Evening star., 1949-09-08
French Idea Of Holiday
Is 10 Keep Travelling
Until Money Is Spent

now WlndS up lCS DeSC summer sea-
son of postwar years despite fecks
of war clouds in overcast skies.
To paraphrase a line, 40 mil
lion Frenchmen can't stay put"
and when vacation time rolls
around pretty we'll all of France
participates in a mad scramble
over the landscape.
Only 13 per cent Of the pop
ulace, statistics show, can be called
stay-at-homes. For their annual
holidays 48 per cent visit country
relatives, % per cent taste the
attractions of the seaside. 10 per
cent soar to cool mountain spots.
2 per cent relax at hot springs and
per cent travel abroad.
Vacation time in France is a
phenomenon peculiarly its own.
Except for the upper crust who
luxuriate through a protracted
spell of four months, it lasts about
six weeks, then tapers off sharply.
Exodus Begins July IL.
A great human mass begins its
great exodus from home and job
on Bastille Day. July IA, Frances
independence day-a movement
that does not subside until now.
Most workers go forth in August;
it's been so ever since Leon Blum's
Socialist government in 1886 or
dered factories to give full-paid
three-week holidays in August.
But whatever the class, French
holiday seekers have one dominant
impulse in common: to keep going.
To stay in one spot is hardly a
vacation to Frenchmen, so they
wander from place to place in a
restless hunt for more sun and
more fun. And the more money
they have, the oftener they switch
around
In fact, it is the "chic" thing
to do, and to those who yearn for
trips abroad but can't 60, it pro-
vides a sense of being a foreign
tourist. How strenuously French
men try to be chic, and no.
madic-is shown by the fact that
for many it means more than three
weeks recuperation when their
vacations are over.
Northern Beaches Swamped.
Frances favorite seaside sum-
mer resorts have kept their status
for 20 years at least, although
their individual popularity varies
according to weather. While Rivi-
era hotelkeepers get an easy re-
venge when it's cool. this summers
torrid weather has brought bonan-
zaS to Brittany's and Normandy's
beaches. Deauville has had a rec
ord number Of visitors while all
the little beaches along the Nor
mandy coast down to La Baule
have been thick with bathers,
young and old.
For most French families the
choice OF where to holiday is 9
question of social class.
Rich farmers, who until re-
Gently stayed on their farms to
store corn and prepare for au-
tumn blowing, have the vacation
fever bad. Their idea of q rest
is to move to towns or seaside
resorts like those on the Riviera
or the Basque coast where they
haunt the movies, dances and
night clubs. Their prime object
is to become part of that rarity
for those who spend long and
lonely winter nights in the coun-
try-a big crowd.
AL the workers seem to want
is to be as far as possible from
factories and smoky industrial
centers. They form the bulk of
the 48 per cent who eat good food
and rest with country folk.
Some In Shadow of Elite.
A SMALL fraction take their
families to some small hotel as
close as possible to the spots
favored by the elite. Nice, a few
miles from Juan Les Pins and
Cannes, is one of their summer
haunts. Small Nice hotels. in fact,
are booked in advance for weeks
by this minority who are called
"conges payes," or paid holi-
dayers."
Low-salaried civil servants and
shop assistants who form the
larger part of Frances lower mid
die class, are just about as orig
inal. All they seem to seek is a
quiet backwoods spot-as guests
of some country cousin, of course
where they can eat of the best,
and rest.
For the artisocracy the holiday
program is entirely different. 1t