Letter from Paris: April 9, 2025 News Digest

The sun is shining so brightly in Paris it’s almost melting the fancy Easter chocolate in shop windows. From Yann Couvreur’s chocolate fox to François Perret’s Mad’Poule, the collections are looking good! If you’re not in Paris and want to drool over a virtual display, check out our list of the top 11 Easter chocolates this year.

 

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Traveling between France and Italy this year? Here’s some exciting news. The train link between Paris and Milan resumed service recently, after a landslide in the French Alps blocked it some 19 months ago. There’s an increasing number of international destinations served by rail link from France, attesting to the soaring popularity of long-distance trains.

And we have a winner! Mickaël Reydellet has been crowned in the annual best baguette in Paris contest. Expect to see lots of lines outside his boulangerie La Parisienne in the 10th arrondissement. His prize includes €4000 and the contract to supply the baguettes for the Elysée Palace for a year. Here’s the list of the top 10- any of your favorite bakeries on the list?

2. Aux Délices du Palais – 60, boulevard Brune (14e)
3. Boulangerie Guyot Ferreira – 28, rue Monge (5e)
4. Aux Délices de Glacière – 90, boulevard Auguste Blanqui (13e)
5. La Petite Alsacienne – 45, rue Raymond Losserand (14e)
6. Graine – 74, avenue Gambetta (20e)
7. Le Marquis de Saint-Cyr – 20, boulevard Gouvion Saint-Cyr (17e)
8. Le Délice de Bagnolet – 42, boulevard Mortier (20e)
9. Le Moulin de la Croix-Nivert – 39, rue de la Croix-Nivert (15e)
10. Boulangerie Alexine – 109, avenue de Saint-Ouen (17e)

In cultural news, the city is celebrating the season with lots of new art shows, and the Grand Palais is prepping for the Festival du Livre this week.

“David Hockney wants his biggest ever show to bring you joy,” says The New York Times headline about the 87-year-old artist’s exhibit at the Louis Vuitton Foundation that’s “set to be one of the most talked-about European art shows of the spring.” Opening today, the blockbuster retrospective features more than 450 works and “fills all the rooms” of the museum. “Hockney is still working as often as his health allows, and over a 70-year career, he has produced portraits, landscapes and still lifes in paint, charcoal, Polaroids, video and using an iPad, as well as created multimedia installations.”

The Guardian’s Philip Oltermann says the exhibit “by the Bradford-born Francophile underscores Paris’s efforts to reclaim its status as Europe’s art capital.” Oh, and apparently the Paris Metro banned the David Hockney exhibition poster because the artist is holding a cigarette.

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Did you hear that actor Ralph Fiennes will direct his first opera next year in Paris? The directing debut is a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, staged from 26 January to 27 February at the Palais Garnier. As reported by Classic FM, Fiennes “developed a profound love for ballet while filming The White Crow.” The actor, who won a Tony Award for his on-stage portrayal of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, also loves classical music. “While filming The White Crow, in which he played ballet master Alexander Pushkin (not the writer) the actor developed a fascination with the discipline and precision of ballet. To prepare for his role, he spent hours studying a YouTube clip of Pushkin teaching a ballet class.”

Trump has imposed 20% tariffs on EU goods imported to the US— French President Macron has called them “brutal and unfounded”— and the bloc is planning retaliation with countermeasures. The EU is the US’s largest trading partner. As reported by Fortune, “The European Union’s response to US tariffs could include regulating the use of data by American big tech groups, France’s finance minister [Eric Lombard said in an interview]. ‘We have several tools at our disposal at the European level: regulatory, fiscal, customs. For example, we can strengthen certain environmental requirements or regulate the use of data by certain digital players.’”

At least France and Algeria are cooperating again. The two countries have agreed “to renew cooperation in all sectors… after a day of talks aiming at resuming dialogue following months of bickering” — to quote Reuters.

In other political news, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement by a French court. She’s banned from seeking public office for five years for the crime, which involved €2.9m of EU funds. She had hoped to run in the next French presidential campaign in 2027, and criticized the decision as a “political” one. Jordan Bardella, the president of Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party, organized a protest in Paris last weekend. Also protesting in Paris? People against Trump.