Raining in Paris on May 1 - What to do?
 

So the forecasters pretty much agree, May 1 is going to be a rainy day. The indoor attractions will be closed, and I guess most/all of the shops too? I was going to visit Pere Lachaise and see some other outdoor stuff that day, but the weather is not cooperating. Any ideas how I can spend this day besides editing my photos from Giverny?

And stupid me, for some unfathomable reason I didn't pack an umbrella, though I thought of it, so I will need to acquire one tomorrow while there are just showers and not serious rain.

The Jacquemart-Andre Museum is open every day of the year, if you haven't visited there before.

Hope the rain won't be as bad as forecast.

Notre Dame is open, as is the Sacre-Coeur and likely other churches, so you could spend some time admiring religious architecture.

If the rain is light, you can still spend time outdoors watching the parades and protests.

And not sure where you're from, but if the rain is really deterring you from doing things, though all of France is apparently forecast for rain on Friday, you could look at last minute trains to London for a daytrip which is forecast only for clouds (I see prices between $190 - $240 roundtrip same day). The UK's holiday is not until the following Monday the 4th, so cultural attractions are open along with shops and the rest.

Agree with Jacquemart-Andre house - but have lunch there in the ballroom. Get there early or make reservations for lunch. I suspect others will find this a good place to be on a rainy May 1.

We were in Paris on May 1 a decade or so ago. It was overcast & threatening - but it did not rain. We enjoyed sauntering up & back on the Seine quays and around & about on the Isle St Louis (many shops were open there).

Stu Dudley

If you liked Giverny pop on the train out to Auvers-sur-Oise as most of that lovely village that was a hub of Impressionists painters at the same time Money was in Giverny - especially Van Gogh and Cezanne and see copies of pictures they executed right at the very spot they did them - all outdoors or just about.

I was in Paris on Christmas Day once and even then some museums were open so I'm sure you could find some.
Or take a walk along the Planted Corridor - that old raised rail line running from Bastille to the Bois de Vincennes - now a pedstrian path lined by vegetation.

I wouldn't go to any museum on the 1st. Paris has more than 150 museums, so if every "disappointed" person runs to the 10 or so private museums that are open on the 1st, it can hardly be an enjoyable experience unless you love overcrowded museums?

You can buy one of those cheap Chinese umbrellas for less than 10 euros -- even in the rain, it is worth walking around Paris, including Père Lachaise.

Have you been to a movie in Paris? They show some terrific ads about 10 minutes before the movie starts, and they can be as much fun as the movie itself.

You can find lots of English-language movies in Paris -- go to any newsstand and but either Pariscope or L'Officiel des Spectacles to find out whaqt is playing where. Unless you speak French though, be sure that any English-language movie is designated as VO and not VF. "VO" is version originale and means that the soundtrack is in the original language with French subtitles; "VF" is version française and means that the soundtrack is dubbed in French and has no subtitles.

If you waited around for it to stop raining in Paris, you would never see anything at all.
Go buy a cheap umbrella, cowboy up and get out there and do your bit for the French economy.

On most "rainy days" it only rains about 10% of the time anyway.

what would you do at home?

I'd go to a movie.

How about a sociologist's tour of the dread northern Parisian banlieues (sp?) - see for yourself why France has such a problem 'integrating' emigrants of different colors into their French way of lives! Any suburban train from Gare du Nord will work. Seriously I've done this myself and it was eye-opening and something I'd wager not many French folk themselves have done and completely safe it seemed, at least in the daytime but sad sad sad - probably in rainy weather even more triste.

https://www.google.com/search?q=nort...w=1455&bih=977

Some glimpses of what to expect in the northern burbs of Paris!

You mean like in Baltimore or Saint Louis? I don't think France really has any problems at all compared to that.

I made a photo report of the entire T1 tramway line, which runs <b>only</b> through those areas, and it was perfectly delightful.

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...1-start-finish

How come nearly no ethnic French folk live in those delightful suburbs? You call those areas delightful? Incroyable!

You must have a short memory, Kerouac. Does November 2005 ring a bell? I think it went on a lot longer than the recent riot in Baltimore, and the spark that set it off was similar.

Nearly no ethnic French? Where on earth are you getting your misinformation? Seine Saint Denis, which is the <I>department</I> where they T1 tramways runs, is indeed the place in France with the largest foreign population -- 27.4% -- so that would indicate that 72.6% is French. What do you call "ethnic" French? Is that something like Amerindians? If so, what is the percentage of "ethnic" Americans in the United States?

bvlenci, tell us about November 2005 since you seem to be an expert. What would you say happened then? Did the police kill anybody? In any case, the event was far less serious than what happened in London in 2011.

kerouac - I'm talking about housing estates not departments but this is not the place to discuss that and I'll give you that Saint Louis, Baltimore and Detroit, my home area are 100 x worse than anything in France in terms of being hell holes. Enough said let's get hback to OP's question to which I gave a valid possibility and the images I posted a link to speak for themselves.

Not sure I understood. PalenQ are you saying suburbs (93) is hellhole because there are not enough ethnic Frenchs ? What is ethnic French ? Obelix ?
Anyway not sure it will rain ...

Fine, but that link is not at all accurate, because I see a lot of photos of the southern suburbs and Paris mixed in as well as places like La Défense. That shows the limits of Google which will take just anything that somebody has mislabeled at face value. Frankly, what I have never understood is this obsession with using the word 'banlieue' instead of suburb as though there were something nasty about that word. Neuilly-sur-Seine is a "banlieue" of Paris, which has a higher per capita income than Paris and Nicolas Sarkozy even used to be the mayor. It is also the city in France with the highest percentage of American residents. If the American media write an article about Neuilly, will they use the term "banlieue?"