Paris under snow

Now, you know why I'm thinking about leaving Paris... 

Central London was like that last winter (for the first time in many a long year); there was a lot of disruption, but it was fantastic to walk through the snowy streets - unfortunately I was working and didn't have my camera with me.

CPicard wrote: Now, you know why I'm thinking about leaving Paris...

That's funny. I'm on my way over there to study for five months. Being from New York, the snow shouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, the strikes might be.

moreitsythanyou wrote: CPicard wrote: Now, you know why I'm thinking about leaving Paris...  That's funny. I'm on my way over there to study for five months. Being from New York, the snow shouldn't be a problem. On the other hand, the strikes might be.

Well, there aren't so many strikes (less than in Danemark, from what I heard). Plus, I assume you are to come after the winter; so, no snow problems.
But expect some weird behaviours from the Parisians in the subway:
 - they seem to love being squeezed (and to squeeze each other) in a way that even Japanese salarymen would fear;
 - when they go from a station to another, they walk straight forward and don't look if they run into someone (nearly as dangerous as a carcrash!);
 - they could start a riot if a train is cancelled or late because of technical difficulties or any accident ("No, I don't care if someone killed himself by jumping under the train! I pay my taxes, so I WANT MY TRAIN NOW!!!")

I'm glad I live in the US where government workers have to sign a contract saying that they wont strike

Anything like Russia On Ice? 

I thought was a thread about Paris Hilton...

Ah well.

mystic fred wrote: rpe9p wrote: I'm glad I live in the US where government workers have to sign a contract saying that they wont strike   I hate it when i read comments like this - every privilege you take for granted in your comfortable working life  has been fought for by the Unions going on strike without pay long before you were born - Holidays, Pensions, safe working conditions, maternity leave, sicknes benefit, cost of living rise - all hard earned by the Unions, the Union movement in the USA is very strong and they have worked hard to earn your benefits.... think about it...      Sorry Martin

While unions may have been necessary for americans to get fair working conditions in the early 20th century, that doesn't mean they are the reason we continue to have all those things.  We now have labor laws that prevent people from having to work in dangerous conditions or for less than minimum wage.  I should not be entitled to vacation and a pension because some union has extorted companies into providing those things, companies should want to provide me with those things as incentives for me to work for them.

With regard to government workers, it will be a sad day when we can't even trust our government to provide us with safe working conditions and if the government didnt provide decent salaries and benefits, then nobody would want to work for them.  Certain work is done by the government because it is something we cant do for ourselves and it is too important to allow unions to extort the federal goverment at the expense of all its citizens.

Meanwhile, in Paris, the train trafic is harmed more by the weather than by any strike.

I left on Saturday night, going southward. My train should have left on 22:25, but could not do it before 23:30 because of the horrible weather we suffer for many days. Not only my train, but 3 or 4 other trains.
The Eurostar trains are still unable to go, because of the snow, the ice and tutti quanti.

Oh, by the way: from French and European standards, the American railways are a joke (at least, that's what Umberto Eco said in one book, and a few TV documentaries make me trust him)

There's over 30 centimeters of snow here now. In my 17 years of living I've never experienced this much snow, but it's really pretty. Yesterday evening it was about -10C, which I also have never experienced in my entire life. Also, no trains left yesterday, forcing hundreds of people to move into hotels. I live next to a park, and the view from the windows of my house is very pretty.