If you come to Paris these days you will come across a lot of these street signs. The whole city is being transformed in order to reduce the traffic and discourage people from using their car. Sidewalks are being widened, bus lanes are being built and widened too, trees are being planted and a tram is being built around Paris. Needless to say that car drivers (only 50% of the Parisians) are furious while pedestrians are pretty satisfied...
Appel à témoins ! Tous les jours à 9 heures 30 GMT la chaîne de télévision Direct 8 interviewe par webcam interposée des francophones situés à travers le monde. Contactez Elodie qui vous en dira plus et tenez-moi au courant, que je vous regarde...
Wow, if I understood that right, you will be interviewed! Don't forget to mention all your "friends" around the world! :)
ReplyDeleteNo, no, I won't it's only for francophones abroad. They are not interested in a Parisian - too boring, not exotic enough!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Eric, your fans here will never think you're boring!
ReplyDeletePretty big strike you folks had (are having? I dunno if it's still going on right now). I'm guessing you probably got some pictures.
Sorry, no webcam here!
ReplyDeleteOMG, I can only imagine how much worse the traffic jams in Paris are going to get during the "transition" time!!! Aie.
Yes Soosha, not much the strike which was "normal" but the demonstrations were huge.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this is going to end. The government will fall soon.
There’s some symbolism in those signs isn’t there? Chantier ahead! And things are going to get tighter literally and figuratively…
ReplyDeleteJe ne suis pas aussi sûr que le gouvernement cède bientôt, malheureusement
ReplyDeleteI just saw the morning news here. The strike was featured but I could not understand all that was being said. Hope everythings going to be alright out there.
ReplyDeleteMaddox a raison: c'est le chantier à Paris, en ce moment, non?
ReplyDeleteEric, you really see stuff that "regular" people do not pay much attention too and certainly do not photograph.
ReplyDeleteThanks, this is great!
Didn't Napoleon widen the streets many years ago. Maybe that was the start of today's heavy dependence on automobiles.
ReplyDeleteDenton: The Baron Haussman (commissioned by Napoleon III) did most of the major redesign of the Avenues, added the Bois de Boulogne, etc., in the late 1800's A lot of the main thoroughfares you see now are his design. Check it out here if you are interested:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Haussmann
Cars are absurd. Abolish them. At once!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of a more bike /pedestrian city. Bravo Paris!
ReplyDeleteEric, your eye for color and composition gives us new ways to see.
ReplyDeleteThey tried discouraging car use through many means in Berkeley, CA, (our home town for the last 20 years before coming to Seattle). One of those ways were the famous Berkeley barricades. These massive barrel-shaped concrete barricades were quite controversial when they were inserted all over town to divert traffic from many streets. My husband and I used to joke that the barricades along the Ashby Ave. corridor were not "politically correct" for a socialist town--at least for traffic traveling east, as you could make no LEFT turns ;^) off of Ashby due to barricades at all but major intersections. People hate to be told what to do--just human nature I suppose. I don't think the barricades decreased car use, but they did move traffic onto major thouroughfares, and encouaged lots more bike use on the quiet streets. We enjoyed bicycling all around Paris--great bike lanes!
-Kim
I'm glad to see Delanoé is following through with his Green promises for a more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly Paris! I have cycled in Paris, but mostly in the East (19th, 20th - found it too frightening to cycle in the city centre). Here in Montréal when there is no snow I cycle everywhere, and I'm a middle-aged person. That is not out of the ordinary at all here, though alas unlike Amsterdam we can't do it all year round. In Paris you can, except perhaps when the rain is very heavy. I'm so happy to see the tram in Paris proper; I have taken the one that goes through Saint-Denis. Will it go all around Paris?
ReplyDeleteAs for the webcam, I haven't got one. Dommage.
Fantastic shot Eric, I love it ! Very clever shot indeed, you are a brilliant photographer ! Oh, I love Paris so much ! You see the world through a fantastic lens and makes my life better everyday.
ReplyDeleteThis is just the daily highlight of my miserable existence
God bless you,
And thank you again.
Henrique
Hello Henrique (or Susan, or Peter, or whatever your name is…) !! Welcome back ! It's been such a long time since we've had no news of you miserable existence. It's good to read your spam again !
ReplyDeleteNice pic. Maybe they should avoid anything that could be used as a barricade.
ReplyDeleteHello from Western Canada.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Paris was getting a traffic revamp. I guess the car drivers would be mad. It will slow them down ;-)
(thinking back to my experience in a Parisian taxi and on the Périphérique with family)
Eric, I like the idea that you show us TWO "Men At Work" signs, on a day when everyone knows there is not a single person at work in the whole of France ;-)
ReplyDeleteVery funny, nasty ham! ;-)
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