Day 3097 (Sunday) 30th November 2025
This was the glorious sunrise this morning.
The weather was quite unsettled today, it was mostly sunny but when the sun goes behind a cloud it’s pretty cold so we had a lovely lazy day at home.
I usually do what’s happening in France this week on a Monday but tomorrow is December 1st and I’ll be doing what’s happening in France in December. The Local France.
What’s happening in France this week
The Fete des Lumieres, in Lyon, starts on December 5th. (Photo by OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP)
The first days of December feature two strikes, the annual Téléthon, a postponed hearing over the Shein website, and a Grand opening.
Monday
Courts — Swiss banking heir Paul Hottinguer goes on trial in Paris accused of tax fraud and money-laundering.
Tuesday
Strike — French unions have called for strike action on Tuesday, December 2nd to put pressure on MPs regarding the 2026 draft Budget, on the day the Projet de Loi de Financement de la Sécurité Sociale bill is due to return to the Assembly for debate.
Wednesday
Walkout — Doctors, caregivers, nurses, interns, and especially those in private practice in the Alpes-Maritimes and Var départements, in south-east France, will close their offices to protest against the draft social security financing bill.
Thursday
Survey deadline — The French government launched a survey to gather the public's views on parenthood and policies related to parenthood, in an effort to understand declining fertility rates. Anyone can take the survey (in French). It will be available on the Assemblée nationale website until December 4th.
Friday
Téléthon — Expect to see lots of fundraising wherever you go this weekend, as the annual two-day Téléthon extravaganza gets under way to raise funds for the French Muscular Dystrophy Association (AFM — the Association française contre les myopathies).
Shein — A court hearing over whether the government can suspend the fast-fashion website in France, originally scheduled for last week, will now take place on Friday, December 5th. The government has more than just the Shein platform in its sights. It also intends to report the AliExpress and Joom platforms, along with eBay, Temu, and Wish, for selling illegal products.
Sport — France’s Top 14 men’s domestic rugby competition takes a second break for the second time in a month. But, there’s no respite for any of the players as the European Champions and Challenge Cups kick off for the first block of two pre-Christmas matches.
Fête des Lumières — Between Friday, December 5th, and Monday, December 8th, visitors to the south-eastern city of Lyon are invited to enjoy enchanting walks in an ever-changing sea of light and sound — including large projections over the city’s most beautiful monuments. You’ll find displays over the facades of major landmarks and scattered around the city as you walk, perhaps with a vin chaud in hand.
Saturday
Saint Nicolas Day — In Germany the festival of St Nicolas (December 6th) is a big deal and for historic reasons certain parts of France celebrate it, too, as the countdown to Christmas gathers pace. It’s not a public holiday, but it is a day of celebration with small presents for children, parades in some towns and special gingerbread for everyone.
Ski — Grand Tourmalet, the largest ski area in the French Pyrénées, confirmed on Friday that it will officially open on December 6th.
Here are some more French words for food.
Let’s study the French vocabulary for fish and seafoods.
30 Fish and Seafood French Names 🐟
How Do You Say Fish In French?
The French translation for fish is : un poisson, des poissons.
As a food, fish is usually used with a French partitive article (some) :
Tu veux manger du poisson ce soir ?
Would you like to eat fish tonight?
Watch out! “un poisson” has a “sss” sound. “Le poison” (poison) has a “z” sound.
Fish names in French
Seafood Names in French
France has a lot of seashore and rivers, so we enjoy a wide variety of fresh fish.
It’s not uncommon for seafood restaurants to serve whole fish, and you have to know how to separate the flesh (la chair) from the skin (la peau) and bones (les arrêtes – f).
Same goes for crustaceans and seashells.
A fancy/ gourmet restaurant however would serve all of these ready to eat.
30 Meat Names in French 🥩
How do you say meat in French?
The French word for meat is “la viande“. “la viande” will refer to all kind of meat. The French word for poultry is “la volaille“.
List of meat names in French
Poultry names in French
Ordering a Steak in France: How to say Rare, Medium… in French
If you are going to order some red meat, the waiter will ask: “quelle cuisson ?” which means ‘how would you like this cooked’? In comparison to the US and England, the French eat their meat much, much less cooked.
Here is the vocabulary you’ll need to order a steak in French:
Cru : raw.
You don’t order a steak this way. But our famous “steak tartare” is raw beef with seasoning, and often a raw egg yolk on top…
Bleu : very rare, seared outside but almost cold inside.
Saignant : juicy when you cut, red but warm inside.
This is what’s usually called “rare” in the US and the traditional way to serve steak in France.
We use the term “rosé” for duck and veal.
À point : medium rare.
But you can expect it to still have some red inside.
Bien cuit : medium to well done… depending on the willingness of the French cook.
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