Author: Catherine Porter and Mauricio Lima
Published on: 29/08/2025 | 00:00:00
AI Summary:
Paris Dispatch August in Paris: When the City Empties Out, Locals Left Behind Rejoice With many away for long vacations, the capital is transformed into a sleepy, roomy, more friendly place. The Île St.-Louis, on the River Seine in Paris, is usually crowded and frenetic. But in August, the typically bustling Saturday morning market across from the Paris Museum of Modern Art is a whisper of itself. Most of France takes vacation in August except for workers in the tourism sector. Vacations have been stitched into French identity since 1936, when the short-lived Socialist government of Léon Blum introduced two weeks of paid holidays. Since then, the country’s muscular labor unions have repeatedly and successfully pushed to expand those weeks to five. An Ipsos vacation poll of 23 countries taken over the winter showed that 82 percent of those surveyed in France intended to take a vacation in the summer. The herd mentality protects the ritual, a researcher says. Many locals revel in the un-Paris-like atmosphere. You can coast on your bike, unassaulted by frenzied traffic, they note. After August comes September, which in France is known as “la rentrée,” or “the re-entry,” a rush back to school, to work, to politics, to protests, to jammed subways and to crowded bike lanes. Because so many take time off in August, the return feels like a collective new beginning. Unregulated sexual stimulants for men, claiming to be herbal remedies or pharmaceuticals, are flooding the region. Officials are scrambling to address the issue.
Original: 1336 words
Summary: 251 words
Percent reduction: 81.21%
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