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Article by Aïda Zaher

We are all familiar with celebrating New Year’s Eve on December 31st at midnight. There are parties and gatherings everywhere, and we close the year with a countdown that usually ends in a spectacle of fireworks. We scream “Happy New Year!” to each other and step into January with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and anticipation for the chapter that has just begun.
Down here in the South of France, right when the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, the bay of Cannes erupted in a spectacular show of fireworks. This year, the city even turned it into a double celebration, choosing Marilyn Monroe as the theme to honor a hundred years since her birth. A little further to the east, in Monaco, crowds gathered on Port Hercule, and at midnight on the dot, the Principality’s sky lit up with an equally dazzling show. New Year’s Eve is like the grand finale of the show, always ending with a bang.
But what about the day after? New Year’s Day. The afterthought of the finale. The Afterglow.
Think of it as the comedown after the climax. By morning, all the music has faded, and all the celebrations have become a distant memory. It’s the beginning of a new season. We think about our plans for this year: how we are going to keep telling our story, what elements are we adding, or removing, in this new chapter. It’s a fresh start worth celebrating with equal excitement as the one we show at the end of the year.
In fact, in Juan Les Pins, Antibes, at 6 p.m., right as the sun was starting to fade into the night, the sky lit up with a show of fireworks celebrating just that: beginnings. It wasn’t at midnight like the night before, but right as dusk fell on the first day of the year. It was almost like a call for people to wake up from the slow, quiet dream that is New Year’s Day and start turning these resolutions into reality.
As the show went on, more people gathered on the bay. For fifteen minutes everyone was staring in awe of the colors fired in the sky, and when it ended, a huge round of applause rose from the bay. It is with this beautiful kind of motivation that we pick up where we left off and forge ahead with our story.
And so, that’s the difference between the fireworks at midnight and the ones at dusk. It’s important to celebrate the ending of a season right when it ends, but it’s also important to mark the beginning of a new one with equal passion.
Happy New Year, friends.

With colder temperatures and shorter days come the holiday lights. Paris is now ready for the holiday spirit, from the Champs Elysées glowing red all along, to Place Vendome and its beautiful Christmas trees, the many Christmas markets (Villette, Gare de l’Est, Tuileries, Abbesses, Notre Dame…), the whole city has put on its decorations for the pleasure of visitors and children alike.

Our favorite this year is the Boulevard Haussmann, where many kids marvel at the animated windows of both Printemps and Galleries Lafayette. The trees of the avenue named after the man who transformed Paris 150 years ago are all covered it wonderful lights.

Paris is once again “une fête” for the season.

If you wish to take a trip to a seaside resort and be carried away by poetic scenery, then head to Normandy and its world-famous Etretat cliffs by the English Channel!

Should you want to show the sea to a friend, Etretat always leaves you feeling the same way, you feel empowered by a sense of freedom and humbled by the sheer beauty of the surroundings.

Let’s follow the path of great artists such as Turner, Courbet, Boudin, Monet, Offenbach, the reknowned writers Guy de Maupassant and of course Maurice Leblanc with his legendary novel Arsene Lupin, the famous gentleman-thief whom mansion can be visited !

These chalk Cliffs, with their unusual shape, sparks the imagination, like a setting for a postcard, and are a small gem on the Alabaster Coast, or « Côte d’Albâtre » just 3 hours away from Paris.

They include three natural Arches and a pointed formation called « L’Aiguille » or « The Needle » which rises 70 metres above the sea. The three arches even have names, such as the « Porte d’Aval », (or Cliff of « Aval »), « Porte d’ Amont » and the « Manneporte ». One of the way to enjoy looking at these majestic cliffs that never seem to end is to trek up to the two surrounding cliffs seeing terrific sunrise or sunset.

You could also discover Etretat in other exciting ways by heading out on a paddle board to explore the cliffs, ride along the velomaritime cycle route (which goes from Tréport to the Mont Saint-Michel), walk on the most popular GR 21 trail, and swim by the pebble beach. You will be enchanted by the cormorants and silver gulls along the coast.

And then, a real treat is to explore what used to be the old fishing village, and have a sip of cider of course ! For lunch, you can enjoy the charming seafood cafés. From Paris, you can book a Flixbus to Fécamp and Etretat or hop on the train From Saint-Lazare to Bréauté-Beuzeville and the Nomad 504 Bus to Etretat with a combined Etretat-Normandie Ticket.

The Orsay Museum is well known for its extensive collection of turn-of-the-century art, also called la Belle Epoque, around 1900, among which is Impressionnism. A number of those impressionists actually started making a few francs by working in … advertising !

The museum’s current temporary exhibition focusses on the billboards and newspaper ads produced by Steinlen, Toulouse-Lautrec and many others in Paris between 1850 and 1910, and how they changed the city’s landscape. Whether they advertised a political party or a cabaret show, the whole city was covered in them.

The fact that they were all painted by hand make them real pieces of art, and are treated as such by the curators. They also reveal much about the era, good or bad, such as the open racism and antisemitism that were existing back then in the French society.

Of course they are written in French, but the translations and explainations provided make this exhibition fascinating and accessible. Well worth a visit.

The RER B train is expected to go under track renovation on a number of weeknights and weekends this Spring. There will be replacement bus services from Aulnay to CDG and the RER B will depart from ground level platforms at Gare du Nord on certain weekends.

If you don’t want to go through this bus hassle, then hop on other transportation options, such as the CDG Bus from Opera Garnier. Remember there is a fixed flat rate to the airport on regular taxis, which is around 60 euros. The 2€50 RER B + Bus option is obviously much more economical, particularly now that regular RER B price to CDG is 13€.

So on which days should you be allowing more time to the airport. Here is the full list.

WEEKNIGHTS: Service is suspended shortly after 10pm, until end of April, except most weekends.

WEEKENDS: All day on March 29 (trains go to the airport, but fewer and from the upper platforms at Gare du Nord). Not train at all all day on April 19, 20, 21, May 3 and May 4.

You can also use RER D to Goussainville and use a bus or Uber/Bolt/Heetch to reach the nearby airport.

If you head to the Orly Airport on line 14, you will also face closures on most nights after 10pm, and all day on April 5 & 6, May 30 & 31, June 15 & 29, and August 4 to 8.