Visiting France in May
If you are lucky enough to be in France this month, you won’t want to miss these wonderful events.
- May 19th is Museum night (la Nuit des Musées) when museums all over France are open free of charge until late into the night. Created in France in 2005 by the French Ministry of Culture, it is now also called European Museum Night and is celebrated in 40 European countries.
- On May 22nd the French Open International Tennis tournament begins in Paris at the Roland Garros stadium. Fans will get a thrill out of watching their favorite tennis champs compete on the stadiums’ famous red clay courts. Through June 10th.
- The Cannes Film Festival takes place this year from May 16th through 27th. Although this international film festival is by invitation only, you can still take part in the excitement if you’re in town and maybe even get a glimpse of the stars! Visitors can get tickets for the Cinéma de la Plage, a public event which occurs outdoors on a giant screen where cinéphiles will be able to watch movies to their heart’s content. Contact the Cannes Tourist Office for more information.
- If children accompany you to Paris in May, they might just ask, like French kids do, to go to the huge Fair called the Foire du Trône located at the Pelouse de Reuilly in the Bois de Vincennes (Métro : Porte Dorée, Liberté, or Porte de Charenton). This annual event is a traditional carnival fair complete with roller coasters, ferris wheels and barbes à papa (cotton candy). Very popular with French families. Runs through June 3rd.
- A newly outfitted RER-C train to Versailles has just been inaugurated with magnificent photo panels of the palace glued to the train’s ceilings and walls. There will be five of these trains by the end of the year outfitted with such panels. If you’re lucky enough to catch one of them on the way to Versailles, it will be the closest you’ll come to that masterful ceiling painted so breautifully in the 17th century by Charles le Brun.
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