The French kids, as well as their parents returned to school and work earlier this week. This event is refered to as la rentrée. Loosely translated this is the re-entry, or the return. This is the same idea as "back to school" in the states. It has always been a big event since I've lived in France. There is always a great deal of excitement. Of course the energy in the city of Paris completely changes. Anyone that has visited Paris during the month of August will certainly find it busy at the major sites and attractions throughout the town. Still, daily life in Paris feels somewhat quiet. There are no real lines at the grocery stores, and some mornings this summer I had the bus to myself for a number of stops. The traffic around town dies out, and the normally packed parking spots around the neighborhood sit empty. Even the building that I live seems empty which makes it nearly silent. This silence is especially noticeable during the summer weekends.
Rentrée, rentrée, ren- traaee you start to see and hear it everywhere. Commercials on television and radio focus mainly on all things for "la rentrée". Of course as the first days of school begin people, parents, students, and teachers are interviewed on TV about what they feel and think about "la rentrée". The statistics about students, teachers along with any educational changes were the subject of the evening news, talk shows and articles all week long.
Watching the kids have to go back to school always makes me a little sad though. Most French kids look very excited to be coming back after a fun summer to get down to work, and see their friends again. Someone has posted a wonderful photo set of "la rentrée" from a neighborhood just outside of Paris. http://www.flickr.com/photos/joyoflife/sets/72157601859579259/detail/
Rentrée, rentrée, ren- traaee you start to see and hear it everywhere. Commercials on television and radio focus mainly on all things for "la rentrée". Of course as the first days of school begin people, parents, students, and teachers are interviewed on TV about what they feel and think about "la rentrée". The statistics about students, teachers along with any educational changes were the subject of the evening news, talk shows and articles all week long.
Watching the kids have to go back to school always makes me a little sad though. Most French kids look very excited to be coming back after a fun summer to get down to work, and see their friends again. Someone has posted a wonderful photo set of "la rentrée" from a neighborhood just outside of Paris. http://www.flickr.com/photos/joyoflife/sets/72157601859579259/detail/
I hope that this link will work so you can see these great images of a first day of school.
This past weekend was, and this week is the time to avoid shopping for anything that might have to do with school supplies. There can be a wild frenzy to purchase the required school supplies requested by the teacher for classes. It looks as if that list can be quite complicated. Getting what is needed for class looks as if it can really fry some Parisian mothers. There were a few that seemed quite frazzled this week. One woman in line at the grocery store realised that she had forgotten her purse and money once she got to the check out. Everyone in line had great sympathy and understanding for her as she ran out with the intention of returning to retrieve and pay for her dinner supplies.
It is nice to see the season begin so that all the fun events to get into gear for the Parisians and anyone else that maybe in town to enjoy them. My favorite event that happens every September and falling on it's third weekend is the Jour du Patrimoine - Heritage days. This is a weekend where many of the amazing government buildings (many past palaces) open their doors to the public for inspection for the pleasure of seeing some spectacular things. Places like the Senate, or the Paris City Hall are not open to you at any time you want to visit. On this one weekend in September everyone get to see the beauty that is maintained basically by their taxes. You also get a bit of an education on how the government works. This all with a strong sense of history. I've developed some favorite spots to visit if I can each year. Paris "Hotel de Ville" is a favorite of mine for some reason. This is the main grand city hall building. The Senate is also a favorite. There are some works of art in these buildings that are so wonderful to visit more than once to me. Each year the list of participants are printed in a handy newspaper that can be picked up at the Minister of Culture's lobby before the event weekend. This way you can plan your schedule and strategy of what you might want to visit. This is a popular event. So, there will always be lines to wait in at the most popular buildings. There has always been a very long line to visit the President's house, so I have yet to make it in to see this building. I hope that I will be able to offer a report of my experinces of this event here this year.
This past weekend was, and this week is the time to avoid shopping for anything that might have to do with school supplies. There can be a wild frenzy to purchase the required school supplies requested by the teacher for classes. It looks as if that list can be quite complicated. Getting what is needed for class looks as if it can really fry some Parisian mothers. There were a few that seemed quite frazzled this week. One woman in line at the grocery store realised that she had forgotten her purse and money once she got to the check out. Everyone in line had great sympathy and understanding for her as she ran out with the intention of returning to retrieve and pay for her dinner supplies.
It is nice to see the season begin so that all the fun events to get into gear for the Parisians and anyone else that maybe in town to enjoy them. My favorite event that happens every September and falling on it's third weekend is the Jour du Patrimoine - Heritage days. This is a weekend where many of the amazing government buildings (many past palaces) open their doors to the public for inspection for the pleasure of seeing some spectacular things. Places like the Senate, or the Paris City Hall are not open to you at any time you want to visit. On this one weekend in September everyone get to see the beauty that is maintained basically by their taxes. You also get a bit of an education on how the government works. This all with a strong sense of history. I've developed some favorite spots to visit if I can each year. Paris "Hotel de Ville" is a favorite of mine for some reason. This is the main grand city hall building. The Senate is also a favorite. There are some works of art in these buildings that are so wonderful to visit more than once to me. Each year the list of participants are printed in a handy newspaper that can be picked up at the Minister of Culture's lobby before the event weekend. This way you can plan your schedule and strategy of what you might want to visit. This is a popular event. So, there will always be lines to wait in at the most popular buildings. There has always been a very long line to visit the President's house, so I have yet to make it in to see this building. I hope that I will be able to offer a report of my experinces of this event here this year.
Oh, this year there is the added event of France hosting Rugby World Cup. These events get started tomorrow I think. This week they hung a giant rugby ball in the center of the Eiffel Tower. It looks a bit like it has a pill stuck in it's throut. This evening the lights of the tower were turned on by the city mayor (great mayor by-the-way). The bottom section of lights are green and of course there is a specail light focused on that giant ball. It looked quite nice when the tower did it's specail sparkel with it's now green legs. Along with the new lighting I noticed they have put up the ferris wheel at the Place de la Concord. This is normally only set up for the holidays between Christmas and New Years. An added attraction for the parties around town for the rugby fans.
Hope everyone had a pleasant Labor Day at the start of this week.
