EN Worlders in Paris - How's the city during these riots?

[HalWhitewyrm]

My wife and I will be travelling to Paris for Thanksgiving weekend (23 Nov to 30 Nov). I've been following the news closely about these riots in France, but the news can only tell me so much, not to mention they are in the business of being alarmists.

Can EN Worlders from Paris (especially if you are in the city proper) let me know how things are going over there?

Directions to good gaming stores would be nice, too.

It looks like I'll be staying either in the 9th arrondisment, near the Opera Garnier, or in the Marais, near the Jewish Quarter.

Thanks.

 

[fuindordm]

I haven't experienced anything nasty myself, but I live in a wealthy suburb south of Paris. If you fly into Charles de Gaulle you might want to consider taking a taxi into the city instead of the RER train, as that
passes through the middle of the affected suburbs. Keep an eye on the news, but I'd be surprised if this
thing doesn't start dying down pretty soon.

As for Paris advice, the Fireball is an excellent gaming store in the Odéon neighborhood (my group plays there sometimes), and not too far off is a store called des Cartes (a bad pun, France is full of 'em) that has a lot of board/strategy games. Some of the german imported card and board games might be easier to find there. The French are very creative producers of RPGs but these days almost everything they write seems to be coming out exclusively in pdf.

Both the Opéra and the Marais districts are really cool. The Marais is more artsy/clubby/counterculture, and is also the Jewish district. The Opéra is more classy, and has lots of shops, sidewalk cafés, and really good restaurants. Both are very convenient places to set up your home base for exploring the city.

I hope you enjoy your vacation here! I've been living here for a year and a half now, and I am still not tired of exploring the city.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[Zander]

I agree with fuindordm about Jeux Descartes. The best ones are around rue des Ecoles (check out the basement for RPG stuff) and blvd Pasteur (RPG stuff is at the back).

There's a third Jeux Descartes in Paris in the Wagram area IIRC. While it's OK for RPG stuff, the other two are better and easier to find.

There's also a store called Oeuf Cube but they mostly sold CCGs the last time I was there a few years ago.

There's a great site for finding stores, restaurants etc at Pages Jaunes. It has maps and photographs of every store and every commercial street in central Paris so you can see where you're going before you've even set off.

 

[Turanil]

It looks like I'll be staying either in the 9th arrondisment, near the Opera Garnier, or in the Marais, near the Jewish Quarter.

There shouldn't be any problem there. In fact (I live in Paris), I learned about the riots from Internet messageboards! I never saw anything myself, and I am out in town everyday. Although my job consists in watching TV programms at night ( ), I missed the info about them! So, stay in the interesting places only, and you shouldn't see anything wrong yourself.

As for the French writing rpg pdfs, just see my link below, to some of the stuff I wrote myself...

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Thanks for the info, everyone. I'll be checking out the gaming stores later in my map so I can have an idea of where they are relative to stuff I know. My wife won't let me go RPG-hunting, but if we happen to be near something I can squeeze it in.

It looks like, for sure, I'll be in the Marais, near the Centre Pompidou (it's so ugly I love it!).

Keep the info coming.

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Just a friedly bump.

I'd love to know how are things in Paris this week. Since the riots are slowly dying down, the media has decided they are not scary enough to keep demand so much coverage. Besides, I prefer hearing from people in the city.

 

[fuindordm]

Same old, same old. It hasn't affected me much at all, and I don't expect it to.

Last Saturday I had sushi in the Opéra neighborhood and saw Flight Plan at one of the cinemas there. The Christmas decorations are up and they are lovely. One cool feature is that the big department store with animatronic windows has little raised platforms with guardrails in front of the windows, so that little kids can get a good look and not have to worry about adults pushing into them from behind!

Enjoy your visit!

Ben

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Cool, just as I thought. How's the weather?

 

[fuindordm]

Right now, pretty chilly but not too much rain. Pack a winter coat. Paris weather changes quickly, though, so you never know.

Ben

 

[der_kluge]

I haven't been following the news as much as I normally do lately, so I've missed the actual *why* of this riot.

So, without getting too political, can someone tell me why these people have been rioting?