Features

Far from being the realm of the dead, Paris’s catacombs play unofficial host to a thriving nightlife. From dusk to dawn, hundreds of so-called “cataphiles” take up residence and for these modern troglodytes, the underside of the capital is nothing but a gigantic playground. We paid them a visit.

Stung with stories of discrimination and volatile suburban ghettos, France has come up with a new weapon to fight racism, sexism and ageism in the job market.

“There is no solitude greater than that of the samurai, except, perhaps, that of a tiger in the jungle…” Anyone who’s lived through the tough rub of Paris’ morning and evening rush, anyone who’s traversed the harrowing tunnels of monster stations Auber-Opéra and Montparnasse-Bienvenüe only to find themselves grinding flesh on flesh in a bulging métro or RER, may well honor the abov

A cinephile’s paradise, Paris is also a filmmaker’s dream set, its streets, cafés and métros starring throughout its hundred plus years of movie-making history. These places, rendered timeless on screen, exist in reality as well in the fading projections of our cinematic memories. For the first in this series, we revisit the rue Campagne Première as seen in Breathless.

French philosopher and personality Bernard-Henri Lévy follows in Tocqueville’s footsteps.

To escape the grey monotony of the Parisian winter, Guillaume Pitron decided to travel around the world. He boarded the No. 2 subway line and crossed the widest ethnic spectrum of the city.

Join the treasure hunt at Paris’s two great flea markets

Of course there are gift coupons. But what about that mysterious object burnished by the decades that catches your eye and whose unfinished story depends on your bargaining skills—in French! Now, this is a worthwhile present.

Popular for the quality of their goods and atmosphere, two permanent flea markets in Paris—the marchés aux puces de Vanves and Saint-Ouen—started over a century ago, when ragmen and housebreakers fetched discarded objects from the streets of Paris to sell. By the end of the 19th century, the sellers organized into official markets and became professional dealers.

Nestled among the buildings of modern-day Paris are four small vineyards, remembrance of the times when vineyards flourished on all its surrounding hills. This year, we followed the city’s oenologist, who like an alchemist, turns urban grapes into wine.

Torrential cold rains have just washed away the last traces of summer and the grapes look shiny, plump and plum in the wooden baskets. In the vineyard, a flock of photographers tries to get the best shot of the mayor of the 18th arrondissement, shears in hand, cutting the few wet bunches left and drinking last year’s wine with two celebrities, the TV host Nagui and the popular singer Chimène Badi. It is grape-picking season, Montmartre style.