French museum strike

Bummer! The only request my friend had was to see the Cluny and the Louvre during her visit. Hopefully it will be resolved by the folowing week, but if not I guess we'll just have to spend more time walking and enjoying the neighborhoods and stopping for refreshments

Thanks forthe heads-up! I was just wondering what the taxi's were up to when I stumbled on this thread...last time we had to do major travel to Montparnasse we were held up by transportation issues...not fun either.

The strike is supposed to start on Wednesday December 2nd and would affect not only all of the national museums and monuments but also the national theatres and any other place under the control of the Ministry of Culture.

The reason for the strike is because the government has announced that its decision to replace only 50% of civil servants leaving for retirement also concerns the cultural sector. If the plan is applied, museum hours will have to be shortened and large parts of many museums will no longer be open to the public.

Which museums are the national ones? All the ones listed on the rmn.fr site? I already have a number of tickets printed out for my visit next week.....

Kerouac,
Joan Grace passed your post on to me -- thanks for the heads up. I leave for Paris on Tuesday (12/1-12/8) with my two sons. We'll be meeting my daughter who will take the train from Aix-en-Provence. Sounds like the museums will be out of the question during our stay...are you seeing any glimmer of hope they will resolve their issues quickly?

graceco and all..

I just spotted this, too..

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=ahnBLCUmYzew

My experience, for whatever it is worth, is that no one knows what to expect until it happens or doesn't happen. Also, if it spreads to others who decide to join the strike, like taxis, etc.

Joan

Thanks, Joan. We'll just have to go with the flow. So glad I booked inter-shuttle for our transportation just in case the taxis follow suit...Grace

graceco,

Kerouac is always good at digging out this kind of info. It might die before getting any worse, or it may grow and others decide to join in, too.

Yes, I always feel safer with the inter-shuttle..more reliable when this kind of thing is up in the air.

I will keep watching for news, too.

Joan

It is very true that there is no way to know what will happen until the day arrives. Some strikes fizzle and others are such successes they they inspire related industries.

Frankly, I do not understand how anybody can imagine that taxis have any interest in what civil servants do in terms of their own issues.

While we are on the subject of strikes, I am curious about the situation I encountered last Friday leaving Paris, when there was a strike at the airport CDG. I was told by the airline rep that the customs workers were on strike. There was a great deal of chanting and whistling coming from the area of security. A line of gendarmerie vans was in front of the terminal (2E). Nobody could get through passport control in either direction for about an hour and a half, and lines to check in for flights were ridiculously long.

Eventually the logjam opened up and people passed through. My flight ended up leaving only an hour or so late, which was a lot better than I would have predicted an hour earlier. But nobody outside the secure area knew whether flights would wait for all the passengers to get through.

It seems an odd circumstance to have the gendarmes facing off against the customs workers inside the airport. I tried to find out what I could by googling, but came up blank.

Nikki,

You neve find out much about these things..there have been several things around the airport recently..taxi strike and blocking roads etc..these things come and go..c'est la vie!!

Joan

Thank you so much for this info. So glad I checked today. We are leaving on Dec. 4th for Paris. Back when we first made arrangements, our flight was cancelled and we had to change dates. We've said that I turned out better for us because we will now be in Paris on the 1st Sunday of the month...free admission to many of the museums. Oh well, free or nothing I guess is what we have to look forward to this time. It's our 1st time to Paris, even if it weren't, looks like there is more to do than we would even have time for. I still can't wait to get there.
I'll keep checking in with you experts on what to expect.
Thanks for keeping us updated.

Oh, I just remembered. The weekend of Dec. 4th & 5th, there is an event at the Louvre. Le Grand Tasting Le Festival des meilleurs vins Carrousel Du Louvre-Paris, December 4-5th. This is an annual event.
I wonder how it will be effected by a strike?

Kerouac and others in Paris now, please let us know what happens (or doesn't happen!) Monday. I'm especially interested in knowing whether this spills over into transportation.

Merci beaucoup!

It must be November.

The strike threat IF it happens is for Dec. 2nd, so most likely will not know anything before then.

Trnasportaion should not be affected by it, but then you never know what the 'power of suggestion' might do for some!

Joan

The Carrousel du Louvre is a private shopping mall and would not be affected by a museum strike.

This is what has been published and supposed to happen on Wed.:

"There will be staff meetings in every establishment on December 2 ... and the personnel will decide whether or not to go on strike," Kamal Hesni of the CFDT union told AFP.

"All the major establishments are concerned -- Versailles, the Louvre, the national library, the Pantheon, Notre Dame, the ramparts of Carcassonne, Mont Saint Michel," he said, adding that the Eiffel Tower would not be affected.


Joan

Yes, the Eiffel Tower is not a monument officially. It is a privately operated "curiosity" -- owned by the city of Paris and nothing to do with the Ministry of Culture. The Paris municipal museums such as the Carnavalet, the Petit Palais, the Musée de la Vie Romantique or the Palais de Tokyo should not be affected by the strike either. The added plus of the municipal museums is that they are free.

Thank you both, Joan & kerouac! I was wondering why there would be a wine festival at the Louvre. This makes much more sense. We will just have to be more flexible with our visiting options. Good thing we are coming for the Christmas lights and just the feel of the city. Unfortunately for dh, no museums means more time for shopping and sitting in bistros.

A problem with France - once you get there the country could be en greve - you can never count on trains to be running, museums to be open even the metro/RER running.

There are still many museums that are open, as kerouac pointed out. Places like Marmottan, Jacquemarte-Andre, l'Orangerie, perhaps..kerouac will be better for this. I don't think you will go without plenty of museums and other sights to see. You just go with the flow..it is Paris!!

Joan

Oh good. I was just looking online for the museums that maybe affected. I really hoope the l'Orangerie is open.
Thanks for the update.

I have searched for what are called City of Paris Museums and
Private Museums..this is what I have found:

http://en.parisinfo.com/museums-monuments-paris/museums/private-museums/

http://en.parisinfo.com/shows-exhibitions-paris/exhibitions-1/paris-city-museums/

You might look these over, IF the National ones are on strike.It also is not clear if the ones that go on strike are only on an individual basis per their voting....

Joan

Joan- You are so sweet to investigate o many idfferent topics for so many on this site. Thank you. I do appreciate it and you, of course.

It is now Wednesday morning and we still don't know if the museums are going on strike. It will probably be an opening hour surprise, with the possibility of many disgruntled tourists who waited in the cold for nothing.

This is the latest:

http://www.connexionfrance.com/news_articles.php?id=1248

I will keep checking..

Joan

2 minutes ago

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/world/AP/story/1361228.html

Joan

The Associated Press:

http://tinyurl.com/yjus7pe

Joan

I'm currently visiting Paris, and did a little reconnaissance near where I'm staying. I can confirm that the Conciergerie, Sainte-Chapelle, and the towers of Notre Dame are all closed. The Conciergerie has an art exhibit of some sort going on, which will be open at 1:30pm, but the rest is shut down to visitors all day.

Note that the Cathedral of Notre Dame is still open- it is, after all, a functioning church. I would assume that the crypt is closed as well, but didn't check.

We leave for Paris in 2 days. Oh well. At least we are forewarned. We have many things planned for our 1st visit. Of course, several of these museums were part of our plan, but not all. This certainly won't ruin our trip.
As a matter of fact, it just makes a return visit more imminent, right? I can't wait to see this beautiful city. It has been on my list of "must dos" for sometime.
Thank you all for the updates. They are appreciated.

Do any of you know if either of these are affected? I've tried looking on museum websites, but all are showing they are still open. Guess they don't have the employees to update the websites, either.
Musée de l'Orangerie
Opera Garnier Place de l'Opéra

Thank you.

The French media are saying that the Louvre and Versailles were open today while the Orsay, the Arc de Triomphe and the Pompidou were closed. Naturally, those lists are not exhaustive, since it is also mentioned that the ramparts of Aigues-Mortes, the châteaux of Carcassonne and Azay-le-Rideau and the La Rochelle boat tower were also closed...

The main test will be tomorrow to see if the strike spreads or fizzles.

Link to a French update in English: http://www.france24.com/en/node/4938740

Only thing not mentioned already in there is that Mitterand was supposedly going to meet with the unions today. Hopefully they'll come to some agreement soon.

In my opinion, the government is going to back down on this one.

I was at the Louvre today and there was a huge list of closed rooms so I just went to the special exhibition - Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese which was very good. The woman at the information desk said there was no way to know what rooms would be open or closed other than coming to the museum and checking the list....

This is what is out there this morning. I guess they will be voting again today to see what they will do..more clossings, or what:

Paris: Museum strike update
Posted by: Meg Zimbeck, Wednesday, Dec 2, 2009, 2:31 PM
Many museums across Paris are now closed while union workers try to rumble with the Ministry of Culture. As we reported last week, employees walked off the job at the Pompidou Center to protest cuts in government spending. Today the strike spread to dozens of other important museums.

As of Wednesday December 2, the following key museums are closed:
•The Pompidou Center
•The Musée d'Orsay
•The Rodin Museum
•The Château de Versailles
•The Arc de Triomphe
•Sainte-Chapelle

The Louvre remained open on December 2, but reduced staff meant that some rooms were not open.

Workers at each museum are voting every day to determine the duration of the strike. We'll do our best to keep you informed, but it's a good idea to check the website of your target museum on the day that you plan to visit.

The latest:

http://tinyurl.com/yf2dapq

Thank you for the updates. Checking daily. Leaving to take puppy to mom's, then off to Paris tomorrow night! Museums or no, I can't wait!

Bon Voyage Cristeen!!

Joan

It's on and growing

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/12/03/world/AP-EU-France-Museum-Strike.html

The Louvre remained open on December 2, but reduced staff meant that some rooms were not open.>

A few years back in a similar staff shortage due to a strike the Louvre i believe just quit taking tickets and opened the doors to all, free - wonder if that were the case yesterday at the Louvre?

silver lining?

What happens to a multi-day Paris Museum Pass when most museums turn up on strike?

nothing happens to it, the pass conditions say there are no refunds for things like that, including strikes or holidays or regular closures

The Louvre contains billions of euros of artworks. If there are not enough guards and other employees, they are not going to let people wander around at will in all of the rooms. Would you?

Well kerouac i am nearly 100% sure that i read that that did happen at the Louvre - maybe it was only a shortage of ticket takers or sellers? different unions perhaps?

Anyway, the Louvre is now closed.

My ex-wife and mother of my son and good friend just retired as a librarian and thus a civil servant and i think she typifies the French civil servant - she realizes that benefits promised cannot be paid unless there are more young people continuing to pay into the system to support the legions of folks now retiring - yet she is agap with any suggestion that civil servants must, due to circumstances, scale back their demands and accept reality - what they have now, unfortunately IMO, cannot continue forever and some adjustment must be made. But it does seem that civil servant unions are recalcitrant to acknowledge reality and thus i predict more and more strikes in the public sector - indeed even more because there have been a plethora of such strikes ever since i began going to France in 1969

In any case, as of Friday morning, the strike is gaining ground.

WRT to the Paris Museum and Monuments Pass: if you have one and haven't used it yet, you can save it for another time. When they give it to you, there is no date written on it. The first time you use it to enter a museum, the staff will write the date on it, and the pass starts working from that day. There's no other expiration of the pass, as far as I can tell.

So, if you have an unused pass, you can try to wait it out, save it for next time, or presumably try to sell it someone else who might use it (note: I make no claims as to the legality of reselling an unused pass).

Latest:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=a9EaBzDAymAQ

I went to the Louvre this afternoon to check things out - the IM Pei entrance is closed. It seems like everyone has to enter at the Carrousel. There is a list again of many closed rooms. Since the ones I am interested in were closed I left. They seem to be charging the regular admission. The Titian exhibit is open...

Today the Louvre and Versailles are now closed

As I said above, at around 2 pm on Friday, parts of the Louvre were opened. The kind woman at the Information Desk gave me the telephone number there - 01 40 20 53 17 - and said they should know after 10 am what parts of the museum will be open depending upon how many of the staff come in to work...hope that helps someone in Paris now like me...

This is terrible news for all the travelers to Paris, but fortunately, most of the museums are now back open.

A couple of things to note: certain museums are still closed (the Center Pompidou for example) and larger ones (like the Louvre) are not fully open as they are still suffering from a shortage of staff.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot us an email at info@aeontours.com or visit us at www.AeonTours.com

Looks like only the Pompidou center is still closed today, but the employees are not yet satisfied.

In Paris and loving it despite all the rain. Visited Louvre on Saturday afternoon. It was closed, but opened just as we were about to leave. Saw the big 3..Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, & Venus de Milo. Beautiful, all.
Today, we saw everything in Musee de l'Orangerie...Magnifique!
Still trying to find out of Opera Garnier is open. Will try tomorrow.

cristeen,

Great that you are finding things open...enjoy your visit..

Joan

In my opinion, the Ministry of Culture employees have great need of their Decemeber salaries, but they are only biding their time.

I did thank a lady watching over one of the rooms in the Louvre on Saturday for opening that day. She looked at me like I was crazy.

Any news on the museum situation?

Well, today is Tuesday so most of the national museums are closed anyway. While the strike seems to have fizzled for the moment, there are major discussions underway at the Ministry of Culture which will affect the mood of the workers. However, apparently it is more likely that the National Library will go on strike, but that doesn't really affect most of the tourists.

Hi Kerouac, you havent updated on this.. i hope it's not still going on...? Also do you know if the Catacombs have reopened? thanks!

From what I read in the paper, all of the museums have come out of the strike except the Pompidou, perhaps.

I think the Catacombes are still closed indefinitely, but am not sure on the latest. It isn't really a big destination in winter so much, anyway, I don't think.

The strike at the Pompidou Center ended today, and the museum will be reopening this afternoon.

The Catacombs are supposed to reopen at the end of this year or the beginning of January.

So as of today the 17th the museums are open again? I am asking because my wife and I will be in Paris at the end of the month.

Thanks!

All of the other museums had already reopened last week.