Day 2882 (Tuesday) 29th April 2025

This is Nice

and this is Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat.

 

It was another lovely sunny day and we went to Nice and saw a manifestation in Place Massena. All the protesters were wearing white jackets so we assumed they were the medical students mentioned yesterday.

Junior doctors on strike - The association for students in medicine has called for junior doctors (residents, or internes as they are referred to in French) to begin an 'unlimited' strike from Monday, April 28th to protest against proposals that would create stricter rules on where doctors can set up new practices. When doctors in hospitals strike, they do not physically walk off the job but instead take symbolic actions such as wearing a badge saying 'on strike' or staging protests outside the hospital.

Then we went to the Galeries Lafayette to see the art, which is part of the exhibition about sea creatures. It wasn’t as impressive as the sea urchin but I bet it looks great lit up in the dark, there are 300 fish in the exhibit.

Then we went to the park and thoroughly enjoyed our weekly kebab.

It was lovely to see these bottlebrush plants again. Ages ago I asked Huw what they were called and when he answered I misheard him and thought he said bog-brush, so I’ve called them bog-brush plants ever since. 

It’ll be May 1st soon so…

5 reasons to look forward to May in France

A member of staff offers a sprig of Lily of the Valley or Muguet to a resident of the Henri IV retirement home in Toulouse, southern France, a tradition in France to mark May Day on May 1, 2021. (Photo by GEORGES GOBET / AFP)

You can find something to love about every month in France, but May truly stands out. From multiple public holidays to spring flowers and festivals, here are our some of my favourite things about May in France.

Every season in France has its attributes.

In winter, you can enjoy hearty dishes at classic French restaurants. Come autumn, you can forage for mushrooms and taste new wines. In summer, you have thousands of kilometres of coastline to choose from for a beach holiday. 

Lots of lovely time off work, for free

Depending on the year, as many as three or four public holidays fall in the month of May.

While there are some years where the public holidays fall on weekends (and are therefore lost), most of the time workers get at least a few days off in May.

We get three this year – Fête du travail on May 1st (May Day, which is traditionally associated with protests and demonstrations)

1st May - Fête du Muguet

Gifting of Lily of the Valley flowers is part of this traditional public holiday in France. It’s also La Fête du Travail which is the day workers’ rights are celebrated, so you’ll see workers’ unions file in colourful parades through major towns. In Paris, the Place de la Bastille is the traditional location for demonstrations.

One of the sweetest traditions in France all year is May Day or Fête du Muguet. Lily of the Valley flowers are given to each other and we enjoy a public holiday. 

VE Day (La victoire de 1945) on May 8th

8th May - WWII Victory Day

Victory in Europe Day (VE or V Day) is known as la Fête de la Victoire or le jour de la liberation around our region. This day marks the formal acceptance by the Allies of WWII of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender and Charles de Gaulle’s announcement of the end of the war in France on May 8th 1945.

Ascension, which in 2025 is on May 29th. 

They’re all on a Thursday this year, too, making four-day weekends a joyful possibility for the cost of just one day’s annual leave. 

For some schools, the Ascension holiday comes with an auto-bridging day, which is great news for every pupil … apart from those studying for their brevet or Bac. 

Pentecost, or the public holiday that sometimes isn’t, often also falls in May but is in June this year because Easter is so late. You can’t have everything. 

That said, if you can take a longer break at this time of year, it will be good for your bank balance as well as your wellbeing, because it’s not quite the peak summer holiday season, so hotel prices are likely to be noticeably lower.

Spring flowers

Talk of public holidays brings us to the muguet flower – or lily of the valley to anglophone gardeners – which proves that May Day (May 1st) isn’t only about protests and demonstrations.

On this May day in 1561, France’s King Charles IX was given a muguet as a lucky charm and liked it so much that he decided to offer them each year to the ladies of the court.

These days, the flowers are sold in bouquets on the street around France and people offer them to friends or family members for good luck. 

They’re also very important to fans of French Top 14 rugby club Toulon – the flower is on the club’s badge, as a tribute to singer Felix Mayol, after whom the club’s famous stadium is also named.

It’s a sign of how important they are in French culture when the country was still on lockdown as the Covid pandemic raged, the French agriculture minister took the time to reassure citizens that muguets would still be available at supermarkets for May 1st, 2020.

The weather

The week leading up to Easter may have left a lot to be desired, but the weather in France in May is often glorious. 

The sun shines; the sky is blue; it’s warm – but not too hot – during the day, and generally agreeably cool in the evenings and overnight. 

Meanwhile, trees are in full blossom and flowers are coming into bloom. The markets are full of tomato plants – and other summer fruit and vegetables – for your potager, and the heady scent of aromatics drift lazily in the air. 

Another boon for gardeners: by this time of year the risk of overnight frost damaging tender young plants is pretty much over. Basically, it’s time to be outside, seeing plenty of green and topping up the vitamin D.

In Paris, the warmer weather and longer days mean that 'terrasse' season can really begin, despite technically starting in April. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the city began allowing restaurants to take up extended space for their outdoor dining from April to October.

In villages across the country, there may also be barbecues. And some brave souls may open up their pools for the first dips of the year. 

Festivals

France has woken up from its winter slumber, and is entering full-on festival mode in the lead-up to a summer of events all over the country.

This is the month of Nights at the Museum, the opening tennis rallies at Roland Garros, the 22nd annual Nuits Sonores festival, the big Vitiloire wine festival, the Monaco Grand Prix (which is, admittedly, not quite in France, but we’ll take it), Normandy’s superbly named Jazz sous les Pommiers, and the Fêtes Johanniques in Reims.

18 May - La Nuit des Musée

The European Night of Museums is back for its 20th edition on Saturday May 18th. For one evening only hundreds of museums across France will open after hours for free in the Europe-wide celebration. Museums usually close at 1am on this event. 

This year, the Château du Petit Trianon and its French gardens are in the spotlight at Versailles. 

Cannes

Yes, admittedly, it’s another festival but Cannes is the glitziest festival of them all, with the glam dialled all the way up to 12.

The 78th film festival opens in the resort on the south coast of France on May 13th and runs to May 24th. It is, of course, all about the movies – but it’s also about the glamour … and the star spotting.

This year, the very eagerly awaited Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will be screened, out of competition, as will Spike Lee’s latest Highest 2 Lowest, and Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great, while Robert De Niro is set to receive an honorary Palme d’or.

Juliette Binoche will preside over the film festival’s jury, running the rule over an impressive list of films including Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, Richard Linklater’s New Wave, and Eddington, by Ari Aster.