The French gendarmes belong to the Ministry of Defense. To become a gendarme you need to study at least three university courses and receive the diploma (licence). You will hardly ever meet gendarmes in Paris.

Police officers are the ones who watch the city’s law and order and control the traffic and they submit to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They can be recognized by their dark blue uniform with a big golden star on a chest. The Police officers wearing a light blue uniform (pervenche) are parking attendants or traffic wardens and they write out tickets for illegal parking.

CRS (Compagnie Républicaine de Sécurité) supervise law and order during demonstrations. Frontier guards (Police d’Air et de Frontières) check immigration documents at the airports and on the border. In front of some private company buildings such as banks, the security guards (vigilе) are usually present. Of all the city guards only the police have the right to stop passers-by and check their documentation (passport or ID).

French policemen are friendly (especially if they are do not suspect you of being a member of a protest movement or an illegal immigrant), but you should not argue or joke with them. Many of them do not speak any foreign language and are not always familiar with the area they patrol. The Parisian police actively promote new means of transportation; you can often see them on roller-skates or riding bicycles.

If you are visiting French friends, do not forget the entry code to the door. You will not be able to enter any building in the historic part of Paris without the access code. If you do know it, you can go through the internal courtyard (cour intérieure) first which will lead you directly to the concierge.

Typical House in Paris

The external access code is changed twice a year by the house management, so if you have not visited your French friend in a while, you will need the new code number before visiting. Some houses have a double system of codes (external and internal) or an intercom or speakerphone on the door. Also find out which floor and which stairway you need to take (escalier A, B or C) to find the right apartment.

The ground floor(rez-de-chaussee), which Frenchmen generally do not number, does not always have apartments on it. It is often just an entrance to the building, a hall with an elevator and the concierge residence. Therefore in France the second floor is considered to be the First (premier étage); the third floor is called the Second etc. Like the ground floor, the top floor in old Parisian apartments is unusual too. The Mansard (la Mansarde) named after the French architect of the 17th century, François Mansara, has small attic rooms (chambres de bonnes) where in the 19th century, servants (bonnes) lived. However, you should not envy these servants, as it is not easy to live normally in these rooms. Students who rent these rooms nowadays have adapted and they manage to fit a table, a bed and even a shower into these tiny rooms. These “packing cases” are too hot in the summer beneath the hot roof, and too cold and wet in winter. Although living beneath the eaves in Paris has a sense of romance, in reality there is very little comfort to be enjoyed.

The original secondhand booksellers appeared on Voltaire Quay in Paris (Quai Voltaire) in 1891. Today you can find these green boxes full of books everywhere on the parapets of the Seine from Royal Bridge (Pont Royal) to Sully Bridge (Pont Sully). The size, colour and weight of these boxes meet the statutes of the city government.

Each secondhand bookseller is given not more than 8.2 metres (26.9 ft) to display their books. You can buy old and new books, engravings, posters, dictionaries, encyclopedias, magazines, comics and cards at a discounted price. You are not obliged to buy anything, just enjoy browsing and have a pleasant chat with the secondhand bookseller about Balzac, Flaubert and Stendhal.

Book stalls by the Seine

Those who are politically left-wing traditionally read Libération and Le Monde, and those on the right read Le Figaro. Communists may read L’Humanité. In spite of their varying political views, all the Parisians read the sports newspaper L’Équipe. You can find city news in Le Parisien and in the free newspaper, Métro. The satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné, which means “Duck on a chain”, exposes everyone – Presidents, ministers, right-wing, left-wing, red, green or blue, illustrating the facts with cruel cartoon caricatures.

A typical Parisian snack bar is old-fashioned, simple but very homely and friendly as they are designed for socializing. Parisians drop by two or three times a week to enjoy a drink, exchange a few words with the owner (a big fellow) and meet their friends, known as the ‘regulars’. According to one source, the word “bistro” appeared in the French dictionary after 1814 due to the Russian Kossacks who implored the slow French innkeepers to “Hurry up! Hurry up!” (“Bistro! Bistro!”). In the Tertre Square area (Place du Tertre) on Montmartre there is even a plaque at the place where allegedly the word “bistro” was first used.

Bistrot, Rue Saint-Antoine, Paris

Walking along the banks of the Seine, you will notice the moored barges which look inhabited with curtains at the windows, laundry on a line and perhaps a little kitten on the deck.

This is not the most common way of living in Paris but it is popular with rich foreigners, actors (such as Pierre Rishar) and famous mountaineers from the MacLaud clan. These barges can also be turned into floating restaurants, bars or night clubs and some of them, such as Batofar on the Quay Francois Moriaka (Quai François Mauriac) combine all these activities onboard.

Barge on the Seine

The shape of today’s advertising columns (or Morris columns) copy the historic shape of city advertising boards but they are now much thicker and twice as high as their prototypes. The process of changing the posters in these round structures is fascinating to watch. A couple of workers do the job artistically, making the sophisticated mechanics of the “Colonne Morris” work. Phones, news-stands or public toilets are located in some of these advertising columns.

Advertising column

You can find drug stores all over the city. They are clearly marked with a neon green cross. A French pharmacist (pharmacien) is a competent and highly qualified professional. If you have a toothache or headache, you can ask him for help without waiting for a doctor. The majority of drug stores are closed on Sundays, but the address of the nearest one on duty is always specified in local newspapers and on the door of the local pharmacy. Toiletries and basic medications such as aspirin can always be found in supermarkets, where the prices are generally much lower than in drug stores.

Pharmacie sign

In Paris the name and the surname of the addressee are written right at the top of the envelope. Next are the number of the house and the name of the street, zip code, city and country (if the letter is going abroad). The first figures of the zip code specify the department of France where the addressee lives. For Paris, the first two figures are always 75. The two last figures show the district number, and the figure in the middle is always zero or one, for example: 75018 is the 18th district of Paris, 75116 – 16th district etc. As a result the Parisian address looks like this:

Jean-Paul Belmondo
10, Avenue George Vd
75008 Paris
France

Range of French postage stamps

France, like most countries in Europe, has a rich and varied history. In this beautiful country you’ll see some of the oldest buildings, the best architecture, and the most amazing castles in Europe. Perhaps even in the world. In a country with such a storied past, you’ll always find skeletons in the closet, and a sordid past. This vast country has many stories to tell and some very dark secrets indeed.

If you ever get tired of the sights, bored with the world-class shopping and fancy a real fright, why not take a trip to some of the most haunted and scariest places in France. You’ll find a number of old, and even some new spots on the map that have gruesome and terrifying tales to tell. And you’ll get to see a side of France that most tourists never have the chance to experience.

If you love things that go bump in the night, then France is the place for you. Perhaps you are even familiar with some of the popular “haunted” spots like the Loire Valley castles or the gloomy Conciergerie prison in Paris, but we’ll tell you about strange places in France you didn’t know before.

Some of these sights are not for the faint hearted. So, if you’re not into scary ghost stories, haunted houses or cemeteries, then this list of the top ten scariest places to visit in France is certainly not for you.

Prepare to be scared, here are the spookiest spots France has to offer…

10) At the number 10 spot you’ll find the most haunted house in France, which is located in Alais, Provence, and haunted by the ghost of the deceased Guy de Torno.

9) Coming in at number 9 is the frightening abbey at the Mont St. Michel, a spooky site with multiple ghostly sightings.

8) At 8, this is the first mention of the Château de Versailles. The château and the surround areas are said to be some of the most haunted places in France. There have been numerous sighting reported over the years, and even some reports from just a few months ago.

7) The seventh scariest place in France is the nuclear reactor in the Monts d’Aree, also known to the locals as the gates of hell.

6) Surprisingly, at number six you’ll find Euro Disney. It’s been reported the there have been several unexplained sightings at this site.

5) The number 5 slot goes to Basilica at Le Bois-Chenu Domremy. Not only will you find the ghost of Joan of Arc here, but there have been several spooky sighting of many other ghosts since the 1900s.

4) Fourth place belongs to the gardens of the Château of Versailles. Marie Antoinette’s ghost has been spotted repeatedly at this site, roaming the beautiful gardens surround the château.

3) In at number three is the Pere La Chaise Cemetery, which is the largest cemetery in Paris, France. The spot is the most visited cemetery in the world, and is said to be one of the most haunted. Definitely worth a visit.

2) Coming in at a close second is the Brissac Castle, which can be found in the Loire Valley of France. Even if you’re not into ghost hunting, this is a great place to visit. This ornate castle was masterfully rebuilt in the 17th century, and is overflowing with antiques, original tapestries, and the ceilings are even painted with gold. As soon as you enter the castle you get an eerie felling and a slight shiver runs up your spine. That’s because this was the site of a gruesome double murder. Jacques de Breze found his wife Charlotte and her lover one evening together in the castle. After his discovery, Jacques murdered them both. Legend has it the pair have haunted the castle ever since. Jacques was said to have sold the castle soon after their deaths, as he was so scared of the ghosts, and could no longer live alone in the castle.

1) The top spot goes to The Catacombs situated in Paris. During the mid 1700s, the population of Paris grew so rapidly, that the city soon ran out of places to bury its dead. Those in charge at the time found the perfect solution -the Catacombs, which is commonly called the empire of the dead. Many passageways and tunnels were dug underneath the city to accommodate the millions of dead. Bodies were buried and laid along the walls, and many of the original bones and skulls still line the tunnels of the Catacombs to this day. This is said to be the absolute scariest spot in the whole of France. And just the sight of the skull-lined tunnels can bring a chill to even the heartiest spine! Tours of the Catacombs run each day, but beware, as you may never return.