Just came back from a two week trip to France staying in Paris and in Provence Regions. I want to alert anyone that is traveling by air that they maybe surprised to be inconvenienced by Air Traffic Controller Strikes. We were schedule to fly out of Charles De Gaulle and ended up taking a 5 hour bus trip to Brussels to fly home back to the states. Apparently, all of the EU countries will be striking periodically this summer to get their point across. Also was very surprised at how little our dollar was worth this trip. We were there last spring 2001, and had a glorious time shopping and eating. This time I found that I had to walk away from items as the cost have gone up tremendously. If you are planning on shopping be sure to check prices out at home first. I had booked my hotels seven months in advance and was surprised when I arrived to see how much the price had differed because of the changing rates. One hint leave your conversion tables at home as the price is straight across now. We found that the dept. stores offer the locals a 40% discount off many items which we are not able to get. I oftened wondered how the Parisians manage as the pricing has gotten so expensive with the Euro. Be also on the alert for pick pockets on the Paris Metros especially on Line 1 which encompasses many of the tourist sites. We saw a group of teenage boys around the age of 15-16 roaming the metro. One boy wears a mustache and floppy cloth hat. The day before we heard a Parisian lady pointing to the same group of boys telling her friends that they were pick pockets. The following day, believe it or not we ran into this same group as we were passing through the metro. We actually stopped and faced them directly and what do you know, one of them actually came after my husband trying to get into his pockets. Luckily my husband started yelling scaring the kid off, but these boys are gutsy. Be alert also near the Eiffel Tower if you are strolling through the park. A boy tried to follow my husband there too. It's a little alarming to hear announcements in the Metro station warning people of pick pockets. We found that our money went much further in the<BR>South of France. People are also friendlier too.

Janice I have to agree with you we were in france for 18 days 5/24-6/11 ,we go every year. this time we had a losy time in PAris . People were not as friendly, everything was terribly expensive and also had to cut shopping down to nothing as most was less money in USA.<BR> Last year i had to wait 2.5 hours to even get into Louis Vuitton or any other high end designer store. This year i could walk in and have the entire shop to myself. The prices were almost identical to here , same with Channel, i always stock up on make-up in france this year same as prices in Neimans .<BR> we left Paris early and went o Cannes and you aer ight the people were much friendlier in the south . So friendly that we have now changed our spring destination tot he south of france.<BR> I didn;t notice any people getting 40% in stores , only tourists geting 10% off. Then again most stores were so empty no one was buying anything

Thanks for the post, interesting.

Another post that is SO much to easier to read, broken into paragraphs.<BR><BR>Just came back from a two week trip to France staying in Paris and in Provence Regions. <BR><BR>I want to alert anyone that is traveling by air that they maybe surprised to be inconvenienced by Air Traffic Controller Strikes. We were schedule to fly out of Charles De Gaulle and ended up taking a 5 hour bus trip to Brussels to fly home back to the states. Apparently, all of the EU countries will be striking periodically this summer to get their point across. <BR><BR>Also was very surprised at how little our dollar was worth this trip. We were there last spring 2001, and had a glorious time shopping and eating. This time I found that I had to walk away from items as the cost have gone up tremendously. <BR><BR>If you are planning on shopping be sure to check prices out at home first. I had booked my hotels seven months in advance and was surprised when I arrived to see how much the price had differed because of the changing rates. <BR><BR>One hint leave your conversion tables at home as the price is straight across now. We found that the dept. stores offer the locals a 40% discount off many items which we are not able to get. I oftened wondered how the Parisians manage as the pricing has gotten so expensive with the Euro. <BR><BR>Be also on the alert for pick pockets on the Paris Metros especially on Line 1 which encompasses many of the tourist sites. We saw a group of teenage boys around the age of 15-16 roaming the metro. One boy wears a mustache and floppy cloth hat. The day before we heard a Parisian lady pointing to the same group of boys telling her friends that they were pick pockets. <BR><BR>The following day, believe it or not we ran into this same group as we were passing through the metro. We actually stopped and faced them directly and what do you know, one of them actually came after my husband trying to get into his pockets. Luckily my husband started yelling scaring the kid off, but these boys are gutsy. <BR><BR>Be alert also near the Eiffel Tower if you are strolling through the park. A boy tried to follow my husband there too. It's a little alarming to hear announcements in the Metro station warning people of pick pockets. <BR><BR>We found that our money went much further in the South of France. People are also friendlier too.<BR>

What is UP with the Paragraph Police today?

Identical thread is running somewhere below this one. Has more replies.

that "other" thread is http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1386019<BR><BR>and just topped it.<BR>