As the Games approached, school was out for the summer, and posters popped up on métro billboards inviting Parisians to work from home, avoid public transport, avoid the stations of the Games sites, and generally stay away, when we’d been sold on the Games as a “Grande Fête Populaire” (a big party for all).
Locals were told to “anticipate” their travels on public transport during the Games (or stay home)
We considered the very large security zones surrounding the Games sites exaggerated, and the Paris mayor’s attempts to relocate the Bouquinistes, you know, those traditional vendors of old books, maps, assorted stuff (and nowadays souvenirs), away from the Seine quais in view of the opening ceremony on the river were greeted with an outcry. She backed off.
In short, Parisians weren’t happy, and we weren’t looking forward to those weeks of projected chaos.
Sorry, I mean the Olympic flame. When the majestic three masted barque Belem carried the torch into the port of Marseille, France was watching.
The BELEM at the Rouen Armada 2013
The torch relay across France and its overseas possessions was a huge event, including people from all walks of life. (French astronaut Thomas Pesquet carried the torch on Mont Saint Michel in his native Normandy.) Even though this is an Olympic tradition, the relay mixed abled and disabled participants from the start and up to the moment the flame was lit during the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
Olympic Opening Ceremony installation at the Trocadéro
Olympic beach volleyball on the Champ de Mars
The mascots at this point were still badmouthed. Les Phryges (an Olympic and a Paralympic one) were supposed to represent the Phrygian Cap from the French Revolution, but people would compare them to a part of the female anatomy (or, like my husband, to pigeons).
Pont Alexandre III – start and finish of Olympic and Paralympic triathlon
The Seine – triathlon and open-wataer swimming – but will it be clean enough?
Parisians were still upset about the construction and knew that certain new métro lines wouldn’t be finished in time. They were skeptical about the opening ceremony on the river and the Games sites all over town. Oh, and would the Seine finally be clean enough for the open water swimming events?
Throwback to August 2023 when the Seine was barely clean enough to host an open water world cup event
When I went to watch a swimming world cup event that served as dress rehearsal in August 2023, it had to be postponed due to water safety problems.
World Cup open water swimmers in August 2023 (Games dress rehearsal)
Bu the mayor had promised it would be clean in time for the Games, and she would swim in the Seine to prove it.
Still, we were curious and went to have a look at the Olympics Opening Ceremony site at the Trocadéro, Invalides (archery), and the Place de la Concorde (3×3 basketball, breaking, skateboarding, and BMX freestyle).
The ticket hype began in 2023. Ticket packages were released, meaning if you chose one sport to watch, you had to buy tickets for another. Individual sports tickets were very expensive, and the promised “cheap tickets so everyone can go” were never available.
Alexandre III bridge (triathlon start and finish) and Grand Palais (taekwondo & fencing)
As a swimmer myself, and with Olympic swimming tickets unaffordable (plus being annoyed at all the Olympics hype), I had set my sight on Paraswimming. In November 2023, I purchased tickets for a finals session at the end of August 2024 in Paris La Défense Arena. I had no idea who’d be swimming, and no guarantee the announced races wouldn’t be modified.
A friend who practices taekwondo got a family package for Olympic taekwondo (Grand Palais) and Olympic water polo (in the newly built Paris Aquatics Centre).
The Grand Palais hosted Olympic taekwondo and fencing.
So when it started all over again, we didn’t pay much attention. Paris got the 2024 Games in 2017, but what with endless Yellow-vest protests starting in 2018, two months of métro strikes in 2019-2020, and COVID following in quick succession, we were distracted.
Place de la Concorde – installations for 3×3 basketball, breaking, skateboarding, and BMX freestyle
Then things began to speed up. Construction sites popped up, planning information was released, and Parisians began complaining, as we’re wont to do. The construction that won’t be finished, the hassle it’ll be for locals, the tax money it’ll cost, and look at those ridiculous mascots!
New fast métro still not finished over a year later.
Reserved fast lanes on the highways leading to the sites? A scandal!
See how sceptical we look – we don’t really want to associate with the mascot.
Spoiler: The construction wasn’t finished, the instructions to locals to work from home were ignored, and the mascots became hugely popular – once the Games began.
Having the Olympic and Paralympic Games in your hometown is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, right? One that most people will never have. As you all know, the Games did come to my hometown in 2024, and I’m sharing my personal take on it in this summer series:
(The links will go live one by one as the posts publish every 3 days over the next weeks.)
Paris Gare de l’Est is the little sister of Gare du Nord. In fact, the two stations with their imposing façades are located just 500m apart in the 10tharrondissement. The Gare de l’Est sits at the end of one of the long straight boulevardsBaron Haussmann cut through the city, the Boulevard de Sébastopol which turns into Boulevard de Strasbourg. Fun fact: The train station was initially called Gare de Strasbourg.
Its style is neoclassical, with some parts being Art Deco, notably the glass-roofed departure-arrivals hall. Note the beautiful half-circle rose window on the main façade.
Like all the other Paris train stations, the Gare de l’Est is a terminus station. Being the 5th-busiest of the six main stations, from Gare de l’Est trains go to–you guessed it–Strasbourg, which these days is served by the high-speed TGV Est on its way to Frankfurt, but also the rest of North-Eastern France (Champagne-Ardennes, Lorraine, Alsace), Luxembourg, the southern parts of Germany (for the North, go to Gare du Nord), Austria, and even Italy, as well as local trains (TER) serving the eastern part of the greater Paris area. In 1883, the first-ever Orient Express train to Istanbul made its departure from Gare de l’Est
The Gare de l’Est can be reached by bus and métro (4, 5, and 7). From Gare du Nord, you can walk or take the métro 4 (one station) which serves both stations.
The Gare de l’Est has featured in numerous French movies, sometimes standing in for other stations as it is less busy. One you might know is Amélie (2001).
Below the tracks 2 and 3, there is a bunker from WWII that was in fact begun not long before the war and completed by the Occupant in 1941. It is, however, not open to the public.
It was opened in 1846. Today, according to SNCF estimations, nearly 300 million travelers pass Gare du Nord every day, on SNCF trains, Eurostar train, and RER trains, not counting the three metro lines stopping at Gare du Nord (lines 4 and 5) and nearby La Chapelle (line 2, linked via a pedestrian tunnel).
The Gare du Nord building is on the list of historic monuments. When it was enlarged in the early 1860s (and the façade was moved to Lille), most of the columns were made in Glasgow (Scotland) whose foundry plant was the only one capable of creating pieces that size.
The long distance trains connect Paris to northern France, notably Lille. The train station Lille Flandres inherited part of the old Gare du Nord building when the latter was enlarged. However, the Eurostar train linking Paris to London via Lille, stops at the newer Lille Europe station.
Since the United Kingdom is not part of the Schengen area, passengers taking the Eurostar to London have to go through customs and passport checks in a separate area on the +1 level in the main hall.
Stairs and escalators leading up to the UK Hall
The UK Eurostar area is not accessible on ground level
The continental Eurostar, formerly known as Thalys, connects Paris to Brussels (Belgium) and from there, Amsterdam (Netherlands), or Cologne and Dortmund (Germany). Since all these countries are part of the Schengen area, no passport checks are required and the passengers can access the platforms and trains without any barriers on ground level.
The continental Eurostar (ex-Thalys) can be accessed directly from ground level
The main hall seen from the track side with Thalys trains in 2023
Suburb trains can be found in the newer glass-roofed hall on the eastern side of the historic building. This is also where numerous escalators lead to the lower levels and the RER and metro trains serving Gare du Nord.
Have you been in the area between the Place de la Bastille and the Seine and happened to cross riders on horseback?
Chances are you met members of the Garde Républicaine, the Republican Guard, on patrol. Yes, those same ones you see parade on July 14 on the Champs Élysées.
Note the traditional helmets which date back to 1876, inherited from the dragoons and cuirassiers of the First Empire.
The cavalry of the Republican Guard is housed in the Célestins Quarter with its main entrance on boulevard Henri IV.
Its most visible role is in the honor missions (escorts, also carried out by the motorcycle squadron) although those represent only about 20% of the total. The majority consists of security missions such as patrols in Paris, the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes, but also in the forest of Chambord royal palace and other royal forests.
Chambord Palace
They also carry out surveillance of the sites at summit meetings for certain sports events and in areas with difficult access, for example a missing person search in the woods, and also surveillance of tourist areas.
Napoléon Ier
The origins of the Republican Guard go back to Napoléon Ier, who created the Municipal Guard of Paris in 1802. After many back and forth over the turbulent period of the early 19th century, it was integrated into the Gendarmerie in 1849 by Napoléon III.
Contrary to other cavalry units, the Republican Guard did not participate in WWI as its mission was to maintain order in Paris and oversee the city’s defense. That is how it survived as the last mounted regiment. During WWII, the Republican Guard was demobilized and attached to the Police Prefecture under the name of Paris Guard. Part of the troops secretly joined Charles de Gaulle, and the Guard participated with the French Forces of the Interior in the combats for the liberation of Paris. The Guard also participated in the Indochina War from 1947 to 1954, and in 1978 it changed its name back to Republican Guard.
President Emmanuel Macron initiated a “horse diplomacy” by giving a Republican Guard horse to the Chinese president in 2018. He gifted another Republican Guard horse to Queen Elizabeth II for her Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
On Heritage Days in September, the Republican Guard will open the doors of the Célestins Quarter where you can see riding demonstrations, visit the horses in their stables and see the blacksmith at work.
Did you know the horseshoe sizes range from 28 to 50, with the smallest fitting inside the largest?
Republican Guard at Célestins Quarter
At the Paris International Agricultural Fair 2024, the Republican Guard, including their fanfare or orchestra, put on an impressive show. A few highlights below.
French phone numbers are composed of ten digits, except for the emergency numbers—as a visitor, all you need to remember is 112, it’s a centralized number for all emergencies, you can call it from a mobile phone, and they will be able to help you even if you don’t speak French.
But back to regular French phone numbers. In France, there are no regional area codes any longer, they were ditched during the great phone number reform in 1996. So how do you know where in France you’re calling?
Easy-peasy. Just look at the first two digits of the number. Landline numbers start with 01, 02, 03, 04, or 05. We’ll get to that in a minute.
a restaurant with a landline number
If you’re calling a number in 06 or 07, it’s a cell phone, and then your guess is as good as mine as to where you’re calling. A number starting with 08 is a value-added service number which might be free (“Do you have any comments about our product? Let us know!”) or cost up to 3 € per call or 0.80 € per minute. So check the source of your number which should indicate the fee. Number starting with 09 are new, VoIP numbers that can be anywhere in France.
And when you dial a number starting with 00, you’re calling abroad. (The next few digits will indicate the country you’re calling.)
So lots of numbers where we can’t tell where you’re calling, and since the recent opening of landline portability, thing swill slowly get even more confusing. But while people still have their landline numbers (this is decreasing too), here’s what you need to know.
If your French ten-digit number starts with 01, you’re calling somewhere in the Paris area. Let’s say you want to reserve a table at Fouquet’s, for example, you dial 01 40 69 60 50.
If your number starts with 02, you’re calling the northwest of France, such as Brittany and Normandy, but also the overseas departments La Réunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.
an excellent crêperie in Brittany, to book a table call 02 97 52 35 50
Should your number begin with 03, you’re calling the northeast, think along the Belgian, German, and Swiss borders.
If you dial 04, you’re in the southeast, such as Marseille and Nice, but also the island of Corsica.
Finally, with the 05, you’ll reach the southwest, as well as the Atlantic Ocean départements, régions and collectivités, that is Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, French Guyana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and the other French Caribbean islands.
Sometimes, you still find old phone numbers:
This place still shows the 8-digit number pre-1996 reform
The sign on this youth hostel must be from before 1985, when the 7 digits gave way to the 8 digits
So now you can easily tell where in France (hint: it’s on the mainland) I found this hairdresser.
The French love going on holidays in their own country. Annual leave stands at five weeks and school holidays in the summer at two months, so there’s plenty of time to choose from and many lovely places to go to. Mer ou montagne? (Sea or mountains?) you will hear, or Mer ou campagne? (Sea or countryside?) In the end, lots and lots of French holiday-makers will head for the Mediterranean or the Atlantic coast in July or August. As holiday rentals start and end on Saturdays in high season, I’ll let you guess on which day traffic volume is highest.
Queuing for cheap gas at the start of summer holidays
Back when autoroutes were built and expanded and more and more people got cars, a traffic information system slowly developed. It got a big boost after tragedy struck during an August Saturday in 1975 when a combination of heat wave and traffic accidents killed almost 150 people.
Authorities realized they needed to work on three main points:
Spreading the traffic over a larger time period
Reinforcing alternative itineraries
Communicating with the travelers
The Saint Arnoult toll station, with 39 toll gates one of the biggest in Europe, a dreaded congestion point on holiday weekends
It was in this context that Bison Futé (Smart Bison) was created, a character who’d tell people the smart time to travel to avoid traffic congestion, and the alternative routes to take. You’ll have guessed given the time (1970s) and the name, what this character was. Fortunately, French authorities have gone with the times, and the present logo of Smart Bison is the outline of a bison head made to look like an itinerary. The Smart Bison has become an icon that couldn’t simply be removed.
The Smart Bison website is run by the Transport Ministry, and both website and the Smart Bison Twitter feed will also warn of adverse weather conditions, like heavy thunderstorms. But its main focus is traffic. Smart Bison will tell you if it’s a green, orange, red, or black day for departures and for returns.
Green means normal traffic (including rush hour traffic in urban areas)
Orange means heavy traffic with difficult driving conditions locally or generally
Red means very heavy traffic with very difficult driving conditions locally or generally
Black means traffic is extremely heavy and driving conditions are extremely difficult on the entire road network
For example, on July 12, 2023, a Wednesday preceding the weekend with the national holiday July 14 falling on the Friday, and school holidays having started the previous weekend, Smart Bison predicted the following traffic conditions for the weekend:
Thursday Departures Orange everywhere but red in the greater Paris area Returns Green everywhere
Friday (national holiday) Departures Orange in the north and northwest, including the greater Paris area Green for the rest of the country Returns Green everywhere
Saturday Departures Red for the entire country Returns Green for the entire country
Sunday Departures Orange for the entire country Returns Orange for the entire country Red for the greater Paris area
The pattern here is easy to spot: It clearly was a weekend of departures, not returns, with a peak on Saturday (remember those holiday rentals?). The Red for the greater Paris area and Thursday for departures and Sunday for returns indicates many Parisians going away for the long weekend.
Not all that hard to read, is it? So next time you plan to drive in France, consult Smart Bison!
