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It’s certainly a wacky idea: each summer the ‘Paris Plage’ project brings the beach to the city by laying some 2000 tonnes of sand straight on top of Paris’ busy riverside motorway. Eccentric, for sure - and yet it works, and it works a dream. Since it’s launch in 2002, Paris Plage has become one of City Mayor Bertand Delanoe’s most popular initiatives - and in so doing the project has racked up many miles of headlines in the global press.

Now approaching it’s seventh year, Parisians have proven all too keen to leave behind the city’s baking August heat in return for a spot in one of the council’s many Seine-side deck chairs, turning out in their millions to enjoy the river views.  In addition to the sheer pleasure (and novelty) of the sandy space, there are numerous events and activites laid on, including bars, beach games, climbing walls, and concerts - some on floating barges. There are even temporary open air swimming pools built for the urban sun-bather’s enjoyment - tempting as it may seem, the dirty waters of the Seine are hardly fit for a refreshing dip…

The event has proven so succesful, Paris now boasts three seperate ‘beaches’ during the summer months. The original beach lies right at the heart of the city on the right bank, stretching three kilometres from the Louvre in the West to the Pont de Sully in the East - in place of the busy riverside boulevard normally snarled up with three lanes of traffic. More recently ‘beaches’ have been opened up in two of the outer districts: the first in the 13th arrondissement at the foot of the new National Library; the second in the 19th arrondissement, around the artificial lake known as Bassin de la Villette.

The ‘beaches’ open on the 20th of July each year, and continue for four weeks - you can find more detailed information by visiting the Paris city website.

George Orwell moved to Paris in the spring of 1928, taking up a room in a small hostel in the Latin Quarter, at 6 Rue du Pot de Fer. Aged 24, The young Eric Blair (Orwell’s real name) had moved across the channel to concentrate fully on his fledgling writing career: rents in Paris were relatively cheap, and the space and anonymity such a move afforded seemed ideal encouragement to write - and to write well.

Today Rue du Pot De Fer is a narrow residential street, lined with restaurants, just off Rue Mouffetard in the 5th arrondissement. These days it’s a very pleasant address, but it’s still recognisable in Orwell’s description, in Down and Out in Paris and London of a rough and tumbledown slum. Known in the book as the Rue du Coq d’Or:

It was a very narrow street - a ravine of tall leprous houses, lurching towards one another in queer attitudes, as though they had all been frozen in the act of collapse. All the houses were hotels and packed to the tiles with lodgers, mostly Poles, Arabs and Italians. At the foot of the hotels were tiny bistros, where you could be drunk for the equivalent of a shilling. On Saturday nights about a third of the male population was drunk… It was a fairly rackety place. And yet amid the noise and the dirt lived the usual respectable French shopkeepers, bakers and laundresses and the like, keeping themselves to themselves and quietly piling up small fortunes. It was quite a representative Paris slum.

Orwell spent some eighteen months in the city, and in that time completed two early novels, though after rejections from publishers these were subsequently destroyed. While he could certainly call on some financial help from home, Orwell taught English to support his writing, and lived a modest but relatively comfortable life in Paris - until the autumn of 1929, when the theft of his money, and most of his possessions, left the young writer perilously close to poverty.

Rather than return home to the relative wealth of his parents house in England, Orwell threw himself into the world of Paris’ poor - taking a job as a plongeur (dish washer) in the Rue de Rivoli’s Hotel Lotti. Quite why the young Eton-educated writer took so willingly to the life of grime remains unclear (and it may be that he realised immediately the literary value of his experiences), but his true account of life on the breadline came to form the first part of Down and Out in Paris and London, his first published book.

While his short time in the city laid the foundations for Orwell’s immensely successful career, his french adventures were also at least part way responsible for his famous name. Shocked by tales of his loose life in Paris - and even more concerned by their imminent publication - the author’s parents were pleased to hear that Down and Out was to be published under a pen name. Eric Blair became George Orwell - and stayed that way for good.

Bastille Day is a big deal in Paris - each year on the 14th July the city grinds to a halt to celebrate France’s National Holiday. Known in France as the ‘Fete de la Bastille’, or more colloquially as ‘quatorze juillet‘ (the fourteenth of July), the event comemorates the destruction of King Louis XVI’s grand Bastille prison in the early days of the French Revolution - an event that came to hold great symbolic signficance to the revolutionaries of 1789.

Bastille Day celebrations begin on the evening of the 13th of July. On that night parties take place throughout the city’s twenty arrondissement (and the bars are full to bursting) but Paris’ officially organised event takes place, unsurprisingly, at Place de la Bastille in the 11th arrondissement. Here, the Bal du Quatorze Juillet sees Parisians dance the night away to live music laid on in the square - certainly worth experiencing, though it can be a busy, cramped affair. Better, perhaps, to find one of the more laid back events in the city’s central districts; by tradition, the city’s firemen open the doors of fire stations throughout Paris for smaller, more laid back local parties.

During Bastille day itself, on the 14 July, all eyes are on the famous Champs Elysees boulevard, in the 8th arrondissement, for the annual military parade (defile militaire). In the presence of the French President, and featuring marching units from all parts of the French forces, including tanks, heavy artillery and even fly-overs from various military aircraft, it’s an exciting, if somewhat dated patriotic event. Traditionally the parades start around 10am: needless to say, if you want to actually see anything you’ll need to really want to see it - unless you’re prepared to take your place by the road very early indeed you’ll find by far the best views are on TV.

The traditional end to Bastille Day in Paris are the grand fireworks displays, and by far the best is that set on and around the Eiffel Tower. Forget the cliches - Eiffel Tower fireworks are almost always magnificent, and well worth the hassle required to get close enough to witness them. The best spot to watch, of course, is from high up the terrace of the Palais De Chaillot, across the river in the 16th arondissement, but you’ll need nerves of steel (or very tall friends) to bag a suitable spot to stand anywhere near here. You can see the fireworks from anywhere you can see the tower, so in fact a little imagination goes a long way in finding a decent (available) viewing point.

‘Nuit Blanche‘ is an all-night urban arts festival that takes place in Paris every year on the first Saturday of October.

There’s no true English translation for Nuit Blanche: literally ‘White Night’, it’s the French phrase for staying up until the early hours - and the official Nuit Blanche festival sees the streets of Paris throng with life from 7pm until 7 in the morning.

While the exact programme of events changes every year, many major museums and civic buildings and remain open to the public (and illuminated) throughout the night, and many locations normally off limits to the public open their doors. Over the past few years private mansions, warehouses, artists studios, even railway depots have hosted concerts, performances, and often very bizarre contemporary art installations.

Certainly it’s the art that now proves the focus for the whole event, with local artists, and indeed local communities, often competing to display the most vibrant and eclectic installations on (and off) their streets. Past years have seen soundscapes at Montmartre and performance art on the Eiffel Tower. In 2002, hacker collective the Chaos Computer Club backlit more than 500 windows of the Bibliotheque Nationale tower to create the world’s largest video screen – and broadcast games of tetris across the city.

In short, when it works, it works really well. Find the right district and you’ll find projections, video installations, sculpture and even inpromptu musical performances all within close proximity. But over the last few years Nuit Blanche has proved a hit-and-miss affair: enormous queues at many of the event locations have frustrated more than a few festival-goers, and the limited metro and bus service is always packed to capacity.

Paris’ first Nuit Blanche, in 2002, was overshadowed by the stabbing of the City’s Mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, by mentally-ill assailant Azedine Berkane. While his injuries weren’t life threatening, Mayor Delanoe was hospitalised for two weeks after the attack, which took place in front of hundreds of festival-goers in the Paris City Hall. The last few years’ events have proved somewhat less dramatic, and indeed the Nuit Blanche concept has now spread to several other cities around the world, including Toronto, Rome and Madrid.

The date of Paris’ Nuit Blanche 2008 is Saturday 4th October.

Nuite Blanche Official Site
Photos from last year (2007)

The carte de sejour is the official residency permit for all visitors to Paris who intend to stay in France for longer than ninety days, or who intend to take up paid work during their visit. No longer required by EU citizens, it is still an absolute obligation for Americans, Canadians and Australians - you’ll need to apply for a long stay visa to enter the country, but you’ll also need to apply for the carte de sejour as soon as you’ve arrived.

The carte comes in various flavours and for various durations, depending on the purpose  and length of your stay, and the process of application also varies depending on who you are, where you’re from and what you intend to be doing. The following information provides an overview of the application process for expats resident in Paris: if your Fench address is elsewhere (even in the Paris suburbs) you’ll need to follow local procedures to secure your carte.

EU Citizens

Brits technically don’t need a carte de sejour - since 2003 you’ve been permitted to present your passport in whichever situations a carte might previously have been required. In reality, many EU residents choose to request a carte all the same - having a residency card to hand can still smoothe the way in many administrative situations, and can serve as a useful second identification document.

The application process for EU citizens resident in Paris has been streamlined in recent years - you can now make a postal application by requesting the necessary forms from the address, phone number or email below:

Préfecture de Police - Police Générale .
7ème bureau - Cellule postale 9, Boulevard du Palais - 75195 Paris CEDEX 04
prefpol.dpg-7eb-cellule-postale@interieur.gouv.fr
08 91 01 22 22

In return you should receive the forms, a list of required identification documents (which you’ll need to return by post) and an appointment at the Prefecture De Police, most likely several weeks ahead, where you’ll be able to pick up your carte de sejour.

Americans. Canadians, Australians

For non-EU nationals (including Americans, Canadians and Australians) this carte is still very much a legal obligation - indeed, if you fail to apply within eight days of arriving in France you may find your visa becomes invalid. Different rules apply to students, language assistants and other participants in government sponsored schemes, but in general to start the application process Paris residents are required to present themselve  at one of the two following addresses, within working hours:

• 114/116 avenue du Maine Paris 14ème, métro Gaîté if you live in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 19th or 20th arrondissements;

• 19/21 rue Truffaut Paris 17ème, métro Place Clichy if you live in one of the other 14 Paris arrondissements.

Quite what the process is, and quite what documents are required, depends on the purpose and length of your stay - at minimum you’re likely to need your passport, visa, a birth certificate and proof of address; you may also be asked for a work contract, proof of income, proof of health insurance, marriage certificate and more.

Be prepared for the application process to take some time - possibly a couple of months, and involve multiple visits to the immigration offices, and probably some very long lines. Don’t panic though - if your visa application has already been granted the carte de sejour is something of a formality - just a long, drawn out formality that might well test your patience…

Find out More

The best source for information is the Paris Prefecture’s website, but you’ll need to read French (or find someone who can). Alternatively, find the site of your country’s embassy in Paris, which usually hold useful information. If you’re a student, language assistant or on any other governmnet sponsored scheme it’s likely that exceptional rules will apply - contact your program administrator for more information in these cases.