Climate Conference & demonstrations, 30 Nov - 12 Dec - Plan accordingly

Sounds fun and definitely part of the cultural experience to attend a demonstration in Europe.

Uh, oh.....could be interesting, but disruptive. We'll be in Paris (our first trip), 12/1-12/8 and were looking forward to a quieter Paris in the winter! Got hotel reservations long ago, but maybe should get a few dinner reservations too, and other must-do events that we've not made as we thought it would be slower.

FYI, Le Bourget (where Lindbergh landed!) is between Paris and CDG airport. In other words anything between the city and the conference site (Le Bourget) is also going to slow down getting between the city and CDG. fun fun!

Will it be air conditioned? I couldn't possibly attend if it weren't.

Thanks for the update. We know about the conference and are hoping for the best since those are our dates too. Thanks again.

The Interior Minister announced yesterday that France will temporarily re-establish border controls from November 13 through December 13th. That is, for this period surrounding the conference, they will temporarily suspend Schengen, and all passengers will have to show documentation upon leaving or entering France, whether arriving at an airport, rail, or road border, or by sea.

Could add a bit to transit times.

Holy Cow! Wonder what the carbon footprint will be of over 40,000 people flying from around the world or driving those dirty diesel vehicles from all over Europe -- to discuss how to reduce CO2 from.....wait for it...... aircraft burning fuel in the atmosphere and vehicles burning petroleum products. Counterproductive?

George -- This is what I keep wondering . . .

Road traffic between CDG and Paris and Orly and Paris will basically be suspended a good part of the day Sunday (nov 29) and monday (nov 30) as the heads of state arrive in town and then head out to Le Bourget for the conference (Le Bourget is an old airfield -- where Lindbergh landed after his transatlantic flight! -- on the way from Paris almost to CDG). The entire western side of the peripherique (ring road, like the Beltway in Washington) will be closed too. It's gonna be a mess on the roads.

Public transportation will be free from Sunday at noon through Monday all the way through to midnight.

They are also creating a secure cordon to get the leaders out of town and out towards the site from Place de la Concorde via Madeleine and ave Malesherbes out through the Porte d'Asnieres on the north side of town.

Basically: it's going to be a mess on the roads. Do NOT plan on taking a taxi or uber or any of the buses or anything to get to/from the airport. It will need to be rail only. But keep in mind that every other traveler (Parisian or visitor) is in your shoes as well, so the RERB is going to be PACKED. If it's anything like it was this summer with the taxi drivers' strike, when all the overflow was going to the RERB, you may have to wait for several trains to go by before you can squish yourself (and your luggage) on. With that plus the more rigorous security checks, you need to be leaving I would say an hour before you would normally leave for the airport (and usually you want to give yourself three hours at the airport -- if it were me, I would leave my house five hours before any flight, and maybe a little more).

Good luck everyone coming in or going out Sunday and Monday!

George, get with the times. Papal Dispensations have been replaced with Carbon Offsets. For a mere few hundred dollars (economy class) your carbon transgression can be forgiven. Doing no wrong is purely an economic thing. Those with the money ........

Now things get really good. After the police authority a couple of days ago made the request for private citizens (and private companies) to use their vehicles as little as possible and stay off the roads (Sun 11/29 and Mon 11/30) . . .

Today they released another advisory ADVISING PEOPLE TO AVOID PUBLIC TRANSPORT TOO !!! "except in case of necessity")

I guess we're all just supposed to stroll around in our own quartiers and not go to work or anything useful like that!!

You staying home is part of the Carbon Offset program.

James -- obviously!!!

a day of annual leave used up for this-?? sigh.

It's the joke in all the newspapers today, the contradictory information being passed around -- take public transport/avoid public transport. I do not envy anyone who needs to get out to either Orly or CDG on Sunday and Monday.

Kim, you might let folks know that the protests we see on the news today are pretty tightly confined and not in areas that tourist are likely to visit. Correct me if I am wrong but unless you are there now, the impact on you will be zero because these are very short lived events and the crowds, police, teargas and flash grenades will be gone by tomorrow. The news here does very little to put things in context.

Well République is a pretty normal area, I don't know how likely tourists are to visit, but it's a normal place in the middle of town, and these )(&#)@(&**&(# (who aren't really protesting any substantive issue but get kicks out of going around and taunting the police) used flowers and candles left in memorial to the victims of the attacks at the base of the Marianne statue to throw at police!! what is wrong with people?!! Honestly.

This morning, Concorde metro is closed. Don't know how long that will last. Follow @Ligne1_RATP for updated info, or RATP Trafic Info (in French -- but "fermée" or "fermeture" next to the name of a station and the number of the line will tell you it is closed!!)

Very sorry to hear. France in particular, and the world as a whole has had a tough year.

What are they protesting? Do they want a warmer world? I'm confused.

You would think, given the topic, those in the conference would have considered things like Web meetings to make a point.

Just a note of caution. French demonstrations are not "tourist attractions". Most are quite peaceful but if things go south, they usually go south in a hurry and French security forces are quite liberal in their use of batons and truncheons if they have been ordered to break a demonstration up. Tear gas may permeate the air. No special considerations given to tourists hanging out on the sidelines and certainly no place for kids..

These are NOT environmental protesters. They are a bunch of cretins who use any excuse to protest and wreak havoc and destruction. Usually they emerge on the margins of other protests, but this time they just showed up on their own. Most of the headlines depicting these protesters - who literally used flowers and candles from the memorials for the victims -- read "FOR SHAME."

The REAL activists about the environment, upon realizing that the big planned march was going to be cancelled for security reasons in the wake of the November 13 attacks, covered all their posters with requests for people to bring shoes to Place de la République to stand in for them.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2015/nov/29/paris-climate-protesters-banned-but-10000-shoes-remain-video

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/11/29/paris-climate-march_n_8677612.html

As for the idea of joining a European protest "for fun," I know you're being deliberately ironic, but about 9 or 10 years ago a friend of mine went to watch a protest here in Paris and ended up getting shot in the eye with a rubber bullet by the police. She wasn't doing anything wrong, just was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught in the crossfire, literally. The damage to her eye is permanent and a sad reminder of what can happens when you're just "watching from the margins."

Kim, has it subsided now? Don't the protesters understand how important this conference is for world security and the battle against terrorism?

James E,

I haven't seen the news recently but I have no reason to expect that these vile "protesters" are any different than those which attack any meeting anywhere in Europe. We often have them in London, and the have been recently active in Germany.

They are anarchists, keen on stirring up trouble for trouble's sake. It doesn't matter what the meeting is about - they are against anything which supports peaceful community life.

So no, they don't understand - as in your question. And they don't care.

Nigel - exactly. "They don't understand, and they don't care" to understand!!