Planes & trains & automobiles

The Air France pilots' union has initiated a labor action that is supposed to last until next Monday at midnight. This morning France 2 TV news is reporting that about 50% of Air France's flights, both long- and short-hauls, are being canceled. The reporter specifically mentioned as an example the cancellation of an AF Paris-to-New York flight this morning.

Imagining our friends there has me thinking of trips to Paris.
This is Notre Dame in an October 2006 picture.

Friends of ours from California arrived in Paris yesterday on an Air France flight. Their plan is to fly to Italy Sunday on an Air France partner airline, CityJet, for a week in Florence and other points in Tuscany. According to the news, "only" about 20% of Air France's partner airline flights will have to be canceled this weekend.

Paris means cafés and restaurants like these on
the Place du Bourg-Tibourg in the Marais.

We'll be following the strike news and flight status reports on the Internet and trying to help our friends stay current. I don't know what they will decide to do if they can't get a flight from Paris to Italy on Sunday. They are supposed to come to Saint-Aignan for a visit starting not this Sunday but on 11/23, upon their return from Italy. They are of course welcome to come here earlier, but they'd better do so before Tuesday.

And good food.

That's because, coincidentally, the French national railways, SNCF, which includes the TGV system, has announced strikes beginning this coming Tuesday. It's not yet clear how extensive the resulting disruptions in the French rail network will be.

Meanwhile, I have to go see my mechanic today about the pieces that are starting to fall off my car! I need to get it ready so that when our friends get here we will have operable wheels.