Picture this for a moment. You’re in the metro and you see some posters for an event called the Salon International de l’Agriculture (International Agricultural Show). What is your general concept of what this show entails?
If you are like me, a few things come to mind: farmers, pitchforks, plows, soil, crops, barns. Basically, a whole world of things that are very far removed from me. This is why for two years, I wrote off the advertisements as an event that wasn’t for someone like me. Certainly not for a someone who struggles to take care of the occasional house plant that has the misfortune of falling under my guardianship. I assumed it was a nice convention for farmers to put aside their road barricades (as seen in articles like this one) and meet up peacefully to discuss the hottest tractor of the year.
I’m here to do my civic duty of telling you this is NOT what the Salon is all about! Thanks to a post by Expat Edna, and then a huge food post highlighting the event by David Lebovitz, I realized last year that I had it all wrong. I needed to go check it out and -- and if you’re in Paris, you need to as well. It starts on Saturday, February 27, 2016 - so here’s a little of what you can expect.
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Journées du Patrimoine (European Heritage Days) is a wonderful event that takes place over a weekend in September. During the weekend, many buildings and monuments are open to the public and often for free. While many standard tourist destinations are open for free or reduced entry (such as the museums), what makes this weekend extra special is that many sites only allow entry to the general public over these two days of the year.
I recommend taking advantage of these exclusive openings, or at least going to places that are difficult to see during the year. Start planning right now - Les Journées du Patrimoine is this weekend, September 20-21!