Wednesday, June 11, 2003

The French are Crazy

You know, I really liked my trip to Paris a few years ago. I loved the beautiful art and architecture, the twining streets and the shops full of fun, interesting clothing. When my neighbor told me she was going to Paris, and asked me to watch her pond, I wished I was going with her.

Now, I'm really glad I'm at home keeping her frogs happy, because she's stuck in a hotel as close to the airport as possible so she doesn't get isolated by the strikes. People are getting violent, and the helicopters are apparently swarming the city. What group could be causing such an uproar? Teachers unions.

Pictures here.

UPDATE: Wow, I'm actually updating something! Okay to be serious, my neighbor got home last night and told me a bit about her trip. Her stay in Paris was pretty short, and she spent most of her time in northern towns, making short forays into Germany. From her time in Paris though, she found that most of the city was subdued, the rioting and such being concentrated on small central sites. In the outer reaches of the city, transportation has not been brought to a complete halt, only debilitated (For example, on one train line which usually ran four trains, only three are running). Private sector people sound pretty exasperated, because they have much smaller pensions than government employees. Unfortunately, my neighbor couldn't really say much more, because the French news media is not very good at being straightforward. Most of the 'news' is really opinion. Thus, she found it hard to get the whole story.

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