Paris is always beautiful, throughout each of the Les Quatre Saisons, no that is not just a name of a Pizza! (the four seasons.)

But people tend to say that Paris is at her best in May...

Now, wouldn’t you like to see that for yourself?

Bien sûr, you may! just join us on Twitter or Facebook today as we will be 'tweeting' some images of Paris later on.

...and to bring a little Paris culture into your day how about a song?...

Click here to view the video of...

'PARIS IS AT HER BEST IN MAY' ('J’aime Paris Au Mois De Mai')

 By Charles Aznavour & Dianne Reeves

Blog submitted by: David at The French Property Network - Cle France.

May Day / La Fête du Muguet in France is a public holiday / a jour fériés to celebrate workers rights! in the UK we tend to move public holiday days to the Monday but as with most jour fériés in France they stay on the day the occur. It is also an occasion to present Muguet / Lily of the Valley or dog rose flowers to loved ones, friends and neighbours. The day is also known as La Fête du Travail which never seems to happen in the Cle France Office!

So what do people do?

People in many areas give bouquets of Muguet / Lily of the Valley or dog rose flowers, I knew a friend who would cycle around the village and surrounding villages, in a rural corner of Mayenne, giving out single stem of Muguet to all her friends and take all day doing it!

The custom is particularly common in the area around Paris known as Ile-de-France. Families with children in the rural areas get up very early in the morning and go into the woods to pick Muguet. Individuals and flower stalls in urban areas sell bouquets of Muguet / Lily of the Valley on May 1st if you don't want to go and pick some yourself. There are special regulations that allow people and some companies to sell these flowers on May 1st without paying tax or complying with retail regulations, kerching!

In industrial towns some trade unions use the day to campaign for workers rights. Some people or even large organisations also use the day to campaign for human rights in general or to demonstrate against racism or highlight current social issues. 

Jour fériés:

May 1st is a public holiday. Post offices, banks, stores and other businesses are closed, Cle France remains open in the UK. Outside of tourist areas, restaurants and cafes may be closed. However, some stores in Paris, and other major towns and cities will be open. Public transport service schedules vary depending on where you live and where you want to go to. Parades and demonstrations may cause disruption to traffic in the center of large cities, particularly Paris, Reims, Rennes and Rouen. 

Now for the History Lesson:

King Charles IX of France was presented with Muguet / Lily of the Valley flowers on May 1st 1561. He liked the gift and decided to present Muguet / Lily of the Valley flowers to the ladies of his court each year on May 1st. Around 1900, men started to present a bouquet of flowers to women to express their affection. The flowers are a more general token of appreciation between close friends and family members these days and has not bee turned into a second Valentines day.

The eight-hour working day was officially introduced in France on April 23, 1919, and May 1st became a public holiday. May Day was not observed during World War II. However, May 1st became a public holiday again in 1947 and officially became known as La Fête du Travail (Labor Day) on April 29, 1948. Since then, it has been an occasion to campaign for and celebrate workers' rights.

We know it as just goof old fashioned May Day but, of course, it is also known as Labor Day in other parts of the world.

Symbols:

Muguet / Lily of the Valley and dog rose flowers are symbols of May Day in France.

The Romance: 

Ever since its introduction from Japan to Europe in the Middle Ages (bet you did not know that!) Muguet / Lily of the Valley has been regarded as a lucky charm by the Celtic folks from many countries.

There was also an old European tradition of 'bals de muguet' or Muguet dances; once a year, this was a rare occasion for young singles to meet without having to get parents’ permission. The girls would dress in white and the boys would wear a sprig of muguet as a buttonhole, how very quaint.

From around 1900, it became traditional in France for men to present a bouquet of flowers to their sweethearts to express their love and affection. Nowadays, sadly of course, the romance has drifted out of the tradition and 'Muguet ' flowers are really only given as a general token of appreciation between close friends and family members.

Blog submitted by: Sharon at The French Property Network - Cle France.

France, just like every other country, has many holidays throughout the year.

It is best to leave the planning of your viewing trip to the experts at Cle France but if you are going to plan your trip and see multiple houses then be careful to avoid les jours fériés as these may catch you out. Estate Agents in France work so hard they are keen not to miss the opportunity of a Bank Holiday day off and making the bridge is a common practice for most business so let us explain.

With the creation of new holidays every year (such as National Doughnut Day — faites une croix dans vos calendriers [mark your calendars]! It’s June 2nd this year!), it seems that there’s something to celebrate every day. Whether you believe in celebrating doughnuts or not (and let’s be honest, you should as you only live once!), there are certain holidays that are nationally recognised.

Image courtesy of Eric Rocheblave.

These holidays, called les jours fériés, are public holidays, and public servants, employees in the public sector, and students generally have the day off!

This year, France has 13 public holidays. Can you name them? Answers are at the bottom of the post!

Of those 13, 5 take place in May. That’s a lot of days off! That’s almost 40% of days off in one month. Do you know the expression faire le pont? It literally means “to make the bridge,” but it refers to the idea of going from one end of something to another more than actually making a bridge. What it means is to make a long weekend. If a holidays falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, the French “make a bridge” to the next week.

For example, if the holiday is on Thursday, it doesn’t make much sense to come to work Wednesday, have off Thursday, return to work Friday, then have the weekend off. So what they do is have off Thursday AND Friday, plus the weekend. A four-day weekend! They font le pont from Thursday to Monday.

So what are the holidays this month? Let’s take a look!

Le 1er mai – La Fête du Travail – Labor Day

This holiday is sometimes called La Fête du Muguet. Le Muguet (lily of the valley) is picked and given to loved ones. Don’t want to pick any, or don’t have access to a field ? Don’t worry – there are stands on the road where you can purchase them. There are even regulations that allow organizations to grow and sell these flowers without taxes.

In the streets, you’ll see parades celebrating workers rights.

Le 8 mai – La Fête de la Victoire / le Jour de la Libération – Victory Day

This holiday is to celebrate the end of the Second World War and freedom. Freedom’s not just an American value :-p On this day in 1945, Charles de Gaulle announced the end of the war.

Many people attend church services on this day, and they watch the parades after. The atmosphere is generally quite happy.

Le 9 mai – Ascension

This is the 40th day of Easter and marks the day that Jesus Christ ascended to heaven after being crucified.

Some Christians attend special church services, but most people don’t do anything specifically related to the holiday. Since it’s a four-day weekend, many people may take a mini vacation.

Le 08 jun – Pentecôte – Pentecost Sunday or Whit Sunday

This is another religious holiday in May. Since it’s on a Sunday, the fact that everything is closed is nothing new. Some Christians will attend church services. Traditionally, trumpets will be blown during the service. This represents the wind that blew when the spirit descended into Jesus’s followers.

For many others, it’s just like any other weekend, except they don’t have to go to work the next day.

Le 09 jun – Lundi de Pentecôte – Pentecost Monday or Whit Monday

This day follows Pentecost Sunday. Much like the previous day, not a lot is done anymore. In fact, the French government decided to remove it from their list of national holidays around 10 years ago.  It was reinstated again after the death of many elders during a heatwave. The new holiday, called the Day of Solidarity, is to bring awareness to elderly people with disabilities. Some people do work on this day for no wages, and their money is donated to organisations. Not everyone does this, though.

Happy Holidays!

1. Jour de L’an (1er janvier)

2. Pâques (le 20 avril)

3. Lundi de Pâques (le 21 avril)

4. Fête du Travail (1er mai)

5. Fête de la Victoire 1945 (le 8 mai)

6. Ascension catholique (le 9 mai)

7. Pentecôte (le 08 jun)

8. Lundi de Pentecôte (le 09 jun)

9. Fête nationale (le 14 juillet)

10. Assomption (le 15 aout)

11. Toussaint (le 1er novembre)

12. Armistice 1989 (le 11 novembre)

13. Noël (le 25 décembre)

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.

This blog was originally posted on The French Language Blog pages.

Pound Sterling has a big bounce.

The Pound has been the big winner in the past couple of weeks…

Against the Euro, it now sits near 3-week highs.

And against the US Dollar, it’s back to near 12-month highs.

It’s a great comeback given Pound Sterling got sold off savagely at the start of the month.

But it’s not got much to do with UK specific news.

If anything, UK economic data has been lacklustre lately.

The comeback is being driven by global forces, the Pound is at the mercy of investor risk sentiment.

And investors have calmed down over the past fortnight.

That’s why stock markets have bounced.

Another side effect is that investors have rotated back into the Pound and away from safe haven currencies like JPY, CHF and EUR.

I wouldn’t get complacent though.

These things can change quickly. It’s likely that further volatility lies ahead (from you know who).

So what next, what should you do?

If you have a currency requirement, please do get in touch as it pays to keep a close eye on rates.

To speak to a member of our team, just call 01872 487 500.

Or to find out our latest rates, click below.

Get ahead of the game and read our Guide to Foreign Currency Exchange.

Download the Guide Here - with no obligation of course.

Kind regards, 
David Evans 
Co-Founder of Cle France.

1. Great exchange rates
2. Quick and easy transfers
3. No transfer fees
4. Expert help and guidance
5. Authorised by the FCA

Current rates: 

Tuesday 29th April 2025 at 10:30

£1.00 GBP = 1.1775 EUR

£1.00 GBP = 1.3410 USD

£1.00 GBP = 2.0900 AUD

£1.00 GBP = 2.2485 NZD

£1.00 GBP = 1.8555 CAD

£1.00 GBP = 1.1070 CHF

• Want to Learn More?

• We have created a selection of Free PDF Guides for you to download covering many aspects of buying property abroad, visit our PDF Guides Page today or download our "Buying A Property in France" Guide PDF document.

• Want to Live in France Post-Brexit? download our "PDF Guide to Living in France Post-Brexit" document.

  

• Need to Send Money Abroad?

  • At Clé France / Key Currency, many of our customers have a need for currency exchange.
  • We are pleased to offer our customers favourable exchange rates on international currency transfers.
  • As a Clé France website visitor, you qualify for preferential exchange rates when you transact through Key Currency.

How to Save Money on your foreign currency transfers

• Key Currency can save you money by offering more competitive rates of exchange than your bank.
• Clients can typically save you 3-4% of the total transaction value, which can result in significant cost savings.
• All client funds are held in segregated accounts with top-tier banks keeping your money safe and secure.

For everything you need to know about French property visit www.clefrance.co.uk

Actually it is not that different to Easter celebrations in other mainly Christian countries, the French however as you would expect also have their own individual Easter traditions. Perhaps it may come as no surprise that given France's obvious culinary talents, many of the Easter traditions include and involve food.

Easter is an important holiday in France and there are lots of traditions that go with Easter so be sure to wish all your friends and colleagues an enthusiastic 'Joyeuses Pâques' (Happy Easter) !

Easter Weekend:

Good Friday is typically not recognised as a Bank Holiday in France and it is business as normal. Easter does however consist of a long weekend, and in some sectors, a week or two of holidays but generally it is only the Easter Monday that stands out as different to the normal run of things because every Sunday is still a rest day in France where most large shops and business are closed, unlike the UK these days. In addition to having the chance for a holiday, the French also take the opportunities of Easter to include visiting family and friends, and relaxing.

French Easter Morning:

French children have Easter egg hunts on Easter sunday morning. Eggs are usually chocolate ones and not hard-boiled ones, although the French also play games with raw eggs at Easter. A few Easter games exist, such as competitions throwing and catching eggs and seeing who can toss and catch an egg the longest without breaking it. Another game with raw eggs stems from the Catholic tradition in France. In this game, children each take a raw egg and roll them down a hill (simulating the stone rolling from Jesus' tomb). In this symbolic game, the child whose egg travels the farthest without breaking is the winner.

Easter egg hunts are usually for small chocolate eggs. However, French chocolatiers also have a long-standing tradition of creating oversized ornamental chocolate eggs that are given as gifts. These eggs, like most products from French chocolatiers and patissiers, often look too beautiful to eat!

How Do the French Celebrate Easter with Food:

In addition to the sweets, French families often make very special meals on Easter Sunday. As with all special French meals, it will usually consist of several courses, be accompanied by wine, and finish with a cheese plate and a delicious dessert.

French Easter Menus:

There is a French Easter tradition of serving lamb as the main course on Easter Sunday. While this is not necessarily always the case, many families still observe this tradition by making a rack of lamb braised with an herb rub or sauce. Other main courses would typically be meat, for example a ham or other choice cuts of meat. Turkey, which is very typical of Christmas, would not often be chosen as an Easter main course.

Preceding the main course, a lighter dish is usually served. This may be something like a quiche or perhaps a salad. Though soup is possible, a cold first course is more typical of a traditional Easter menu. Some families may eat both a salad and another first course.

Following the main course, expect a short break in which everyone remains seated at the table drinking wine. This break is usually followed with a traditional cheese plate with baguette. If you are making a French-style Easter dinner outside France, you'll have to rely on a local supermarket for some French cheeses (get a variety: one bleu, one camembert or brie, one harder cheese, and a goat's cheese if you can find it). In France, expect a few popular French cheeses, as well as a few local ones that you may never have seen or heard of before.

Lastly, Easter dinners are topped off with dessert. Very often, the dessert will include some chocolate, but may not be exclusively chocolate, such as a chocolate berry tart or an almond cake drizzled with a chocolate sauce. If you are in France, expect to spend a long time over Easter dinner, it is meant to be enjoyed slowly.

Blog submitted by: Alex at The French Property Network - Cle France.