Thanks for posting this kerouac..it will be appreciated by many I'm sure heading there.

TheDonUSC, what suburb are you staying in? This can make a lot of difference during the strike, as well as the train line. Some areas will probably have little or no train service while others will be only mildly disrupted. Bus service might be an alternative, if you are on a direct line that goes into Paris (even though the buses will be affected by the strike also).

nolefan1, I myself plan to be returning to CDG on the 21st, a day after the general strike of most civil servants + students + who knows? I have reserved a car at CDG for the rest of the week (not just because of the strike, I have to admit, but it seems like a wise precaution in view of the circumstances).

I hope that none of you will hold it against me for flying out of the country on November 13th -- I swear it is a total coincidence. If free wifi is generally available in Florida, I will try to give remote updates from what I can glean from the online French press and my friends.

"Pvoyageuse, I don't know what planet you are living on".

I live in France and I've just retired (at 65) after working in the private sector.

"In the private sector in France, retirement pensions are calculated on your 25 highest earning years of salary.
In the public sector, retirement pensions are calculated on your last six months of salary".

Which is very unfair.... on one side you calculate on 25 years and on the other on 6 months, the last months of your career and the highest paid !

"The average retirement age in France is 58 for the private sector and 57 1/2 for the public sector. Who is working 10 years more?"

Don't mix everything. We were talking about SNCF people. They can retire at 50 or 55, provided they have worked at least 25 years.
Of course you can retire at 55 in the public sector too, provided you have worked at least 160 trimestres if you were born before 1944. 160 trimesters = 40 years.....
You'd have to have started working at 15.
If not, you don't get a full retirement pension.
My husband who was working in the private sector was able to retire at 60 ONLY BECAUSE he had worked more than the required number of trimesters.

I have mentioned on another post about the benefits for the public servants with special privlidges (railworkers), but it's in French. I get the gist of it, but perhaps someone could translate it and then it may shed a little more light on WHY the strikes are happening.

It may be extremely irritating for the person who has saved long and hard for their special trip to France, but strikers are taking the country, no matter who, by the throat and when I discovered their priviledges I understand why there needs to be reforms. Striking is not the way to go.

Anyone keen to translate?

Thanks kerouac

We may have a rental on standby as well. Hopefully, we won't cause too many traffic mishaps!

re <about the benefits for the public servants with special privlidges (railworkers)...>

Can you people who want to argue about retirement benefits or Sarkozy's divorce PLEASE do so by starting your own threads, and leave this one on topic for those of us who really need to find out how to get around France in November?

Pvoyageuse, you are hereby in charge of this thread.

If you can say:

<i>Their retirement pension is calculated on the last 20 years (normally the highest paid) whereas it is calculated on the last 10 years in the private sector.</i>

and then say exactly 3 hours later:

<i> on one side you calculate on 25 years and on the other on 6 months, the last months of your career and the highest paid !</i>

then I certainly can not compete with your superior knowledge.

I will return to Fodor's after November 20th.

Kerouac :

I assume you never make mistakes....
I made one (is it a mortal sin?) and acknowledge it.

But is there any way to know who gave the correct information about working in France?

Analogue :

If you read French, here is some info on retirement in the private sector in France :

http://www.bnpparibas.net/banque/por...20031209113238


General info :
http://www.observatoire-retraites.or.../qui_quand.htm

I did see that retirement age is 60 for everybody since 1983. So why are people retiring earlier? Or later?

No, it says &quot;la retraite PEUT &ecirc;tre obtenue&quot; i.e. MAY be obtained, not IS obtained.

As I said in another post, you MAY retire (with full benefits) at 60 if you have the number of trimesters required (160 if you were born between 1943 and 1948). If you have less than 160 trimesters, you won't get a full retirement pension.

Madamoiselle Fifi &amp; DonUSC

You are a right pain in the derriere, I was really enjoying reading the pros and cons of working in France and the retirement age and wondering why I will still be slogging it out at the age of 65. Probably because I'm now enjoying a well earned time in my life for these wonderful travel exeriences.
To DonUSC, suggest you change your hotel to one in the centre where you can walk to most attractions and the left and right bank. I have stayed out in the suburbs before and it's not convenient at all even when there is good transport, it's much more pleasant in the centre of Paris and especially as this is your first visit.
And Kerouac saved me a lot of stress by posting his reports so don't knock it Fifi, be grateful.

Kathy, why don't you READ more closely-- reread Kerouac's posts at 11/09/2007 09:49am and 2:14pm.

&quot;If you wish to debate this, please take it to the lounge. I have just been trying to give strike information, not to criticize or analyze the situation. However, I will gladly shut up and keep all of the news to myself if the thread is polluted with backseat political chatter.&quot;

analogue:<i>But is there any way to know who gave the correct information about working in France?</i>

To get an idea of the accuracy of the information provided by Pvoyageuse please reread this:

#<i>My husband who was working in the private sector was able to retire at 60 ONLY BECAUSE he had worked more than the required number of trimesters.</i>

So if you take it the other way around this means that Mr Pvoyageur could'nt have retired at 60 if he had worked only er.. the required number of trimesters.

Required for what is to anyone guess..

Askar

If you had read more closely you would have understood that you can retire with a FULL retirement pension at 60 if you have worked more than 160 trimesters (provided you were born between 1943 and 1948)and that you MAY retire at 60 without the required number of trimesters in which case you won't get a full pension.
I don't know of many people who would be happy to retire at 60 with a pension cut by half.

Since you seem to be fluent in French and French retirement schemes, I am sure you know very well what &quot;required&quot; means when referring to &quot;trimestres de cotisations&quot;. To avoid any future misunderstanding I suggest you write your next post in French since English is not my mother tongue.

Kerouac,

Thank you for taking your time and energy to post the &quot;strike bulletins&quot;...significent for many of us. I shared your comments with friends who were able to adjust their plans to go somewhat later. Now they will reap the benefits of your beautiful Christmas post!

For those who will be in Paris during the strikes, be calm. Paris is the most walkable city that I have ever visited. It is the city of the &quot;flaneur&quot;. You can walk from one end of Paris to the other in 2-4 hours. This, of course, depends on your mood---a brisk trot or a sensual meander? You can also take the Batobus, a shuttle boat on the Seine that you can leap off and on all day, glorious. (12E-adult, 6E kids).

Sometimes an enforced slowdown intensifies the beauty and quality of the moment. You will need to select more carefully, quality, not quantity. Or, you may simply fall joyously into that unexpected moment, &quot;out of time, out of place&quot;.

If you have health problems or small children, your immediate surroundings may become more appreciated...a modest local cafe, a walk along the Seine, a small jewell of a museum that you wouldn't have &quot;bothered with&quot;. You won't be trotting around non-stop in a frenetic state of glazed and exhausted appreciation.

And so Kerouac, merci et bon voyage.

Any idea if the Seine boat companies will also not be running? They're privately owned, right?

Kenav,

Even without strikes, the boat schedules are unpredictable in winter, especially in the evening. They only run when there are enough passengers (50 if I remember correctly). So if it's a must-do for you, try to do it early in your trip and not wait until your last evening there (as I once did).