Emily in France 🇫🇷 Benefits of Being a Tour Guide
I've got the world's best passe-partout
I’m sure many jobs have their perks. When I worked at Weight Watchers, we had a fridge stocked with diet soda and occasional free tastings of strange new hummus brands. When I worked at QOOQ, I got the chance to meet, work with, and taste the food of top chefs from Haan Palcu-Chang to Paul-Arthur Berlan.
Some offices have a foosball table; others have an on-site meditation room.
But my favorite perk, hands down, is my carte de guide conférencier.
Many don't realize that tour guides in France are meant to have a unique status, one usually conveyed upon you after a formation that can last anywhere from a year to three to five, depending on your specialty. But as with most rules in France, there are loopholes, and I jumped right through one in 2016, when Emmanuel Macron, then the minister of the economy under President François Hollande, took strides to liberalize the industry, to a degree. People who could demonstrate that they had guiding experience – and at least a Master’s degree in history, art history, or literature – could prepare a dossier and apply for a recognition of their acquired competencies… and the coveted card.
The catch-22 of having to prove you've done a job you weren't technically allowed to do isn't lost on me (though it does find parallels in the fact that one cannot rent an apartment in France without a French bank account, nor can one open a French bank account without an address.)
The long and short of it is that non-accredited guides are tolerated outside of monuments, which means that by the time I applied for my card, not only did I hold a Master’s in 19th century French literature (which never seemed like my most career-oriented choice, but life has a way of surprising you), but I'd also racked up six years of experience introducing visitors to the marvels of the Latin Quarter of the Lost Generation, the Marais during the Occupation, or even the history of Notre Dame Cathedral. (All experiences I still offer, by the way – just to private clients.)
At the urging of a colleague, who was also applying for her guide conférencier status after years in the industry, I filled out the paperwork, sent it off, and promptly forgot about it, only to receive my card in the mail one August day eight years ago.
These days, my status allows me to guide inside of museums and monuments, like the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Panthéon. And while I do so – happily – I also take full advantage of this card’s other benefit: free entry into pretty much any museum in Paris.
Of course, it’s lovely to have access to this much culture as a perk of the job. But more than just the access, what I love about my card is the way in which it demolishes the sunk cost fallacy entirely. I never think about how much I’ve paid to get into a museum when deciding when it’s time to leave.
Sometimes, I take advantage of museum spaces to write, or read. (Sometimes, I also take advantage of them for their clean toilets.) But never do I force myself to continue to march through the halls of a museum past the point of saturation, when my brain cannot absorb even one more iota of information. I appreciate the pieces I see because I can allow myself the luxury to linger, and when I’ve had my fill, I go.
And sometimes, when I want a real treat, I waltz into a museum to stand, awe-struck, in front of just one painting before taking my leave, and on those days, I feel like the luckiest person in the world.
Cheese of the Week
Many of the cheeses I share with you have distinctive names, but some, like this Fromage à la noix, do not. Don't let that deter you. This cheese hails from Ferme de la Vallée Haute in Normandy's Bray. Bray is bloomy-rinded territory, with its most famous son, heart-shaped Neufchâtel, predating nearby Auge's Camembert by centuries. Tangier and saltier than its better-known cousin, Neufchâtel definitely influenced this creation, which boasts a similarly dense, chalky, intense interior, here studded with walnuts, whose natural sweetness balance out the salinity nicely.
To discover more of my favorite cheeses, be sure to follow me on Instagram @emily_in_france, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and tune into the Terroir Podcast, where Caroline Conner and I delve into France's cheese, wine, and more one region at a time.
What I’m Eating
My hatred of waiting in lines has outweighed my love of ramen in getting me to Kodawari Ramen. Until now. More on the blog.
Where I’m Going
1. To La REcyclerie, an eco-responsible space in a former Petite Ceinture train station near Saint-Ouen.
2. To Culture Rapide for Paris Lit Up’s weekly Open Mic.
3. To a pop-up ball in honor of the anniversary of France’s Liberation.
What I'm Writing
1. Salt has long been an essential commodity, used not just to season food but to preserve it to last through long winters. Unsurprisingly, in pro kitchens around the world, chefs take their salts very seriously. Here are the ones they love. For InsideHook.
2. My love letter to markets was republished by Where is the Market.
3. From the archives: One of France’s last remaining sustainable fishermen on the Normandy coast remains stalwartly dedicated to providing prized blue lobster to restaurants and home dinner tables. For the BBC.
FAQs
With the goal of bringing you the content you crave, I've solicited your help. What questions can I answer for you? Drop them into the newsletter chat, and I’ll answer as many as I can!
What I'm Reading
1. This in-depth profile of France’s oldest operating brewery. In Good Beer Hunting.
2. This story about cheese vending machines, which I have yet to encounter on my travels, though I’ll now be keeping an eye out! In the Daily Mail.
3. This exploration of how the Internet is rendering slang so widespread as to rob it of its original purpose: distinguishing members of a group – and eliding outsiders. In the Atlantic.
A bientôt !