Welcome to the Month of May

It’s May and if you’re visiting France for pleasure or trying to do business, be forewarned. May is a sacred month when there are three holidays and life tends to inch along at a snail’s pace.  Some people call it a moveable feast, but the problem is that traffic is so bad that nothing moves.  It’s more like an ongoing vacation where if you do your calculations correctly and tweak your calendar, it can add additional time-off to your already allotted five-week-long vacation period and the annual eleven national jours feriés (holidays).

The French take their time off seriously.  People believe in quality of life which is not understood here, as we are sitting at desks with noses to the grindstone. Even though France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy would like to see people work longer hours, many French fonctionnaires (government employees) refuse to hear his plea and strike over the idea of anything more than a 35-hour week.

Trains and roads near major cities are congested.  The autoroutes look and feel like parking lots on a jour rouge (similar to a code red, but for terrible traffic, not terrorism threats).  This is when vacationers, well, vacate a rental to accommodate the next group who are coming to take their place.

These periods also coincide with the time when truckers and railroad workers like to strike—la grève being something of a summer tradition.  Check ahead, particularly when planning a trip for the last week of June or the first week of July.  There are fewer strikes in August since that’s when most workers are on vacation themselves.

Not so many years ago, if you were anyone—a lawyer or a doctor—the month of August was simply dead when it came to work and commerce.  Paris was devoid of Parisians and the city was relegated to tourists or residents who found the city its most appealing without so many people around [not to mention the poor].

August has lots of advantages: you can park for free in residential neighborhoods and traffic is so light that driving around the Arc de Triomphe doesn’t feel like playing Russian roulette. There are rumors of people spending hours circling it without being able to exit or simply bailing out. If an accident should occur, and they do, it’s considered no one’s fault.

During August, some bakeries might be closed, but there is always another within walking distance. Ditto for pharmacies, restaurants and family run businesses or ones with fewer than six employees. It’s becoming less frequent that these establishments are shuttered for the entire month with the exception of the most famous ice-cream shop in Paris, Berthillon, which is located on the Ile St. Louis, where crowds wrap around the block. Go figure.

But as the French economy is not at its best, fewer executives take off for the entire month. They tend to take two or three weeks at a time; the more valuable you are, the less time you stay away in one fell-swoop.  Yes, times are changing, and it’s beginning to sound like America.

I remember one August when I had surgery and literally went AWOL (well, I tried to pay) without settling up since no cashier was on duty the day I was leaving the clinique. Rather than being arrested, a bill showed up after the rentrée in September when people returned to work.

I headed to Grimaud high in the hills over St. Tropez to recuperate. My hostess was the number one money manager of American equities for France’s largest savings bank, the Caisse d’Epargne.  It was a roller coaster of a month in the U.S. financial markets and anyone reading the Wall Street Journal would be sitting on the edge of his or her chair watching market swings.

This was also pre-Internet, and it was amazing to watch Monique day after day lie on her chaise basking in the sun. She only budged to apply more suntan lotion and get a drink from time to time. Gosh, now that I think about it, this was even before anyone had portables (cell phones) and I found it unbelievable that Monique failed to check in with her office even once. Plus the colleagues in her office didn’t have a way to contact her unless they were sending out carrier pigeons, and I failed to spot them. When queried, Monique would respond that she was en vacance.

If you’re able, take your France country vacation in months other than July and August when you’ll be fighting the crowds. One friend confided he refuses to go away in August.  Taking off in September makes his wife and him feel as if their vacation has been extended.  And don’t worry that you won’t have enough to do and see (and eat) if you spend August in the City of Light.

This year’s May holidays are:

Ascension (l’Ascencion), May 1

Pentecost (la Pentecôte), May 11

Whit Monday (dimanche de Pentecôte), May 12th

Holidays vary from year to year, so remember to check back with BonjourParis next April.

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