very trendy bar with a basement nightclub, and Manray often feels more like a club than a restaurant.
• Left Bank. In St Germain, the trendy WAGG beneath the Alcazar restaurant completes the Conran bar and restaurant emporium. In Montparnasse, the Redlight and neighbouring Amnesia are currently two of the hottest clubs. Nearby, the Dancing de La Coupole has undergone a transformation as a new favoured Saturday-night venue. Along the banks of Seine, you will also find floating nightclubs at the Bibliothéque Nationale.
• Montmartre - The Follies Pigalle remains one of the temples of Paris nightlife and extravaganza. Across the road, the Divan du Monde and Elysées Montmartre are popular one-night venues. La Boule Noire beneath La Cigale is also another address to note.
• Central Paris – Le Cabaret (Le Cab') at Palais-Royal is another sought-after restaurant and club experience. Les Bains has lost some of its cachet, but making it past the selection at the door remains a mythic experience.