Despite a recent agreement preventing an airport strike in Paris on 17 July, one union is still threatening to walk out in the lead up to the Olympic Games.
15.07.2024 - 09:25 / nytimes.com
With more than 1,300 boulangeries and a profound baking culture, Paris has always been an awesome place for your morning pain au chocolat or baguette. But the lovable boulangerie de quartier might rely on additives and premixes. After a recent monthlong stay in Paris researching a book on bread, I found that a new generation of artisanal bakers across the city is replacing commercial yeasts with carefully nurtured sourdough starters, sourcing heirloom wheats stone-ground by small mills, and embracing creative techniques and cross-cultural flavors. Their creations are worth traveling for, as I happily discovered.
“The new-concept bakeries have a short range of products, a disruptive approach and strong personalities,” said Christophe Vasseur, whose bakery, Du Pain et des Idées, by the Canal St.-Martin, helped kick-start the artisanal bread movement more than two decades ago. Now, tattooed bakers are “rock stars,” as the newspaper Le Figaro called them. “This situation brings a new general appreciation of artisanal bread — which is such a great thing,” said Apollonia Poilâne, the chief executive of the namesake family bakery, which has locations in Paris and London and still sets a mark of bakery excellence with its sourdough miches.
As crowds flood Paris for the Olympics and restaurant reservations become elusive this summer, these six boulangeries will satisfy your cravings for the crustiest boules and baguettes, the airiest brioches and the flakiest viennoiseries — even if you have to consume them on a park bench (or if you are lucky, in a stadium).
Raised in a rough Paris suburb by his Guadeloupean mother, the head boulanger at , Xavier Netry, had to drop out of school to support her by working in bakeries. He went on to become one of most prominent Black bakers in France, winning the annual Paris baguette competition last April. Now queues start early outside the pint-size in the 11th Arrondissement for his crusty sourdough-starter-leavened creations, be it the golden baguette de tradition (currently being supplied to the Élysée Palace) or aromatic green-tea loaves punctuated with crispy puffed rice. But don’t miss Utopie’s pastries, as its owners, Erwan Blanche and Sébastien Bruno — both Maison Ladurée veterans — have serious patisserie cred and adventurous palates. Case in point: their sesame-lime composition, a striking orb of black sesame mousse on a crumbly sable base with a bright citrusy accent of lime confit.
Despite a recent agreement preventing an airport strike in Paris on 17 July, one union is still threatening to walk out in the lead up to the Olympic Games.
The Skift Travel Podcast is continuing its series on the Paris Olympics. This episode features a discussion with Patrick Mendes, Accor’s CEO for Europe and North Africa. Accor is an official partner for this year’s Games, as well as Europe’s largest hotel group.
Games wide open! The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics are here—so, expect to hear the roar of that slogan in the weeks again. There’s simply no way to quantify, or perhaps, prepare for, the already-electrifying energy infiltrating the host city and the largest Olympic ceremony ever. Despite the Games’ 300,000 spectator capacity, Paris is expected to receive around 15 million visitors, including 2 million from abroad, in the coming weeks.
With just hours to go until the Opening Ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics, chaos has hit the country’s transport network. On the night of Thursday, July 25, a series of fires spread across France’s high-speed rail lines, causing delays, cancelations, and disruptions to the rail system.
France's rail network has been thrown into chaos today following a series of arson attacks, just hours before the nation officially opens the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Delta Air Lines has been in the spotlight of the airline industry this week following a five-day-long operational meltdown that led to more than 5,000 flight cancellations and stranded passengers and their checked bags for days.
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a large sporting event happening in Paris between July 26 and Aug. 11. Fifteen million visitors are expected in France’s capital for the fun and games, and you may be one of them! Or perhaps you’re waiting for the crowds to thin out before visiting.
Paris is expected to welcome 11.3 million visitors during the Olympic Games, significantly increasing its population density. This surge in visitors is spurring travel demand to international destinations, such as Italy and the United States, that harness this desire to leave crowds behind, also benefiting United Kingdom, Spain, and Greece, as well as farther destinations, such as Thailand or Japan.
This story about swimming in Paris is part of How Paris Moves, a series of dispatches about communities and social change in France through the lens of the 2024 Summer Olympics.
A global IT outage on Friday canceled thousands of flights and forced several airlines to request ground stops, throwing travel into chaos.
Visitors to the upcoming Paris Olympics will soon have an easy way to save money on transportation. Uber, the popular rideshare app, will be offering an automatic 10 percent discount on rides for passengers from Paris airports between July 22 through Sept. 8. The discount applies to arrivals from both Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Orly Airport Aéroport de Paris (ORY). Passengers can also save 30 percent if they use UberX Share within the city, as long as they are matched with another rider during the trip.
I'm an American who's lived in Paris for almost three years. After all this time, I still had one thing on my bucket list: Tour the city by boat.