Being in Paris at the moment I can testify that it is a nightmare and will remain so for a while. Even one week ago, no bus was going to the end of its line and all traffic stopped at the bridges. Olympic sites are located near the Seine, from one end of the city to the other, and moving around in what is known as the grey perimeter, i.e. closest to the Seine, is already nearly impossible, even by foot. Do not expect to cross the Seine unless by métro, however many métro stations will be closed… Many streets near the grey perimeter are already lined with high iron railings and pedestrians are forced to walk between those railings and the walls. Lovely. I keep hearing about people complaining that they can’t even access their workplaces or are stopped by the police just as they walk a few steps away from their own home. I am exiting the city on Monday morning, fortunately through the gare Montparnasse which isn’t in the dreaded section, and not coming back until the 27th when the opening ceremony will be over and, hopefully, things will have somehow calmed down.
The most critical moment indeed will be the day of the opening ceremony, on Friday, July 26th. That day, and possibly well into the night, it will be virtually impossible to circulate in Paris.
It seems that things will get easier after July 26th, the métro will reopen, most of the perimeters will disappear, but with the current state of the French administration, there’s no telling what will be possible or not. For one thing, it’s not clear when the horrible railings will be removed. I’ve spent hours on the government’s information website to no avail, things are terribly vague and unclear, and whatever rules I’ve been able to grasp are contradicted by some in vivo testimonies of people being close to be arrested or fined while they’re walking in a supposedly authorized perimeter. In one word: it’s a mess, and will remain a mess at least until the opening ceremony is over. After the ceremony, well, it’s still unsure.
This, in contemporary French, is called a “popular celebration”.
August, by the way, is Parisians’ favorite month to stay in Paris. Of course that concerns the Parisians who stay in the city. It is hot but usually not so hot as July, it often gets a little cooler after August 15, and the atmosphere (in normal years without Olympic games) is extremely nice and relaxed. This Summer all kinds of disasters may be expected because of the OG, but I’ll bet that anywhere reasonably remote from the theater of operations will be delightfully quiet, subdued and uncrowded.
Thank you to everyone for their advice!
