Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ONLY IN FRANCE

The photographs that could only be taken in France

There are some things that could only happen in France and luckily there are cameras around to record them.

Published: 2 December 2016 14:01 CET
The photographs that could only be taken in France
Only in France.. Photo: AFP
A wine marathon

Yes, seriously. Read more about it here. 
 
(AFP)
 
Welcome to the world's booziest marathonAFP
 
 
Speaking of wine.. only in France are locals warned of “spilled grape juice“. 
 
 
Still on the subject of wine, is this the most French bike ever (complete with “vin” holder at the front)?
 
 
And prepare to be faced by the great walls of wine in the supermarkets…
 
Photo:Josh Melvin
 
Not to mention the great walls of tiny yogurt tubs (the French love them).
 
Photo: indabelle/Flickr
 
And of course the great walls of cheese
 
 
And only in France do you see protests where angry farmers pour wine onto the streets…
 
French farmers' wine dumping sparks anger in SpainAFP
 
And sometimes milk…
 
AFP
 
They won't hesitate to let pigs into shops…
 
The craziest French protests you'll find hard to believeAFP
 
 
Sometimes they take it as far as doing a huge manure dump to get their point across. 
 
Why the French back their striking farmersAFP
 
(Click here to see many, many more unusual protests from the French). 
 
And what about the French phenomenon of “bossnapping”? Here Maurice Petit, an exec from American company Caterpillar is led away by workers in 2009.
 
AFP
 
And then there's the naked protests… even in front of minsters.
 
 
 Naked comedian shocks French culture minister(Screengrab France 2)
 
And sticking with the theme of nudity…We just can't imagine this photo of an ex-minster turned presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron sharing a glance with a nudist could have been taken in any other country.
 
 
 
Protests aside, a terrible parking effort is one sure sign you're in France. 
 
How you know you're in Paris: The nineteen tell-tale signs
Photo: mokapest/Flickr
 
 
Meanwhile, surely it's only in France that the bread is so good that people will wait in long queue for it…
 
Photo: Garycycles7/Flickr
 
Often in very long queues…
 
Photo: Annie and Andrew/Flickr
 
Or they can always find it in an self-service machine. No, seriously. 
The French put some weird things in their dispenser machines actually, including pigs' entrails…
 
And cheese, of course.
 
 
Sticking with food, there's the amazing menu at the school canteen in France. Look closely.
 
Talk about a balanced diet. Salad, cheese, fruit, vegetables and no turkey twizzlers in sight.
 
 
And sticking with food. The tough job of translating French dishes leads to many a great pic.
 
Photo: Rory Mulholland
 
And where do they drink cider out of a cup and not a glass?
 
And obviously short story vending machines at train stations had to be invented in France…
 
 
 
What else? Well, how about police on roller blades? A regular sight in some French cities. 
 
Photo: Hugefluffy/Flickr
 
Especially in tourist areas of Paris
 
Photo: AFP
 
And only in France… well perhaps not actually , but the country's swimming pool laws are famous for being as tight as the skimpy swimming trunks they force men to wear.
 
Photo: jaybergesen/Flickr
 
 
 
 
 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

ONLY IN FRANCE

In Pictures: The Paris theatre show that forced the audience to strip naked

It might seem like a cruel joke on one of the coldest nights of the year, but French naturists are in the pink over the success of a Paris play the audience had to strip to see. Warning: This article contains nudity.

Published: 23 January 2019 12:55 CET
In Pictures: The Paris theatre show that forced the audience to strip naked
All photos: AFP

Undeterred by chilling name of the venue, the Palace of Ice, nudists shed their winter woolies to watch the farce sending up those who object to their lifestyle.

“There is no better way of laughing than to laugh in the nude,” said Cedric Amato, the head of a Paris nudist group, who braved a forecast of snow to attend.

The one-off show, about a brother and sister who find themselves on opposing sides of prickly social issues, was the first all-nude show in a major venue in the French capital.

The producers insisted that the audience must strip off to see the play, and that everyone must bring their own towel – for hygiene reasons.

VIPs, however, were provided with their own microfibre seat covering.

“Nu et approuvé”, which translates as nude and approved, is a play on words of a formula commonly used in France for signing official documents.

The squabbling siblings “have to drop their masks and bare all to find a more relaxed common ground.”

Nudists gave the show the thumbs up. “I really enjoyed it,” one middle-aged woman told AFP, while Amato said it was important because “it is a way for us also get to talk about our lifestyle and our needs.

“We need to break the social codes to be ourselves in a place like this and have a good time,” he said.

Naturists have been pushing to make their lifestyle more mainstream in Paris, with stand-up comedy nights, naked museum visits and a dedicated nudist zone in the city's biggest park.

However, the French capital's first nudist restaurant, O'Naturel, will close next month because it could not put enough bums on seats.

 

 

SHOW COMMENTS