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Thanks again for all the responses. We ended up pulling the trigger on the first week. We will save some FF miles and that week is more toward the middle of the time our friends will be there. I did some very quick searching and could not find any performances at the Palais Garnier for either week. I read that the vendanges are starting earlier each year because of global warming so we may be able to get in on that. I can only hope the crowds and weather gods will also smile on us like the vacation gods did.
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Well - Pal has just about covered covered all bases :) First says second interval "hands down" . . . then recommends the first interval . . . then posts that it doesn't matter.
So you'll be fine with the first week ;) |
No jan you read what you want but I recommend the 2nd option because there will be less tourists there - maybe not a big difference but a difference.
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No, Pal, here's what you said:
<<Actually, now thinking about it the first option is best IMO...>> |
I kind of like the vibe during La Rentrée. Such a tipping point of summer. And I like "august-Paris" winding down too. It's kind of a bluesy time.
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Envierges and menachem - OK you have piqued my interest about La Rentrée. I admit I had to use google to learn what it is but if what I copied in below is what really happens, it actually sounds cool. Unfortunately we probably won't even notice it in the 5th where we are staying. Thanks for teaching me something new.
La Rentrée There’s something magical in the air in France each September – a renaissance after the August shut-down, a new beginning after long holidays on the coast and slow summer days at rural retreats. In the blink of an eye, life in France changes. Children go back to school, people return to work and the rhythm of day-to-day life resumes. This is la rentrée – with all the optimism and opportunity this time of year brings. Streets become busy once more, restaurants pull back the shutters to welcome back the crowds and a new calendar of cultural events begins. La Rentrée is a social occasion too. Parents hover much longer at the school gate, catching up with friends. Drinks are arranged. There is a sense that the kids are back at school, we are back to our normal routines and this means we also get our social life back too. The Anglo-Saxon world doesn’t have anything quite like it. Of course, all over the Western world, there is the annual ritual of people returning to their normal lives at the end of the Summer – from school children, to office workers, to politicians – but this is simply a collection of unrelated events compared with the French phenomenon that is la rentrée. It’s a word we hear throughout August before it hits everyone with a bang in September. |
This should go in your file of La Rentree information. Before school begins here we have much coverage on TV of what the basket of required school supplies will cost this year, accompanied by lots of snaps of parents and children hunting up the items treasure hunt like and so, part of the festivities. In the US where no school system would dare impose required supplies, the French approach is interesting. As everyone returns to Paris within (it seems) the same 24 hour period, the traffic announcements are also a part.
https://www.connexionfrance.com/Fren...aire-in-France |
If taking trains during la rentree expect on main lines super crowds and SNCF puts on extra trains - yes I have been in France many times during rentree as I always was there when my French son started school - it's like the two above posters describe it - a certain renewal feeling and back to normal. For the casual tourist not much unless traveling by car or train back to Paris.
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