Ascension Day has been a public holiday in France since Napoleon Bonaparte agreed to reinstate it in 1801. Despite the separation of Church and State in 1905, Ascension Day, along with other Christian ...

France celebrates its fête nationale every year with fireworks, concerts and an extravagant military parade down the Champs-Élysées in the presence of the president, a bevy of politicians and often a ...

It was a puzzlement, really. After all, we were in Paris -- I'd pinched myself enough times to be sure of that. It had been years, but now, ensconced in a cozy corner brasserie, my husband and I were ...