kerouac

Interestingly enough, after the evening news in France tonight showed the reports of the Marseille airport blocked, riots in Lyon, students marching in Paris, gas stations with no gas, etc., they announced the results of the latest opinion poll about the strikes.

69% of the French want the strikes to continue, even if they suffer inconvenience. That is down from 71%, but it is still pretty impressive for a chaotic and unpredictable situation, which is generally the opposite of what appeals to most people.

The government can hold steady and ignore the situation, but if so, it will have no political future. (And it probably already didn't anyway.)

kerouac

Oh, meanwhile, two new strike days have been set, but you'll find out soon enough about all of that.

julia_t

Thursday October 28th and Tuesday November 2nd.

So it looks like I'll be OK to fly in next Tuesday, but will I be able to get home again on Thursday? Hmmm...

How bad would a night spent at CDG T2B be?

seafox

I arrive the AM of the 29th, what should I expect transportation from CDG to the Marais to be like? Taxi's in service???

Traviata

The one bit of advice I would offer about taxis from CDG is to book a shuttle with set fee. There were loads of taxis at the airport, even on strike day, however, the ride into Paris center was a slow one and we were very glad we weren't on a meter.....

TattooGoddess

Correction it in Nov 6th. Not the 2nd. I will be going with my College (44 of us) on Nov 4th. We will be getting in on the AM of the 5th. We will be there till the 12th. To be honest Im a bit freaked out by all this stuff going on. Mostly because we will be there right as all this stuff is going down. I don't for see them slitting my throat and throwing me into the river but yeah... bunch of angry people.. not my cup of tea. I will be doing a video log of everyday I am there in my trip and will up date one here as best I can. I think in the next few days or weeks it is going to get nasty. I hope we have a way out of paris.... but heck we are going with the owner of our college... she can foot the bill if we get stuck lol

seafox

good point Traviata - thanks

seafox

TG - 11/6 is a Saturday - seems like an odd day for a National strike???

PatrickLondon

>>seems like an odd day for a National strike???<<

That's the day for national demonstrations - i.e., so everyone can take part even if they aren't striking on work days.

seafox

Ah, thank you for the clarification!

k9korps

>>As for those of you who are afraid, stay home. Paris gets 25 million happy visitors a year, and it can easily do without the cowards.<<

And, alas, we reach the inevitable point where a thread goes off the rails.

LuvToRoam

>>As for those of you who are afraid, stay home. Paris gets 25 million happy visitors a year, and it can easily do without the cowards.<<

Unfortunately what people perceive becomes reality when they are deciding where to go and certainly where to spend their very hard earned money. People can poke fun all they want or chastise, but losing tourism hurts economies. There are many places to go and quite honestly if I were in charge of the tourism department of some of the other countries in Europe I would be out there promoting my happy workers and calm streets. There really isn't an economy around that can't use the infusion of cash the tourists offer.

packed

We were in the Madrid airport two days ago and they kept making announcements in the airport that if you were going to Paris, there may be delays or cancellations.

fishee

CDG is prioritizing long-haul flights at this point (like from the U.S.) so EU flights are absorbing much of the delays/cancellations.

julia_t

Can anyone tell me if the Roissybus is running as usual on the strike days?

I assume there are likely to be delays on the RER out to the airport, and my budget does not want to allow me to book a private transfer, so the Roissybus would suit me well - if it is running that is!

kerouac

Why are people always afraid that taxis will be on strike when there is a public transportation strike? Do people not understand that taxi drivers triple their earnings when there is a strike? Who on earth would go on strike in a situation like that, especially since the majority of taxi drivers are immigrants?

Christina

I don't think people are "afraid" in the sense of fear for their person, they just don't want a lot of trouble or to lose money, etc. I don't blame them, who wants a lot of hassles and expenses on their vacation they've been planning a long time. If you can't get out of town when you want or get your flight, you can incur extra hotel costs or have lots of other problems. This isn't delusional thinking.

Why is Saturday such an odd day for a strike. It's convenient, actually, being the weekend. The strikes mainly affect transportation and flights, what difference does it make what day of the week it is.

I don't think there is any RER service to CDG on weekend of Nov 6 and 7, in any case (work). I think there will be disturbances to the Roissybus tomorrow because there are demonstrations right around the Garnier Opera building, which will at least cause problems. Don't know about what happens in general.

theflock

We arrived in Paris on Oct. 12, the day the strike began. The only disturbance we experienced was to our nap that afternoon. Our apartment was close to Blvd. St. Germain and the striking workers were marching down the boulevard with loudspeakers, drums, music, etc. Instead of napping, we sat in our window and watched the "parade" for over 3 hours. That was the only evidence we saw of the strike -- other than on CNN. Our flight home on Oct. 21 was a dream -- no line at the detax office, no line at Delta check-in, and almost no line at security. Our flight left on time and arrived home on time. I hope everyone who is worried about the strikes has as lovely a time in Paris as we did!

Byron1

We just returned from France and we were there during this last big strike. It does impact the tourist. They closed the d'Orsay and made us wait outside for 90 minutes in the cold and then opened it. The next place was the L'Orangerie. They delayed the opening by an hour. The following day was the Louvre and they delayed the opening 75 minutes. We went to St Chapelle twice and they had a sign saying "closed due to the strike". We did not feel any affects on the metro. I heard some tourists say they closed the Eiffel tower one day and another one said they closed Versailles one day. I can't confirm that but that's what they were saying as we were waiting in line. Overall, we had a great time but it does put a little kink into your scheduling so just be prepared for that. We flew out of Paris on Monday October 18th and we had no trouble getting out on BA. However, they told us they expected to cancel 30 percent of their flights the following day due to th strike. I cannot confirm if that happened.

Ringerdog

What has been the reaction in Paris, now that the retirement age has officially been changed? What is the general feeling about the strikes, will they continue to impede the opening of various tourist sites?