Pepper_von_snoot

Can you take a cruise on the Canal St Martin?

Ditto Macross!


Thin

kerouac

The only problem with the Canal Saint Martin is that one end of the cruise is the Bassin de l'Arsenal at Bastille. It is well below street level, but if the area is agitated, they might not be able to operate.

The Canauxrama website does not mention any problem. Cruises Canal Saint Martin and Seine in Paris

Pepper_von_snoot

The Musee de la Vie Romantique is open tomorrow and it is close to our hotel. Qui, qui, Madame!

Thin

kerouac

But that place is only worth about 23 minutes of anybody's time. Better to go up to Montmartre, which will be calm.

AJPeabody

How about Cluny? They may even have a noon concert.

Pepper_von_snoot

Cluny is closed.

Thin

AJPeabody

Bummer. Maybe take Eurostar for a day trip to London!

AJ

PalenQ

Versailles? Seine cruises? Sounds like all of Paris is shutdown - how long can that go on? Tourists are cancelling Paris trips in droves I heard on news - many kerouac will have his wish of a less touristed Paris?

Pepper_von_snoot

Paris is indeed on lockdown.

Printemps, Galeries Lafayette, and Bon Marche are all closed today, one of the busiest Christmas shopping days of the year.

The Americans may be canceling, but the Chinese are here in droves. They are everywhere.

We think we will head to Cafe Nemours for some vin rouge and croque madame.

I hope we don't get teargassed.😭

Thin

Macross

Thin, it is like that all the time, only people I see in line for Gucci, LV, Chanel, etc. I saw two very young girls running up DaddyO's credit card at Repetto. They had bags from every store in GL. The Chinese economy is doing well for a few. They are fabulous looking though, very stylish. I love watching female news personalities. No false eyelashes, very simple but elegant. No one has long nails, all very short and not dressed for a cocktail party. Mika would fit in well.
The crowds are growing with yellow jackets. All calm though. Hoping you find a bit of something open. We might go over to the 14th and find Samuel Beckett's grave at Montparnasse cemetery.

AJPeabody

CNN TV in the US is finally showing some Parisian scenes. Today it's showing Yellow Jackets filling a street probably the Champs Elysees getting tear gassed, six deep phalanxes of black-clad security troops, and people burning ripped off plywood store window protectors, while a talking head is reporting all Seine bridges closed and the discovery of "home made bombs." The closing scene was just billowing smoke.

Is Paris really burning?

Macross

Back at the apartment, that building they are trying to tear the plywood off is where Joel Robuchon has a restaurant. Very cool grocery, bookstore, wine shop. The drugstore shop. I went and had a haircut and blow dry. All of a sudden ten police cars went by headed somewhere. They had ipads with news on. They are a bit nervous. Many places closed even over here in the 15th. BTW, best shampoo and haircut ever for 29 euros. She had piggy bank for tips and she deserved it.

thibaut

News...
Surely if CNN says Paris is burning then Paris burns.

Le Monde says there is not much happening right now, but hey, they are French so they probably spread fake news. That is what I say from the beginning : people - like you Peabody, for good reasons probably, spread news and scare others when there is no need to do so. As for TVs they need to show billowing smoke if they want people to watch them. When 80 000 people (20 000 according to police) make marches all over France against violence towards women and there is not even a car destroyed, my guess is that CNN doesn't talk about it.

Manif of 24 11 2018 according to Le Monde
https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/artic...8001_3224.html

Gilets jaunes today according to Le Monde
https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/live/...4372_3224.html

AJPeabody

Thibaut: I am not people like me. I'm afraid you have misinterpreted my position. We all know that tabloid news will find the most extreme scenes to show as representative of an entire situation. They do it for snowstorms, wars, traffic, and, of course, demonstrations in Paris. My point was to tell what we are seeing in a 30 second clip that is repeated four times while the talking head speaks oh so seriously about something where we have no real on-the-ground truth. So I asked for the truth. That's all. Inquiring minds want to know.

AJPeabody

OK, CNN is on and just ran a tease: 10 seconds of a "mob" pounding on the windows of a Starbucks. Waiting for the whole story, after the ads for the Virgin Islands, a machine to sanitize "your CPAP," life insurance, then another segment on the Mueller probe, another Mueller segment, another tease of Paris, this time a burning car, an ad for Land Rover, an ad for investment advice, an ad for lactose-free milk, "Smart News" app, co-Q-10, car insurance, cnn's heroes show, i24 news, invent help so I can patent my invention, christian faith publishing, and at last: Paris. 30 seconds showing three small fires, the same plywood pulling clip, some security milling around, then back to Mueller. That's it. All of Paris in 30 seconds of absolutely truthful representative clips. The tease for the news teases a tease as a substitute for news. If the truth shall make you free, what does this do?

kerouac

All four of the French news channels are showing non stop fires, tear gas, crowd movements, charging riot police, etc., and yet there are only 8000 demonstrators in the city. Probably fewer than half of them are trashers. So the coverage is not at all fake news, but actually a depiction of how relatively few people can give a vision of total havoc that can impress the world. They have certainly learned all of the lessons of Facebook and Twitter, because President Trump is ecstatic. In Paris, we are used to demonstrations with more than 200,000 people several times a year, and nothing like this ever happens then. In fact, the march routes are lined with food trucks and all of the cafés along the way are filled to overflowing with crowds.

This is something ugly and different, all for the benefit of cameras and scaremongers.

Macross

I hated seeing so many places closed today but did see all the police and many protesters. I know the work that went into boarding up and the amount of money lost in all of the stores and restaurants today. We made the best of it and though I did not get to my museum my husband was happy. It is non stop on the French channels. I have one more day and it would not make me cancel or not come to Paris. BUT, what is up with trump and his saying they are yelling we want trump? Crazy

kerouac

One thing that would indicate that coverage of these events is a bit off center is that the evening news reported that sales in stores are down "only" 11% in Paris but they are down 50% in the rest of France due to road blockages. But basically all you see is what is happening in Paris because the information is much more visual.

WeisserTee

The Chinese are only here almost all the time. The one time they're not is around Chinese New Year. We've been in Paris over Chinese New Year for the past two years; you could roll several bowling balls down the Avenue Montaigne and not touch anybody. The designer stores we passed were almost empty.

kerouac

Ah, but if you go to Chinatown in the 13th arrondissement for the New Year's celebrations, you can barely squeeze through the crowds.

Chinese New Year in Paris | Any Port in a Storm