Author: plieuse

The meter was invented during the French Revolution, which took place between 1789 and 1799. It was a time when all the systems (political, religious, measurement) were upset.

Before that, people used to measure distances with “toises” and “lieues”. 1 toise was worth about 2 m and 1 lieue was worth about 4 km. The weight unit was the “livre”. A livre was worth about half a kg.

At the beginning, the meter was defined as 1/40,000,000 of the perimeter of the Earth. The gramme, which was invented at about the same time, was defined as the weight of 1 cm3 (cube centimeters) of water.

Since then the definition of the meter has changed, and it is now a very scientific one.

So, at the beginning, to get people accointed with their new measurement system, the Revolutionaries (the leaders of the Revolution) had 16 marble meters displayed in the streets of Paris. Only two remain, one of which is still in the street, 36 rue de Vaugirard, in front of the Senate.

I’m often asked where one could buy the best bread in Paris. There’s no easy answer.

There’s a contest every year, and the winner has the title “Meilleure baguette de Paris” and becomes the official Elysée’s bread provider for one year.

The 2025 winner is: La Parisienne ; 12, rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière (10e) (https://www.paris.fr/pages/la-meilleure-baguette-de-paris-2025-se-deguste-dans-le-10e-arrondissement-30669)

A baguette weighs 250 grammes (about a half-pound) and is worth about 1.50 € (sometimes 1.60 €, seldom more). It gets stale after a few days if you don’t eat it.

My advice is to find a bakery and buy a “tradition” baguette. It’s often more expensive, but better than regular baguette. The bread in bakeries is better than the one in supermarkets.

For a very long time, France was ruled by kings, and the kings were Catholics. We had a protestant king between 1589 and 1610, and he was a terrific ruler who brought peace and prosperity to the country after 50 years of religion wars, but even he had to convert to catholicism in order to be crowned and rule.

The last king of France, Louis XVI, was beheaded during the French Revolution, on January the 21st of 1793. There were a few more kings after him, but royalty eventually ended during the 19th century.

The king was appointed by God. He was crowned in Reims, when he came of age, at the age of 13, and remained king until he died, usually of old age. Murdering the king was a crime of “régicide”, and it was punished with the death penalty and horrible tortures.

During the French Revolution, the revolutionaries got rid of the king, and of all the symbols of royalty as well. This means they got rid of the whole catholic church, who were extremely wealthy, and the clergymen and the nuns. Lots of them were murdered after phony trials. The churches were confiscated and turned into public places.

We’ve been king-free and religion-free for over 200 years, but there still are traces of the past. For example, Paris has its own saints. The most famous is Saint Genoveve.

She was a Christian young girl born near Paris, and the tale about her is she protected Paris from the Huns of Attila in 451 (she was 28 at that time). Of course, it’s a fairy tale. But nowadays she’s a saint, a Catholic saint, and she’s the “patronne”, a dedicated saint, of Paris.

She has statues of her self all over Paris, and several churches named after her. She’s also the “patronne” of the police.

You may (or may not) have noticed that Paris is split in small areas, twenty of them. An area is called an “arrondissement”.

They are numbered from 1 to 20. They spiral around Paris, exactly like a snail’s shell. The small numbers are in the center.

The arrondissements in the center are smaller. There are 6 arrondissements on the left bank and 14 arrondissements on the right bank.

Each arrondissement has it own hall and mayor. At each election (every 6 years, coming up next year), the mayors, deputies and other officials are elected, then vote for a super-mayor. This one goes to rule and represent Paris for the next 6 years. At the moment, it’s a woman: Mrs Anne Hidalgo.

The wealthiest arrondissements have right-wing mayors and deputies, while the poorest ones have left-wing mayors and deputies. Here’s a map of the arrondissements regarding the political color of their elected officials. Beware, in France, red is fow left-wing and blue is for right-wing.

As you can see, the wealthiest arrondissements, who vote blue, are in the West of the city. The red ones are in the East. There’s almost a line between them, a vertical line going North to South and splitting Paris in two.

Everybody knows french président Macron is married to a woman 25 years older than him. But do you know the untold story? Here it is.

Emmanuel Macron grew up in Amiens, a city 100 kilometers North of Paris. He was 15-years-old when he met this young teacher in high school. She taught French and theater. She was 39-years-old.

When they found out, Macron’s parents tried to break them up. They were in Amiens. They sent their son to study in Paris, where they believed he could study hard and not fall in love with his teachers.

So he went to an elite high school, on top of the Sainte-Geneviève hill, right behind the Panthéon. This high school is famous in all of France for sending pupils to the best colleges in France. The pupils are often very good at maths.

Macron was a bright pupil. He graduated from high school with honours in 1995 (he was 18). He went on to study politics in the best politics school in France, one that only takes <100 pupils every year (the ENA). He graduated from the ENA in 2004.

But what about the love story?

In 2006, his sweetheart divorced from her husband (they had three children) and Macron and she could marry in 2007. So in the end, the efforts to split them up failed. And their love story lives on.

This week, it’s back to school for pupils. It’s an important time of the year: the beginning of the school year, new books and literary prizes, new shows on TV, soon the booking of train tickets, and many more.

It also means more people in the stores, in the subway and buses, on the street, on the road… It’s a time of the year when people are busy.

It’s called “la rentrée”.

Hello! Today, a post about the Eiffel Tower!

What’s so amazing about me?

Two things: first, I’m made of metal, which was very unusual at the time of my building. Second, I was supposed to be temporary, and be destroyed at the end of the fair.

I share a nickname with a famous woman. What is it?

Lady of steel. This is Mrs Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, famous for being really tough and hard.

Last month I walked with Paola and Chiara, two lovely Italians, and they told me something I found interesting.

Why is it called farfalle?

Because it’s butterfly-shaped. “Farfalla”, plural “farfalle”, means “butterfly” in Italian.

Today, everything you need (or don’t need) to know about the Orangerie!

Wikimedia Commons CC0

“Jeunes filles au piano” / “Girls playing the piano” (Renoir)

© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée de l’Orangerie)