Ferme

It has been reaffirmed. The French love their off-time. My parents and I were in Paris for the weekend and had to do some delicate planning because May 1 is a major major holiday in France. It is Labor Day, which essentially means all tourist attractions in Paris are closed. Sure there are some open, like the churches which don’t really ever close, and then the things that are outside and just to see anyway (Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe). Sadly this May 1 fell on a Saturday. It would have been much more convenient for them to celebrate Labor day on Monday, as many of the places are closed anyway. Many of the Paris museums are closed on Monday and the first Sunday of the month many of the museums are free. What did this mean? Tons of people were unable to see many tourist attractions on Saturday or Monday, so that left Sunday as the major day. There is just no ability to make it to all the places in one day. Not only due to them not being close, but waiting in line takes a significant amount of time, so after waiting in line for the Louvre and spending 2 hours there, you’d have to wait in line at the Orsay for another 2 hours and then try to see it. There is your day for you. Then on Monday we went to see the Invalides which is where Napoleon is buried. When we got there the sign on the door said closed first Monday of the Month. WHY?!?! I get that workers need a day off, but why the first Monday of the month and why isn’t this posted in the guide books. Thankfully Paris is a huge city with many things to do, so we occupied our time well, just a little more particularly planned than expected.