Even though it’s right in the middle of the Right Bank, the Sentier is probably the least famous, least popular, least visited district in town. Ask a thousand people to name their favorite Paris neighborhood (seriously — go out and … Read More
Autumn has come, and it looks as though the entire population of Paris spent the entire month of August tanning on the beach. Because, in fact, they did. Except me. I don’t even wear shorts in the summer. The reason … Read More
The celebrations went on for days. Paris was one huge party, with free Champagne in every café and spontaneous parades on every boulevard. The entire population, young and old, civilian and military, was out in the street at all hours, … Read More
It’s official: the French are dour. I’m sure that some readers have suspected this for years, but now even The New York Times says so. According to an editorial by Maureen Dowd, published on July 7 and instantly e-mailed to … Read More
When the news broke, it swept across Paris like a shockwave. All over town, Parisians dropped their jaws, espresso spoons and social benefit checks in disbelief — how could the municipal government even think of such a radical, far-reaching piece … Read More
Who says Parisians are rude? Oh, wait, I do. Also the 1,200 people who responded to a recent survey by Skyscanner.net, reported on the Huffington Post, in which France ranked number one out of a field of 35 as the … Read More
Late June is one of my favorite times of year in France. The weather is (usually) mild, the sun doesn’t go down until after 10pm, the markets are full of freshly-picked, fructose-packed cherries and peaches, the Abba fan upstairs goes … Read More
It is a matter of public record, thanks in large part to the tireless research of the C’est Ironique support community, that Paris is full of commercial enterprises with names that Anglophones find, shall we say, ill-advised. Like this one, … Read More
Generally speaking, France’s national railroad is great. The SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer, or, in English, National Society of Carnival Shamans) offers clean, comfortable trains that cover virtually the entire country at high speeds, frequent intervals and affordable … Read More
Sometimes a topic for C’est Ironique seems to just fall from the sky. In this case, the topic has been literally falling from the sky, as of this writing, for months on end. The weather is not usually high on … Read More
