This was my second visit to Paris. It was an official workshop in the month of January 2009. I was the one representing Indian office. Apart from the preparation for the workshop, I had also done necessary preparation for travel, especially how to reach the hotel using public transport. My boss was quite strict on spending. The company rule said if the city you visit has public transport one shall not take taxi and use public transport.
The colleagues from France office had booked a hotel that was closer to our Paris office. However to reach there from Charles De Gaulle airport we had to cross the entire city, it was exactly on the other side of the city. I had to take a regional train to reach the hotel, it would mostly bypass the city and would reach in an hour.
The Air France flight which took me from Bangalore to Paris landed early in the morning on Sunday. The temperature in Paris was below zero. It was snowing. As I walked out finishing immigration and collecting the luggage I felt something unusual. For some reason I felt like walking to the information counter and re-confirming the trains I had to take.
The lady at the counter told me that the regional train that I could have taken to reach other side of the city was not operating since the staff had called for a strike. She suggested that I take another train to reach the city, take a metro line, change to another train after several stops and reach the hotel. So, now instead of one train it was a three to reach the place, also probably two hours in total.So now i had to hop on to three trains to reach my hotel. She said probably taking a taxi is a better choice. She suggested taking a taxi instead.
Being a very obedient employee I decided to take the trains. I took the train to the city, changed to metro, arrived at the station where I could take the last train to reach my destination. By then the train network which was connecting to the outskirts from metro had called for strike. The lady at the information counter in the metro station explained me in broken English that I could take a bus to my destination and the bus stop was about one kilometer away.
I walked to the bus stop dragging my heavy luggage over the snow filled footpath and reached the bus station. It certainly wasnt a good walk with very clod breeze and snow. I stood in the bus stop wondering when the bus will arrive. After about 10 min an old man walked into the bus stop and asked me if I wanted any help. I told him my destination and to my surprise he told me that the staff of public bus had also called for strike! He suggested to walk to a taxi station which was 500 meters after the metro station! Now I had to walk 1.5 kms with my luggage; it was continuously snowing and I was sweating!
I was lucky, the moment I reached the taxi station someone who was waiting for a taxi there told me (again in broken English) that I wont get a taxi unless I had booked one. I had no cellphone, no chance to book a taxi! But I was lucky, I didnt wait at the taxi station. Clueless what to do I decided to go back to the metro station and check with the information counter again.
By then metro had also called for strike, last metro service to the main station was about to reach the station. I jumped into the metro. Went to the main station. Stood in a hour long queue for taxi only to be rejected by at least 8~10 taxi drivers since my destination was too far! Finally, one taxi driver agreed to take me. And finally when I arrived at the hotel it was evening close to 4pm!
I had spent almost 8 hours experiencing the strikes in Paris on a snowy day carrying heavy luggage!
The colleagues from France office had booked a hotel that was closer to our Paris office. However to reach there from Charles De Gaulle airport we had to cross the entire city, it was exactly on the other side of the city. I had to take a regional train to reach the hotel, it would mostly bypass the city and would reach in an hour.
The Air France flight which took me from Bangalore to Paris landed early in the morning on Sunday. The temperature in Paris was below zero. It was snowing. As I walked out finishing immigration and collecting the luggage I felt something unusual. For some reason I felt like walking to the information counter and re-confirming the trains I had to take.
The lady at the counter told me that the regional train that I could have taken to reach other side of the city was not operating since the staff had called for a strike. She suggested that I take another train to reach the city, take a metro line, change to another train after several stops and reach the hotel. So, now instead of one train it was a three to reach the place, also probably two hours in total.So now i had to hop on to three trains to reach my hotel. She said probably taking a taxi is a better choice. She suggested taking a taxi instead.
Being a very obedient employee I decided to take the trains. I took the train to the city, changed to metro, arrived at the station where I could take the last train to reach my destination. By then the train network which was connecting to the outskirts from metro had called for strike. The lady at the information counter in the metro station explained me in broken English that I could take a bus to my destination and the bus stop was about one kilometer away.
I walked to the bus stop dragging my heavy luggage over the snow filled footpath and reached the bus station. It certainly wasnt a good walk with very clod breeze and snow. I stood in the bus stop wondering when the bus will arrive. After about 10 min an old man walked into the bus stop and asked me if I wanted any help. I told him my destination and to my surprise he told me that the staff of public bus had also called for strike! He suggested to walk to a taxi station which was 500 meters after the metro station! Now I had to walk 1.5 kms with my luggage; it was continuously snowing and I was sweating!
I was lucky, the moment I reached the taxi station someone who was waiting for a taxi there told me (again in broken English) that I wont get a taxi unless I had booked one. I had no cellphone, no chance to book a taxi! But I was lucky, I didnt wait at the taxi station. Clueless what to do I decided to go back to the metro station and check with the information counter again.
By then metro had also called for strike, last metro service to the main station was about to reach the station. I jumped into the metro. Went to the main station. Stood in a hour long queue for taxi only to be rejected by at least 8~10 taxi drivers since my destination was too far! Finally, one taxi driver agreed to take me. And finally when I arrived at the hotel it was evening close to 4pm!
I had spent almost 8 hours experiencing the strikes in Paris on a snowy day carrying heavy luggage!
