Bread

Nothing is more French than bread. More than 80% of all French people eat it at every meal, and it comes in an infinite variety. All bakeries have baguettes, which are long and thin and weigh 250g, and wider loaves of what are simply called pains. A pain, which weighs 400g, is softer on the inside and has a less crispy crust than a baguette. Both types are at their best if eaten within four hours of baking.

Bread has experienced a renaissance in France in recent years and most bakeries also carry heavier, more expensive breads made with all sorts of grains and cereals. These heavier breads keep much longer than baguettes and standard white-flour breads.

Bread is baked at various times during the day, so it’s available fresh as early as 6am and also in the afternoon. Most bakeries close for one day a week, but the days are staggered so that a town or neighbourhood is never left without a place to buy a loaf.

Cheese

France has nearly 500 varieties of cheese produced at farms, dairies, mountain huts, monasteries and factories. They are made from either cow’s, goat’s or ewe’s milk, which can be raw or pasteurised.

The choice on offer at a fromagerie (cheese shop) can be overwhelming, but fromagers (cheese merchants) always allow you to sample before you buy and are usually very generous with their advice and guidance. The following list divides French cheeses into five main groups as they are usually presented in a fromagerie and recommends several types to try.

• Goat’s milk cheese is usually creamy and both sweet and a little salty when fresh, but hardens and gets much saltier as it matures.
• “Veined” or “blue cheese” is so called because the veins often resemble parsley.
• “Soft cheese” is moulded or rind-washed.
• “Semi-hard cheese” is uncooked, pressed cheese.
• “Hard cheese” in France is always cooked and pressed.

Museum and Monuments

The Louvre Museum, containing one of the world’s great art collections, was extensively remodelled at the end of the 20th century, with a notable addition of a dramatic steel-and-glass pyramid entrance. The Musee d'Orsay, created out of a former railway station, houses a fine, large collection of 19th- and early 20th-century art and artifacts, while the Georges Pompidous National Centre of Art and Culture, with its industrially inspired architecture, concentrates on the 20th century. The centre has an important library and media collection, and the square in front of it provides an open-air stage for jugglers, musicians, fire-eaters, and other street performers.