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Note that these dates are for the calendar year 2010: January 1 (New Year’s Day); April 24 and 25 (Easter Sunday and Monday); May 1 (Labor Day); May 8 (V.E. Day); May 13 (Ascension); June 12 (Pentecost Sunday); July 14 (Bastille Day); August 15 (Assumption); November 1 (All Saints); November 11 (Armistice); December 25 (Christmas).

MAIL

Post offices, or PTT, are found in every town and are recognizable by a yellow LA POSTE sign. They’re usually open weekdays 8 AM to 7 PM, Saturday 8–noon. The main Paris post office (52 rue du Louvre) is open 24 hours, seven days a week.

SHIPPING PACKAGES

Letters and postcards to the United States and Canada cost €0.85 for 20 grams. Letters and postcards within France cost €0.55. Stamps can be bought in post offices and in cafés displaying a red TABAC sign outside. It takes, on the average, three days for letters to arrive in Europe, and five days to reach the United States.

If you’re uncertain where you’ll be staying, have mail sent to the local post office, addressed as poste restante, or to American Express, but remember that during peak seasons American Express may refuse to accept mail. The French postal service has a €0.55 per item service charge.

Sending overnight mail from major cities in France is relatively easy. Besides DHL, Federal Express, and UPS, the French post office has overnight mail service, called Chronopost, which is much cheaper for small packages. Keep in mind that certain things cannot be shipped from France to the United States, such as perfume and any meat products.

Express Services: DHL (01–53–96–52–30, 01–45–01–91–00, 08–20–20–25–25 for information all over France | www.dhl.com). Federal Express (01–40–06–90–16 | www.fedex.com). UPS (08–00–87–78–77 for information all over France [€0.12 per min] | www.ups.com).

MONEY

The following prices are for Paris; other areas are often cheaper (with the notable exception of the Côte d’Azur). Keep in mind that it’s less expensive to eat or drink standing at a café or bar counter than to sit at a table. Two prices are listed, au comptoir (at the counter) and à salle (at a table). Sometimes orders cost even more if you’re seated at a terrace table. Coffee in a bar: €1–€2.50 (standing), €1.50–€6 (seated); beer in a bar: €2 (standing), €3–€8 (seated); Coca-Cola: €2–€4 a bottle; ham sandwich: €3–€5; 2-km (1-mi) taxi ride: €6; movie-theater seat: €9.90 (morning shows are always cheaper); foreign newspaper: €1–€5.

Prices throughout this guide are given for adults. Substantially reduced fees are almost always available for children, students, and senior citizens.

ATMS AND BANKS

Your own bank will probably charge a fee for using ATMs abroad; the foreign bank you use may also charge a fee. Nevertheless, you can usually get a better rate of exchange at an ATM than you will at a currency-exchange office or even when changing money in a bank. And extracting funds as you need them is a safer option than carrying around a large amount of cash.

TIP PIN numbers with more than four digits are not recognized at ATMs in many countries. If yours has five or more, remember to change it before you leave.

Easily found throughout France, ATMs are one of the easiest ways to get euros. Don’t, however, expect to find ATMs in rural areas.

Note that the ATM machine will give you two chances to enter your correct PIN number; if you make a mistake on the third try, your card will be held, and you’ll have to return to the bank the next morning to retrieve it. You may have better luck with ATMs with a credit or debit card that is also a Visa or MasterCard, rather than just your bank card.

CREDIT CARDS

France is a debit-card society. Debit cards are used for just about everything, from the automatic gas pumps, to the tolls on highways, payment machines in underground parking lots, stamps at the post office, and even the most minor purchases in the larger department stores. A restaurant or shop would either have to be extremely small or remote not to have some credit-card or debit-card capability. However, some of