Travelore News: Paris Overtourism Heats Up At Notre Dame And The Louvre

The latest symbols of overtourism are two iconic Paris attractions known worldwide. Notre Dame Cathedral has been overwhelmed by visitors since reopening after a destructive fire and the Louvre museum, home of the “Mona Lisa,” is a crumbling gilded palace, forced to close its doors due to crowds.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Since the December 2024 re-opening of Notre Dame Cathedral, the visitor experience has changed. While always a popular attraction for visitors to Paris, visits were more manageable prior to the fire of 2019.

Crowds have grown considerably, creating long lines of people standing in the forecourt outside the entrance. The average number of daily visitors to Notre Dame currently stands at 29,000, a nearly 20% increase since the re-opening. Depending on the day of the week and time of day, wait times range from 15 minutes to more than two hours.

Strategies for shortening wait time include going first thing in the morning or booking a 30-minute free tour with a timed entry ticket reservation online or via the app. Slots for party sizes up to six people are only available a few hours prior to entry and sell out quickly. Opening times at Notre Dame are normally 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 10 p.m. on Thursdays. The Saturday and Sunday hours are 8:15 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Three daily masses are celebrated at 8 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m.

Louvre Museum

At Musée du Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum, the doors were shuttered on at least one day last week, prompted by exhausted staff refusing to take up their positions.

CNN reports, “The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year — more than double what its infrastructure was designed to accommodate. Even with a daily cap of 30,000, staff say the experience has become a test of endurance, with too few rest areas, limited bathrooms, and summer heat magnified by the pyramid’s greenhouse effect.”

“Roughly 20,000 people a day squeeze into the Salle des États, the museum’s largest room, just to snap a selfie with Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic woman behind protective glass.”

Tickets are required. Tours ae available in Engish, French, Spanish, and Italian. The Louvre hours are Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Extended hours to 9 p.m. are on Wednesday and Friday. Ticket prices are 22 euros, with free admission offered with proof of I.D. to everyone under age 18 and those under age 26 as a resident of the EEA (EU countries plus Norway, Iceland, and Lichtenstein). Additional free admssions are extended to disabled persons plus one, certain art instructors, and journalists with required credentials. Free admission to all is offered on the first Friday of the month after 6 p.m., except during July and August.

https://libertepress.com/author/laurie-jo-miller-farr/

The World Gets Its First Glimpse Inside Notre Dame Cathedral After 5 Years Under Wraps

Five years after a catastrophic fire reduced Notre Dame Cathedral to a smoldering shell, journalists got a first glimpse of the Gothic masterpiece’s fully restored interiors during a visit with French President Emmanuel Macron. The transformation is nothing short of breathtaking: light dances across brilliant stone, gilded accents gleam anew, and the iconic monument’s majesty is reborn. From Dec. 8, visitors will once again marvel at the cathedral’s blend of history and craftsmanship.

Nave: brilliant stone

The nave, once darkened by soot and rubble, now radiates a celestial brilliance. Visitors can see the true color of the cathedral’s walls: a pale Lutetian limestone — named after the Roman word for Paris, Lutecia — that glows under sunlight streaming through restored stained-glass windows. The newfound blond hues highlight the soaring Gothic columns and ribbed vaults, creating a bright and uplifting atmosphere. Restorers say it’s the first time in centuries the true stone has been exposed in this way.

The polished checkerboard marble floor, glistening underfoot, is so smooth it seems you could glide across it — communicating with the gilded, golden grille partition of the choir area.

Overhead, incandescent chandeliers hang majestically from each vaulted arch, stretching from west to east, casting a warm, golden light throughout the nave.

The meticulous restoration process involved cleaning over 42,000 square meters of stone — an area equivalent to roughly six soccer fields — using innovative latex peels to strip away centuries of grime without causing damage. Conservators uncovered mason marks etched by medieval builders — intimate traces of the artisans who shaped Notre Dame in the 12th and 13th centuries.

This gleaming transformation is a stark contrast to the wreckage of 2019, when the nave was strewn with charred debris.

Altar: blaze fused into Christ’s hand

The altar in the cathedral’s chancel carries a poignant symbol of the fire’s devastation. Nicolas Coustou’s Pietà, part of the Vœu de Louis XIII ensemble, survived largely unscathed, but molten lead from the blaze fused into the hand of Christ. Restorers chose to preserve this as a subtle, yet powerful, reminder of the tragedy.

Surrounding the altar, the intricate marquetry floor, long hidden under layers of dirt, has been pieced together from fragments recovered after the fire.

Nearby, the polished Cross of Glory, which famously — literally — glowed amid the flames, now stands restored to its full brilliance. Framed by the radiant blonde stonework of the nave, the cross serves as a centerpiece of the cathedral’s rebirth.

Organ: A complex revival

The grand organ, among the largest and most storied in France, has undergone an intricate revival. Spared from the flames but coated in lead dust, its 8,000 pipes, ranging in size from that of a pen to over 10 meters (33 feet) tall, were painstakingly disassembled, cleaned, and retuned. Over two years, this work was performed with precision in the cathedral’s silent, cavernous interior, where harmonization was achieved entirely by ear.

Now, the organ’s grandeur is unmistakable. Its towering wooden case, marked with carvings left by past craftsmen, gleams under sunlight streaming through restored clerestory windows. Even in silence, it commands awe.

Chapels: murals rediscovered

The 29 chapels circling the nave and choir burst with color and detail previously dulled by dirt and neglect. Restorers revealed intricate murals, gilded stars on ceilings, and vibrant motifs originally created under Eugène Viollet-le-Duc’s direction. Each chapel tells a unique story through its designs and themes.

The Chapel of Saint Marcel stands out as a masterpiece, its mural of the saint’s relics vividly restored. Visitors are captivated by its radiant colors, producing an effect likened to the Sistine Chapel in Rome — a visual firework display. In other chapels, traces of 19th-century painters’ color tests, hidden in nooks, provide glimpses into their artistic process.

Transept crossing: rebuilding under pressure

The transept crossing, where the original spire collapsed, presented one of the restoration’s most formidable challenges. Above, soaring new vaults of Lutetian limestone replicate the medieval originals with remarkable precision.

Beneath the crossing, archaeologists uncovered a trove of history: fragments of Notre Dame’s medieval jubé, or choir screen, buried in the rubble. These intricately carved stones, some still bearing faint traces of polychrome paint, provide a rare glimpse into the cathedral’s vibrant 13th-century decorative history.

Roof, spire and safety measures

The newly restored roof draw gazes skyward, where medieval timber techniques have been faithfully recreated. Known as “the forest,” the intricate wooden framework remains hidden beneath the roofline, but glimpses into the rafters reveal the precision of both ancient and modern craftsmanship.

Outside, the spire rises 96 meters, faithfully replicating Viollet-le-Duc’s 19th-century design. Clad in oak and lead, it stands crowned by a gilded rooster containing relics of St. Denis, St. Genevieve, and a fragment of the Crown of Thorns, alongside a scroll listing contributors to the restoration.

The spire also honors the late General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who oversaw the project until his death in 2023. His name is now etched at its base.

There’s more than meets the eye in this restoration. Notre Dame now features unseen state-of-the-art fire prevention systems to guard against future disasters. Thermal cameras monitor the roof, and a fine misting system, designed to extinguish flames at their source, is seamlessly integrated into the structure. Fireproof barriers divide the roof into compartments, preventing flames from spreading.

Reinforced water supply lines can deliver 600 cubic meters (21,188 cubic feet) of water per hour, ensuring the cathedral is better protected than ever before.

By THOMAS ADAMSON

The Bells Are Back At Notre Dame Cathedral In Paris. They’ll Ring For The Post-Fire Reopening

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is getting its bells back, just in time for the medieval landmark’s reopening following a devastating 2019 fire.

A convoy of trucks bearing eight restored bells — the heaviest of which weighs more than 4 tons — pulled into the huge worksite surrounding the monument Thursday on an island in the Seine River.

They are being blessed in a special ceremony inside the cathedral before being hoisted to hang in its twin towers for the Dec. 8 reopening to the public.

Cathedral Rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, wearing a hardhat as he prepared to enter the cathedral and bless the bells, called them ‘’a sign that the cathedral will again resonate, and that its voice will be heard again. A sign of the call to prayer, and a sign of coming together.”

The bells will be raised one by one and tested out, but they won’t ring in full until the day of the reopening, said Philippe Jost, overseeing the massive Notre Dame reconstruction project. He called the bells’ arrival ‘’a very beautiful symbol of the cathedral’s rebirth.’

While construction on the cathedral started in the 12th century, the bronze bells damaged in the fire are from the 21st century. They were built according to historical tradition to replace older bells that had become discordant, to mark the monument’s 850th anniversary.

The cathedral’s roof and spire, which collapsed in the fire, have been replaced, and scaffolding is being gradually removed from the site.

PARIS (AP)

Paris To Face Major Disruption Ahead Of Games Opening Ceremony, Says Police Chief

Paris will face major disruption ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony along the Seine on July 26, as organisers ramp up security measures to safeguard the event, the city's police chief said.

Organisers hope the opening ceremony, in which 160 boats carrying athletes from around the world will travel a 6 kilometre route along the Seine river towards the Eiffel tower, will deliver a jaw-dropping spectacle. Some 300,000 spectators will watch from the banks of the Seine as a global audience tunes in on TV.

But the ceremony is also a major security headache, taking place against a backdrop of wars in Ukraine and Gaza. French President Emmanuel Macron has already floated the possibility of scrapping the river ceremony and reverting to at least two back-up plans if the security risks become untenable.

Paris residents with a view of the Seine can invite friends to watch the opening of the 2024 Summer Games from their balconies, but should prepare for heavy traffic and limited movement, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said at a press conference.

Adjacent metro stations, most river crossings and all water traffic will be halted in the week before the open-air ceremony, Nunez said, adding that some bridges will remain open "in order not to cut Paris in two halves."

Everyone who wants to access the immediate surroundings of the Seine in the week before the Games will need to sign up on an online platform, Nunez said. Local residents hoping to access their homes, which are among the most prestigious addresses in France, will need to do the same.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, who also spoke at the event said the disruption would impact around 20,000 residents and business owners.

Asked about Macron's comments earlier this month, Nunez said his teams were still working on the 'Plan A' of the river ceremony.

"As of today, we have no reason to be worried," Nunez said.

https://www.reuters.com/authors/vincent-daheron/

Notre Dame Reveals New Spire And Golden Rooster As Scaffolding Removed

The remaining process of removing all of the scaffolding could take weeks if not months.

The scaffolding surrounding the top of Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral was taken down on Monday, nearly five years into the reconstruction process.

Notre Dame Cathedral, ravaged by fire in April 2019, draws closer to its renaissance.

Giant cranes, removing sections of scaffolding, unveiled the cathedral's recently installed spire along with the new golden rooster and a cross that crown it.

While much of the cathedral remains surrounded by scaffolding, the clearing of the structures around its peak offers both the general public and the devout a glimpse into the future appearance of Notre Dame once the restoration is complete.

The last few months have seen remarkable progress on the cathedral’s rebuilding putting it well on track for a December 8 reopening, a date eagerly awaited by Paris residents and millions of tourists who normally visit the cathedral every year.

Although the cathedral will not be open to the public during Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, when millions of visitors flock to the French capital for the Games starting July 26, the rebuilt spire and roof should be complete, giving the cathedral a finished look from outside.

https://www.euronews.com/

As The Olympics Loom, Parisians Ask: Should We Skip Town? Games Organizers Work To Win Their Hearts

Before the Paris Olympics open and upend the French capital’s usual rhythms, retiree Pierre Schapira plans to hire a car and quit town.

But with the intense Olympic security measures and traffic disruptions they’ll cause, will that even be doable? For his answer, Schapira went straight to the top — popping the question this week to chief of police Laurent Nunez himself.

As he’s already done at other town hall meetings, did so again at this one, and will do at more to come, Nunez ever-so-patiently explained that Parisians are going to have to adapt to the July 26-Aug. 11 extravaganza but that it’s not going to put their lives and livelihoods on hold.

“It’s not going to stop you from entering or leaving Paris,” Nunez said Thursday to the audience of about 200 people, including some watching via video link in an overflow room next door.

Holding the Games in the bustling heart of such a compact city, rather than in a purpose-built Olympic park in the outskirts like Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and other previous hosts, was always going to rile and worry some Parisians who can be cantankerous at the best of times. Nunez, Games organizers and City Hall officials are finding that out for themselves as they embark on a concerted campaign to win Parisian hearts and minds and get people in the Olympic mood or, at least, get ready.

“We laugh about it ... because we are spending nearly all of our evenings together,” Deputy Paris Mayor Pierre Rabadan said after he, Nunez and other organizers spent more than two hours at the meeting detailing Games preparations and responding to questions.

“It’s quite time consuming but necessary,” Rabadan said. One of their aims, he added, is “to go against the talk at the moment that it’s better to leave, that being in Paris is going to be a catastrophe and whatnot. You get that at every Games and obviously we knew that because of our concept, we’d hear that, too.”

By mostly using existing sports venues as well as temporary ones that will be erected in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and at other iconic sites before being dismantled again, Paris’ goal is to avoid the legacy of waste and vast cost generated by other Games and reduce the mega-event’s environmental impact. Images of Olympians competing amid the architectural beauty of central Paris should, organizers and the government hope, make France shine.

But for the 2.1 million people who live within the city limits and hundreds of thousands of others who commute in from the suburbs, the consequences of 10,500 athletes competing in their midst are going to be considerable. Traffic restrictions, special permits for this and that, police checkpoints, road and Metro station closures, millions of visitors from elsewhere in France and around the world. The list goes on.

“It’s a fantastic gamble but it’s going to be quite disruptive for residents,” said 79-year-old Schapira after hearing Nunez and the other speakers.

Jean-Pierre Rollin, who owns two souvenir stores near Notre Dame Cathedral on its island in the River Seine, wanted to know whether tourists will be able to get past police checkpoints before and during the July 26 opening ceremony. It is being held on the river and a security cordon will be in place along both banks.

“If we have no customers, there’s no point staying open,” Rollin told Nunez. The police chief acknowledged the security that day is going to make getting around more complicated.

Other questions also focused on the impacts of security measures. One man asked whether there’ll still be fireworks for France’s July 14 national holiday and was told there will.

Only once, when a retailer said he’d heard that daytime deliveries would be banned, did the police chief lose patience, puffing out his cheeks.

Not true, he insisted.

“I can’t repeat things 50,000 times,” he said. “I don’t want to hear things like that.”

The work of preparing people clearly has a way to go. A government website, “Plan for the Games,” offers tips. Among them: avoid Olympic crowds on public transport by riding bikes or walking.

Schapira, the retired dentist and former politician, came out of the meeting thinking that “it is indeed extraordinary to have the Games inside Paris.”

But he was nevertheless grateful that he’ll be in the Alps by then, on holiday.

“I prefer to watch them on the television,” he said. “I’m not enough of a sports fan to stay. I am happy to be leaving.”

BY JOHN LEICESTER, AP

Inside The $760M Restoration Of Notre Dame Cathedral

The spire of Notre Dame, crowned by a brand new golden rooster, regained its place in the Paris skyline last week.

As tourists and Parisians gathered outside the UNESCO-listed cathedral to admire the return of one of its most emblematic features — for now, still encased in scaffolding — the Notre Dame worksite remained in full swing. Nearly 500 craftspeople are busy with rebuilding efforts, working to ensure the Parisian landmark is ready for its grand reopening to the public less than a year from now.

“It’s fascinating to see how something of such historical value is being restored,” said Stephan Book, a tourist visiting Paris from Sweden with his daughter and 80-year-old father. “And the ambition to do it all in five years,” he added, “It’s like when Kennedy said (humans) were going to the moon.”

On a recent visit to the construction site, President Emmanuel Macron promised works were “on schedule” for Notre Dame to open to the public on December 8, 2024, five years and seven months after the fire that destroyed large parts of the 860-year-old building in April 2019.

“By the time the Olympic Games come around (in July), we expect to have un-scaffolded the upper part of the spire and completed most of the roofing, so that Parisians and visitors from all over the world can see just how close the cathedral is to reopening,” Philippe Jost of Rebuilding Notre Dame de Paris (the public body responsible for the conservation and restoration of the cathedral), told the French parliament on December 13.

Already, those admiring the gothic structure from the outside are excited by the prospect of being able to re-enter the cathedral.

“The first time I came to Paris was 60 years ago, then 40 years ago,” said Stephan’s father, Göran Book, who remembers entering Notre Dame on every one of his previous visits to Paris. “Now I’m 80,” he added. “If I’m still alive next year, I’ll have to come back to see the reopening.”

A monumental effort

According to Rebuilding Notre Dame de Paris, there are nearly 250 companies and art workshops across France tasked with “working on the cathedral’s renaissance.” This includes carpenters, stonemasons, scaffolders, sculptors, gilders, glassmakers and even organ builders, who are restoring the 8,000 pipes and 115 stops of Notre Dame’s great organ, the largest in France.

After the 2019 fire, the first two years of work were devoted to securing the building, completing project studies and awarding tenders. The restoration phase then officially began in September 2021.

In recent months, the most visible advances have been made on the restoration of the framework of the roof, the spire and the large upper galleries.

Alban Dubois, who works as a waiter in Cafe Panis, just across the street from Notre Dame, has been observing the daily progress from the windows of his workplace.

He was there, serving tables, on the day of the infamous fire, and remembers watching in shock as the flames grew larger and the windows of his restaurant became progressively hotter. “People gathered (in the restaurant) and looked on helplessly,” he said. “Some people were crying… It was all very sad.”

Now, Dubois looks forward to the cathedral reopening and predicts lots of people will stop by to pay it a visit. “Even though (Notre Dame) has been here for so many years, it’s going to be a bit like an inauguration,” he said.

According to Jost, 14 million visitors are expected to “flock to see the results of (the) restoration.”

Marking the 21st century

While Notre Dame’s original appearance will be restored, President Macron has also expressed a desire for our century to “have its place among the many others that feature in the works of this cathedral.”

Earlier this month, he announced a competition to allow contemporary artists to recreate six of the stained glass windows on the southern side of Notre Dame, in order to “mark this 21st century.”

In similarly commemorative fashion, the name of the French general who had been overseeing the reconstruction of Notre Dame before his death in a mountain accident earlier this year, was engraved in the wood of the spire. Jean-Louis Georgelin “will remain forever” part of Notre Dame, said Macron, who personally took part in the engraving process on December 8, the day that the cathedral’s oak spire regained its place.

The names of others who took part in the reconstruction of Notre Dame have also been made a permanent fixture of the new cathedral. A sealed tube was placed inside the golden rooster mounted atop the spire on December 16, containing a document listing the 2,000 names of those who have been involved in the works.

The cathedral spire’s previous rooster had been found, damaged among the rubble, the day after the fire. Inside it were the relics (the mortal remains) of Saint Denis and Saint Geneviève, as well as a fragment of Christ’s crown of thorns, all of which remained intact and have now been placed inside the new rooster, according to the Diocese of Paris.

The old rooster — alongside the six stained glass windows set to be replaced — will be housed in a new museum dedicated to Notre Dame, the opening of which was announced recently by Macron. “It will be a museum of art, a museum of history, a museum to describe the permanent construction site of Notre Dame de Paris,” he said.

The cost of rebuilding Notre Dame is expected to be approximately 700 million euros ($767 million). In total, 846 million euros ($928 million) were raised in donations from 340,000 donors in 150 countries, according to Rebuilding Notre Dame de Paris.

Jost has said that any donated money that isn’t spent on the reconstruction will likely be used to “benefit the cathedral” in other ways

https://www.cnn.com/

Paris Is Getting A Huge Whole New Metro Network, With A Targeted Opening For The Olympics

With gorgeous art nouveau entrances, maze-like tunnels and trains that rattle briskly under, and occasionally over, some of the world’s most famous streets, it’s a transport network that has inspired movies, novels and poetry.

It has stations named after a South American revolutionary, a US president and a Soviet victory. Fittingly, in a city that is home to some of the world’s most famous galleries, some of the stations are considered works of art in their own right.

But the Paris Métro railway system, built in the 1900s and now carrying nearly four million passengers every day, is struggling to cope with the demands of modern commuting, its ageing facilities and infrastructure creaking under the city’s growing population.

For many in Paris, particularly those living or working around its less fashionable outer suburbs, it’s a challenge to navigate across the city without having to route each journey through the central districts, adding travel time and worsening congestion.

But change is coming – and on a huge scale. The venerable Paris Métro is about to get its most significant upgrade in decades with the arrival of the Grand Paris Express, a new 200-kilometer (120-mile) system that will add four lines and 68 brand-new stations to the network.

These will mainly be connecting suburban towns without passing through the densely populated city of Paris – adding outer rings to an underground map of Paris that has, until now, been made of 14 lines that only reach out from the center like spokes.

It’s been an epic undertaking. Construction of the lines, which began in 2016, is the biggest civilian infrastructure project in Europe, according to the French government. Inevitably, given the scale, it has been hit by delays.

Driverless trains

But that didn’t stop the city from showing some Parisian pzazz late last month as the first train for the new Métro lines was taken for a test drive, attracting crowds of invited onlookers to a railway depot in the suburb of Champigy-sur-Marne.

The 108-meter-long six-car train, the first of its kind produced by Alstom for the Grand Paris Express, made its debut amid triumphal music and a light show of lasers in the French flag colors of white, blue and red.

“To change people’s lives, we will have to change how they move,” French Transport Minister Clément Beaune said at the November 28 event, which saw the train make a successful two-kilometer test run along a section of line 15, one of the new routes.

A rendering showing how part of Gare Villejuif, one of the stations on the new Grand Paris Express network, will look.

France hopes the Grand Paris Express will significantly cut transport time for suburb-to-suburb movement on public transit and reduce car usage for residents in the Greater Paris region.

Unlike other Métro lines, it will use driverless trains to create a fully automatic rapid transport network, meaning there will be no need to hire and train new drivers, plus there will be greater resilience against disruptions from strikes.

“We are on the right track for success,” Beaune laughed. “It will serve as a good example for cities across France.”

Paris was among the world’s first cities to have a metro system. Its first line opened in 1900 as part of the city’s construction efforts to host the Olympic Games that same year. It expanded rapidly and extensively during the decades that followed.

Prior to the opening of the Grand Paris Express, it had already evolved into a sprawling 800-kilometer mega system encompassing 16 central city metro lines and five Réseau Express Régional, or RER, commuter rail lines for the surrounding suburbs.

The new project will introduce four new lines – 15, 16, 17 and 18 - plus extensions to existing lines 11 and 14.

A greener future

For many living in the city, the new routes can’t come quickly enough.

“I love living in Versailles but sometimes it’s just a lot,” said Lauren Bain, 26, a journalist working in Paris but living in the city of Versailles, roughly 20 kilometers southwest of the capital.

Bain says she attends church in the neighboring town of Saint Aubin, ostensibly a 20-minute drive away, but two hours by bus, which is how she currently makes the journey. It can take even longer; she was stuck on a bus half-submerged in water during heavy rainfall.

She commutes to work in the center of Paris via the RER C line, which she has little love for despite the convenience of a station in Versailles.

Once the new Grand Paris Express line 18 opens, connecting Versailles directly to Saint Aubin, as well as Paris Orly Airport, the city’s second-busiest, her options are set to improve.

“Line 18 cannot open sooner,” Bain said.

Mohamed Mezghani, secretary general of the International Association of Public Transport, based in Brussels, says the new lines puts Paris at the forefront of city public transport networks – alongside Tokyo, Moscow and Washington D.C., looking to reduce environmental impact through suburban interconnectivity.

“The Grand Paris Express, with its circular lines, encourages movement from suburb to suburb,” Mezghani said.

“People in big cities are realizing that cars are not a solution, congestion keeps worsening and building more roads will only attract more traffic.

“We need this updated version of public transportation.”

“That thing is terrible,” she said. “I arrive late at work all the time! Just earlier this week, my train was canceled for no reason.”

The Olympic finish line

One big question for many Parisians – and for visitors to the city – is whether the new network will be operational in time for the 2024 Olympic Games, which will mostly be staged around the French capital.

This was the original plan when the project was announced by then President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2009, long before the city won its Olympic bid. But numerous delays have stretched the timeline.

A full opening of line 14 by now, plus partial opening of lines 15, 16, 17 and 18, which together connect to both Paris international airports, had been promised by Sarkozy and his successor François Hollande.

However, the project has been hit by various setbacks during the years, including construction site floods, delays in equipment delivery, and perhaps most crucial of all, the Covid pandemic.

And eight months before the 2024 Olympic Games, only the extension of line 14 to Orly Airport is expected to open in time. The other lines will gradually come on line starting in late 2025, according to the project’s official website.

France’s Transport Ministry remains upbeat about the impact the new rail lines will have on Paris, insisting that network capacity will be increased by 15% in time for the Games, which are forecast to attract millions of visitors to the city, already a popular summer destination.

“Our action plan is clear, and we’re on schedule,” it told CNN.

Even behind schedule, the new lines are likely to enhance the French capital’s appeal.

As writer Ernest Hemingway once remarked: “There are only two places in the world where we can live happy: at home and in Paris.” And once the new Grand Express lines open, hopefully the distance between them will shrink a little further.

By Xiaofei Xu, CNN

Monet Painting To Go On Sale At Paris Auction For First Time In Decades

A painting by French impressionist master Claude Monet, which has remained in private hands since 1948, is expected to fetch up to 3 million euros ($3.22 million) when it goes under the hammer later this month in Paris, auction house Ader said.

The landscape "Les Saules, Giverny" ("The Willows, Giverny"), dating from 1886, is reappearing on the French art market, where Monet’s paintings have become increasingly rare.

It is one of around three dozen lots at the upcoming Ader auction house's sale of impressionist and modern art at Hotel Drouot slated for Nov. 24.

"Paintings of Claude Monet of this scale, of this dimension no longer really exist among French families. They're found mostly in big museums or in foreign collections, but it's very rare to find them in France," Ader auctioneer David Nordmann told Reuters on Friday in a preview of the sale.

Monet's oil painting - measuring 73cm by 92cm (28.7 inches by 36.2 inches) - belonged to a family of Jewish origin, and was displayed in their luxurious flat in central Paris. The family's grandfather purchased the painting from a gallery in Nice in 1948, and it has remained in the family's hands since.

Though not as famous as Monet's water lilies or the Gare Saint Lazare paintings, which can command prices reaching 100 million euros, "Les Saules, Giverny" bears the artist's trademark style.

"It's an oeuvre typical of Claude Monet, notably by the brush strokes and how he makes the light come out," Nordmann said.

Monet found solace in Giverny, west of Paris, from 1883 until his death in 1926, transforming a pink stucco house into his permanent home and studio, and growing a Japanese-style garden of flowers and trees spread across a pond of water lilies, which inspired many of his paintings.

The auction also includes a work by American painter Mary Cassatt. "Portrait de Jeune Fille au Chapeau Blanc" ("Portrait of a Young Woman in a White Hat") is estimated at 800,000 to 1.2 million euros.

($1 = 0.9324 euros)

By Clotaire Achi, Michaela Cabrera and Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Bill Berkrot

Travelore News: Air France To Stop Most Domestic Flights From Orly Airport By 2026

(Reuters) - Air France said it would stop operating most domestic flights from Paris-Orly airport by the summer of 2026 and operate domestic and international flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport to cope with falling demand for domestic flights.

"The rise of video conferencing, the drop in domestic business travel and the growing shift toward rail are leading to a structural fall in demand on Air France's domestic point-to-point network," the airline said in a statement.

Between 2019 and 2023, traffic on domestic routes out of Paris-Orly fell by 40%, and by 60% for day return trips, it said.

Air France said the impact on jobs in the regional airports of Toulouse, Marseille and Nice would be limited, and would be managed through voluntary transfers and departures.

Regarding employees based in Paris-Orly, it said staffing needs at Paris-Charles de Gaulle would be such by 2026 to guarantee everyone an equivalent position at the Roissy site.

Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; editing by Christina Fincher

Travelore News: Star Alliance Opens New Lounge At Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport

Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance, today inaugurated its second lounge at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Starting October 13, it will welcome First and Business Class passengers and Star Alliance Gold status customers on member airline flights departing from gates 10 to 38 in Terminal 1. Eligible United Club and Air Canada Maple Leaf Club members may also access the lounge.

The new lounge is conveniently located airside after immigration and security controls in the newest part of the terminal. The sprawling but intimate space can accomodate over 300 guests across approximately 1,300 square meters. It has been designed by the leading architecture firm, Gensler, which also designed the award-winning Star Alliance Los Angeles airport lounge in 2013.

Star Alliance CEO Theo Panagiotoulias said: “Star Alliance stands for elevating the experience of its member airline passengers, and airport lounges play a vital role. We’re very proud to present our new Paris lounge, which is not only a delight to experience but also thoughtfully designed to meet the needs of the modern frequent traveller.”

With great runway views, the lounge offers ample natural light with a glass façade running across its length, giving a sense of further largeness to the space. It continues the design tradition of uniting the evolving desires of today’s travellers with an ambience inspired by the local touch of the destination.

The space is enriched by local brands and artists for the quintessential French charm. Reminiscent of the timeless Parisian aesthetics with wall mouldings and archways, decorated with captivating black and white photographs of the Eiffel Tower, and furnished with meticulously selected pieces by French artists, the lounge promises a visual delight like no other.

Standout features include a stunningly designed Welcome Bar offering a range of beverages, an immersive Wine Bar featuring master wine maker Gerard Bertrand and their wines from the South of France, and a Tea Salon offering an assortment from around the world. For business travellers who prefer a quieter space, there are private work cabins and secluded nooks throughout the lounge.

“Our new Paris lounge expands the count of Star Alliance branded lounges to seven worldwide and takes the airport lounge experience to new heights,” said Christian Draeger, Star Alliance’s Vice President for Customer Experience. “Whether it is the design, décor or the F&B experience, we have carefully curated the lounge for a multi-sensorial experience for guests departing from the dazzling city of Paris.”

The new Star Alliance Paris Lounge offers something for every visitor. Guests can unwind in an abundantly lit Winter Garden or a spacious outdoor courtyard, or freshen up in the well-appointed shower suites.

There are two Star Alliance lounges operating in Terminal 1 now. The first lounge, refurbished in 2019 and located prior to security on level 10, will now serve passengers departing on intra-Schengen flights from gates 50 to 78, as well as guests from various lounge access programs departing from all gates.

At present, 20 Star Alliance member carriers operate from Paris – CDG, offering 464 weekly departures to 34 destinations in 22 countries.

New Van Gogh Show In Paris Focuses On Artist’s Extraordinarily Productive And Tragic Final Months

Planted in a field, Vincent van Gogh painted furiously, bending the thick oils, riotous yellows and sumptuous blues to his will. The resulting masterpiece, “Wheatfield with Crows,” bursts off the canvas like technicolor champagne. Art historians believe the Dutch master painted it on July 8, 1890.

As far as they can tell, Van Gogh then churned out another stunning work the very next day, July 9, of more wheat fields under thunderous clouds. In the painting’s vibrant greens, the mind’s eye can imagine the artist working frenetically amid the sashaying stalks.
On or around July 10, then came yet another Van Gogh marvel — a painting of a tidy garden with a prowling cat. And the day after that, July 11, the artist appears to have headed back to the fields, likely having risen early as was his habit, painting them spotted with blood-red poppies, under skies of swirling blue.

At age 37 and the height of his powers, Van Gogh was splurging out genius at a rate of a painting a day. But less than three weeks later, he was dead, shot by his own hand.

A new exhibition at Paris’ Orsay Museum that focuses on Van Gogh’s last two months before his death on July 29, 1890, is extraordinary and extraordinarily painful — because this final period in the artist’s life was also one of his most productive. The tragic paradox of the unprecedented assemblage of paintings and drawings is that it shows Van Gogh on fire creatively just as his life was tick-tick-tocking to its fateful end.

After a year’s stay in a psychiatric hospital, which he entered voluntarily a few months after cutting off his left ear, Van Gogh had resettled in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris. It had picturesque landscapes that also inspired Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro and other artists. And it had a doctor who specialized in depression, Paul Gachet, who took Van Gogh on as a patient.

Adhering to the doctor’s advice, Van Gogh went into creative overdrive, throwing himself into his work to not dwell on his mental illness. He churned out an astounding 74 paintings, including some of his masterpieces, and dozens of drawings in 72 days.

After arriving May 20 in Auvers and checking into an auberge, Van Gogh immediately got busy with his brushes and paints, apparently polishing off at least seven paintings of houses, flowering chestnut trees and Dr. Gachet’s garden in his first week.

“Painting quickly was important for him, to capture a feeling, to capture a vision,” Emmanuel Coquery, one of the show’s curators, said.

“He’d get up very early in the morning, around 5 o’clock, have his coffee, go out with his easel, canvas and brushes, and set up in front of the subject he’d identified. He would paint all morning and go back to work in the studio in the afternoon,” Coquery said.

“He’d spend his whole days painting, perhaps 12 hours a day.”

For the exhibit titled “Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: The Final Months,” the Musée d’Orsay, which boasts the world’s richest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art, has assembled around 40 of Van Gogh’s paintings and about 20 drawings from this fleeting, tragic period. It took four years of research and persuasion to liberate valuable works on loan from other museums and collections, with the Orsay clinching deals by also loaning some of its pieces in return.

The exhibit includes 11 paintings that Van Gogh painted on unusual elongated canvases, experimenting to stunning effect. Their dimensions — 1 meter long, 50 centimeters tall (30 inches by 19.6 inches) — give the paintings a dramatic, wide-screen, panorama look.

Loaned from eight museums and collections, it is the first time the 11 paintings have been shown together. Another version of the exhibition, with 10 of the elongated canvases, was first shown at Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum earlier this year.

They include the masterful “Wheatfield with Crows,” loaned from Amsterdam, with its foreboding black birds that can almost be heard caw-cawing as they take flight.

Equally poignant, but also unnerving, is “Tree Roots,” in part because it is thought to be Van Gogh’s last work.

He is thought to have painted it on July 27, 1890, before shooting himself in the chest that evening. Van Gogh managed to get back to his room but died two days later. Two American authors cast doubt on this account in 2011, suggesting the artist was shot by two teenage boys. But the ultimately fatal suicide attempt is the version more widely believed.

In the painting’s jumble of tree roots in blues that wrestle for attention with the greens of shaggy undergrowth and the browns of soil, the viewer imagines confusion, angst and pain. In 2020, a Dutch researcher pinpointed the exact location where Van Gogh painted the work, a discovery that shed new light on the anguished artist’s final hours.

Like the music of rock god Jimi Hendrix, the poetry of Sylvia Plath or the graffiti wildness of New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, the Van Gogh show forces the question: What other marvels would he have left had he lived longer?

Yet being able to experience the world through Van Gogh’s eyes, with his colors and scenes so alive that they seem to breathe, is also a gift that keeps on giving. For the viewer, the show is a mind-blowing combination of regret and awe.

“The quality is dazzling,” said Coquery, the curator. “It’s a real fireworks show.”

“Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: The Final Months” runs at the Musée d’Orsay through Feb. 4, 2024.

BY JOHN LEICESTER, AP.

As Claims Of A Paris Bedbug Infestation Go Viral, One Hotel Worker Has Revealed How Tourists Can Check Their Room For The Unwelcome Guests.

Bedbugs are thought to have been around for millions of years but they’re currently causing a panic in Paris.

Worried people have shared videos claiming to be of the bugs crawling all over the French capital’s metro seats and in cinemas.

Bedbugs can easily travel home with tourists either on their clothing or in their luggage and they’re incredibly hard to get rid of.

So how can tourists avoid an infestation? A hotel worker, Halee, shared her advice on TikTok @haleewithaflair, and said the key is to turn out the lights when guests enter their hotel room.

She said: “This is how I check my room before I unpack and get settled into the room. The first thing you’re going to want to do is make sure your room is dark.

“Turn off lights, close any shades and use the flashlight on your phone. While everything is off, you’re going to come up here under the covers.

“This one does have a mattress pad but you’re going to check under all the creases.”

Halee demonstrated how tourists should check under the creases of their bed and lift up the sheets to check for bedbugs. She added: “They usually like to hang out in the corners and the creases.”

The hotel worker even lifts up the hotel’s mattress to check if any of the bugs are hiding beneath it.

She warned: “Even if you don’t see bugs, make sure you check for spots, like blood spots because that’s not a good sign either.”

Tourists should never place their luggage on the bed. It’s best to keep it on a hotel luggage rack or on the floor to avoid contamination.

Hallee reminded guests it’s not just the bed that could be a target for bedbugs. The creatures could also hide on an ironing board or in the room’s curtains.

The bugs are usually about 5mm long and dark yellow, red or brown in colour while the eggs are white.

Holidaymakers should wash their clothes on a hot wash if they’re concerned about bedbugs and inform their hotel immediately.

How to protect yourself against bedbugs while travelling

Whether or not there are bed bugs lurking in hidden corners of your hotel room is largely unknown, and very much out of your control. You can use a bedbug trap to detect whether there are any critters lurking around your belongings/
Source: https://www.express.co.uk/journalist/123096/Esther-Marshall .

One Of Paris’ Most Popular Attractions, The Centre Pompidou, Is Closing For Five Years

The third most visited cultural site in Paris needs a makeover. After enchanting art and architecture fans for 50 years with its inside-out construction, the Centre Pompidou is to close for five years for an overhaul.

The center, which contains galleries, a library and a restaurant within its groundbreaking exterior of pipes and conduits, will be shuttered from 2025 to 2030 to undergo repairs and construction work that officials say are needed to ensure the unusual building’s future.

France’s minister of culture, Rima Abdul Malak, announced the work earlier this month saying that the modernization and asbestos removal project, estimated to cost 260 million euros ($282 million), will “perpetuate its survival.”

The closure was initially expected to take place from September 2023, but has been postponed until after the Summer Olympics to be staged in Paris in 2024.

Located in the heart of Paris, the Pompidou – named after former French President Georges Pompidou – attracts several millions of visitors a year. The Pompidou also offers one of the best views of the city.

The refurbishment aims to reinvent the “original utopia” of the Centre Pompidou while responding to the cultural, societal and environmental challenges of the coming years, Laurent Le Bon, the landmark’s president, told CNN.

One of the highlights of the renovation will be a brand new 1,500-square-meter terrace with vistas over the west of the city. The work will also help reduce the center’s energy bill by 60%. “We are probably one of the most energy-consuming buildings in France so this is rather good news,” Le Bon said.

In the meantime, visitors will still be able to access some of the Centre Pompidou’s highlights. The 400,000 books of its public library will move to Le Lumière, a temporary site in Paris’s Bercy district, while artworks from its National Modern Art Museum, will be exhibited across Paris, wider France and abroad.

Designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers – who both went on to create some of the most famous buildings of the past 50 years – the Centre Pompidou was built on a former parking lot. Pompidou himself was inspired by art museums across the Atlantic.

“I would like, passionately, for Paris to have a cultural center such as they have tried to create in the United States with unequal success so far, which would be both a museum and a center of creation,” he said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper in 1972.

But when architectural plans featuring external tubes and pipes were drawn up, the president was faced with skepticism. Critics said its blue, red and green pipes and nautical architecture would clash with the classic Haussmannian look of the City of Lights.

“It was nicknamed the ocean liner, the refinery, Our Lady of the Pipes,” recalls Laurent Le Bon. “When it came out of the ground in the heart of Paris – we’re really in historic Paris, in the Marais – it caused an aesthetic shock.”

Yet, the building that French poet Francis Ponge described as “a heart, a muscle, a pump breathing in and out in continuous beats” became a national landmark in the span of half a century. A space meant to live and breathe with its time, “not so much a monument, more, to invent a word, a moviment,” he wrote in his booklet “L’Écrit Beaubourg” in 1977.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/

Paris Votes On Banishing E-Scooters

The wheels may be about to come off Paris’ ubiquitous for-hire electric scooters.

Zipping around the City of Light on one of them, wind in the hair, or romantically but naughtily e-scooting à deux on one machine when the gendarmes aren’t looking could soon be over if Parisians vote to do away with the 15,000 opinion-dividing micro-vehicles.

The question City Hall is asking in a citywide mini-referendum is: “For or against self-service scooters in Paris?”

The answer could doom a leading market for the swift two-wheelers that have expanded locomotion choices in the French capital and other urban centers and towns around the world.

Scattered around Paris, easy to locate and hire with a downloadable app and relatively cheap, the scooters are a hit with tourists who love their speed and the help-yourself freedom they offer. In the five years since their introduction, following in the wake of shared cars and shared bicycles, for-hire scooters have also built a following among Parisians who don’t want or can’t afford their own but like the option to escape the Metro and other public transport.

But amid complaints that e-scooters are an eyesore and a traffic menace, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and some of her deputies want to banish the “free floating” flotilla — so called because scooters are picked up and dropped off at their renters’ whim — on safety, public nuisance and cost-benefit grounds before the capital hosts the Olympic Games next year.

Paris’ deputy mayor for transport, David Belliard, says the scooters have been involved in hundreds of accidents. He also says they are more environmentally damaging than walking or riding a bike or bus, and too speedy and anarchic in a crowded, compact and historic city where space is at a premium.

They create “a feeling of overall insecurity in the public space, notably for the most vulnerable people, I’m thinking of seniors or people with disabilities,” he said in an interview Friday with The Associated Press. “There are a few benefits but what I see today is that the costs are greater.”

Paris’ contracts with the three rental companies — Dott, Lime and TIER — expire at the end of August. Whether for-hire e-scooters survive in Paris beyond that will depend on the poll that’s open to all of the city’s registered voters, including those from other European Union

“Whatever the result, we will respect it,” Belliard pledged. Hidalgo has promised likewise and said that she, too, hopes Parisians will vote against the scooters.

Scooter critics say the machines are particularly dangerous in the hands of tourists who don’t know how to navigate Paris’ frenetic, honk-honk, get-out-of-my-way traffic and the many users who flout the rules and risk fines by riding two to a scooter and by mounting sidewalks, sometimes barreling through pedestrians.

“I regularly, in fact pretty much all the time, see tourists riding them in pairs, people who often are oblivious to what they are doing, who aren’t in control of the scooter,” says Raphael Sicat, an IT manager who commutes on an electric monocycle to his Paris office. He says he often sees crashes involving for-hire scooters on his 40-kilometer (25-mile) round trip.

Swiss tourist Ler Detelj loves the adrenaline rush.

“It’s fast and it’s easy and it’s cool,” she said as she and two friends took scooters for a whirl from the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

The three scooter operators say they transported nearly 2 million people in the city last year and that 71% of Parisian users are under 35. They’ve used social media influencers, some of them paid, and messages on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok in a get-out-the-vote drive targeting that age group. They are also offering a free round-trip ride Sunday on their scooters or electric bikes to users who enter the words “Je vote” — I vote in French — into their apps.

Garance Lefèvre, a director of public policy for one of the operators, Lime, says women and LGBTQ+ people value the scooters as a safe mode of late-night travel and that the two-wheelers have generally become ingrained in Parisian habits. The city has “really raised the standards for the entire industry,” she said, and operators have created “durable and responsible jobs.”

“Paris has been the pioneer in terms of welcoming shared micro-mobility,” she says. “Paris would really be an outlier if it decided to put an end to the service.”

By JOHN LEICESTER

Travelore News: Louvre Staff Block Entrances As Part Of Pension Protest

PARIS (AP) — The Louvre Museum in Paris was closed to the public on Monday when its workers took part in the wave of French protest strikes against the government’s unpopular pension reform plans.

Dozens of Louvre employees blocked the entrance, prompting the museum to announce it would be temporarily closed.

The demonstrators toted banners and flags in front of the Louvre’s famed pyramid, where President Emmanuel Macron had celebrated his presidential victory in 2017. They demanded the repeal of the new pension law that raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.

The showbusiness, broadcasting and culture branch of the CGT union tweeted an image of the Mona Lisa with an aged and wrinkled face, with the words: “64 it’s a No!”

The action comes on the eve of another nationwide protest planned for Tuesday against the bill — and as Macron holds a meeting with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to discuss the way forward. The Louvre is always closed on Tuesdays, so staff protested a day earlier.

Some tourists were stoic about the artistic blockade.

“If you firmly believe that this will bring some change, there’s plenty of other things that we can see in Paris,” said Britney Tate, a 29-year-old doctoral student from California.

Others who had traveled thousands of miles were more vocal about the inconvenience.

“We’re going to respect their strike tomorrow, but to do this today, it’s just heartbreaking,” said Karma Carden, a tourist from Fort Myers, Florida. “We knew that Versailles would not be open because of the protest, but we knew the Louvre was open.

“I understand why they’re upset, but (it’s bad) to do this to people from around the world who’ve traveled from around the world for this and paid thousands of dollars,” she added.

Paris: Notre Dame Cathedral Set To Reopen In December 2024

The reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is going fast enough to allow its reopening to visitors and faithful at the end of 2024, less than six years after a fire ravaged its roof, French officials said Monday.

The cathedral’s iconic spire, which collapsed in the blaze, will gradually start reappearing above the monument this year in a powerful signal of its revival, the army general in charge of the colossal project, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, said.

“The return of the spire in Paris’ sky will in my opinion be the symbol that we are winning the battle of Notre Dame,” he told the Associated Press.

The reconstruction itself started last year, after more than two years of work to make the monument stable and secure enough for artisans to start rebuilding it.

Authorities have made the choice to rebuild the 12th century monument, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, the way it was before. That includes recreating the 93-meter-high (315 ft) spire added in the 19th century by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc.

Meanwhile, an exhibition called “Notre-Dame de Paris: at the heart of the construction site” is to open to visitors on Tuesday in an underground facility in front of the cathedral. Accessible for free, it highlights ongoing operations on the site and the expertise and skills of workers. It also features some remains from the fire and works of art from the cathedral.

Gen. Georgelin said the cathedral will reopen in December 2024, in line with the goal set by President Emmanuel Macron just after the fire — yet it will be too late for the Paris Olympic Games scheduled in summer next year.

“My job is to be ready to open this cathedral in 2024. And we will do it,” Gen. Georgelin said. “We are fighting every day for that and we are on a good path.”

This “means that the archbishop of the capital will be in a capacity again to celebrate the Catholic liturgy in his cathedral” and the monument will also “be open for tourists to visit,” he said.

Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak told the AP that this doesn’t mean all the renovation will be finished then. “There will still be some renovation work going on in 2025,” she stressed.

Meanwhile, the new exhibition near the cathedral will allow visitors, including those coming for the Olympics, “to live what could be this experience of visiting Notre-Dame in a brand new way,” she said. In addition to the free visit, a virtual reality show will allow paying visitors to dive into the history of the cathedral. “That will help also tourism in Paris,” she added.

Everyday in the capital and across the country, about 1,000 people work to rebuild Notre Dame, Gen. Georgelin said.

“The biggest challenge is to comply precisely every day to the planning we have done,” he stressed. “We have a lot of different works to achieve: the framework, the painting, the stones, the vault, the organ, the stained glass and so on.”

Philippe Jost, managing director of the government agency overseeing the reconstruction, noted that the result “will be faithful to the original architecture” both because “we are sticking to the vanished shapes of the cathedral” and because ”we are also sticking to the materials and construction methods” of medieval times.

“We don’t do concrete vaults that look like stone, we do stone vaults that we rebuild as they were built in the Middle Ages,” Jost said, adding that the roof framework will also be made from oak like it initially was.

By JEFFREY SCHAEFFER and SYLVIE CORBET

Stella McCartney Dabbles In Art At Eco-Pioneering Paris Show

It was as much art fair as fashion show for Stella McCartney, who put on an art-infused spring collection at Paris Fashion Week on Monday that vibrated with flashes of color.

Iconic Japanese contemporary artist Yoshitomo Nara collaborated on the designs showcased at Paris’ Pompidou Center Modern Art Museum, while art megastar Jeff Koons casually popped in to say ‘hello’ to McCartney post-show, peering at her comically across an atelier of world-famous sculptures by Constantin Brancusi.

The display also pioneered the use of regenerative cotton.

Here are some highlights of spring-summer 2023 collections:

STELLA GOES ARTSY

A yellow, red and blue carpeted runway dazzled VIP guests for McCartney’s show in the outdoor courtyard of Paris’ Pompidou Center — a set created in homage to the art museum’s famous colored, structuralist exterior.

This vibrancy continued in the spring fare that was typically fluid and sporty, with moments of bright color.

This season, chic garments such as asymmetrical white minidresses cut on the bias, or tight pink scuba tops with a scooped side silhouette, were to become the canvas for Nara’s vivid imagination.

On the front of them, the Japanese artist had created striking images of big-eyed girls and children in animal costumes — which the house described as “sinister.”

The most-fun looks were in all-out-color, such as a stiff looking chalky yellow scuba top and pant look accessorized with bouncy black flip-flops and a blown up handbag.

That cut a fine look against the bright yellow catwalk and had fashion insiders reaching for their cameras.

ECO-MCCARTNEY MAKES REGENERATIVE COTTON

Speaking backstage after a brief greet with her supportive Beatles father Paul McCartney, Stella said she was “chuffed” that this spring collection set a house record for being 87% sustainable.

“It’s my most sustainable yet. I hope nothing was sacrificed; you shouldn’t see any of the sustainability — it should still look luxurious,” she said, to the group of nodding editors amid the sound of popping champagne.

Since her house was acquired by luxury giant LVMH, McCartney has also taken up a lobbying role inside the company for it to be more eco-aware. This season, one of the fruits of that appeared on the runway. The designer said LVMH has paid for a three-year pilot to make regenerative cotton — grown in ways that maintain the health of the soil.

She said that the process “captures carbon in the soil” and “encourages nature as opposed to destroying it with pesticides.”

Elaborating on her advisory role inside the world’s biggest luxury group, McCartney described it as bringing a “positive impact,” especially having CEO Bernard Arnault on the front row seeing up close the success of eco-friendly ready-to-wear.

“He’s not stupid — it filters in,” she said. “He can look at all of those bags and all of those shoes and all of those non-leather jackets and he can compare between his other houses and see that there is no sacrifice visually.”

By THOMAS ADAMSON

Travelore News: Flights Disrupted As French Air Traffic Controllers Walk Out

Many domestic and some international flights were canceled in France Friday as air traffic controllers went on a national strike over pay and recruitment issues.

French civil aviation authority DGAC warned that domestic traffic would be “severely disrupted” with many flights canceled and other experiencing long delays. Travelers have been advised to postpone their trip if possible.

Air France said it has canceled 55% of its short- and medium-haul flights and 10% of its long-haul flights. The company could not rule out further delays and last-minute cancellations, it said in a statement.

Other companies operating in France, including Ryanair, Easyjet and Volotea, have also canceled flights.

Mamadou Souré, 42, arrived Friday morning at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport from Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

“We were supposed to take a flight to Milan at 9:30 a.m. but it was canceled, but thank God we found a flight at 1:30 p.m. for Turin. We’ll see if we can make it to Milan from there,” he said.

Maria Oudon, from Orlando, Florida, was relieved to see her flight mentioned as “on time” on the airport’s board. “We did spend all night worrying about it because they said to possibly change your flight or have other options. And we still came because we had to take our daughter to school,” she said.

France’s main union of air traffic controllers, the SNCTA, called the one-day strike to demand higher pay amid soaring inflation and demanding more staff to be hired in the coming years.

Eiffel Tower To Go Dark Earlier As Paris Saves Energy

Lights on the Eiffel Tower will soon be turned off more than an hour earlier at night to save electricity, the Paris mayor announced Tuesday, as Russia’s war in Ukraine deepens an energy crisis in Europe.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo said the iconic tower that is normally illuminated until 1 a.m. is only one of the city’s monuments and municipal buildings that will be plunged into darkness earlier in the evening as the French capital — like the rest of France and Europe — faces risks of power shortages, rationing and blackouts when energy demand surges this winter.

Russia has reduced natural gas supplies to several European countries as they support Ukraine, sending prices for gas and electricity surging. It’s fueled inflation and raised fears about shrinking supplies as the heating season draws near, forcing countries to enact conservation measures and relief for consumers and businesses. While some European companies have reduced or halted production as energy prices surge, the European Union is looking to pass proposals to ease the crisis.

Lights on the Eiffel Tower will be turned off after the last visitor leaves at 11:45 p.m., starting Sept. 23, Hidalgo said. Other landmarks operated by the city, such as Saint-Jacques tower and City Hall, will be turned off at 10 p.m.

“It’s a symbolic, but an important step,” Hidalgo said, brushing off criticism that Paris authorities could do more to reduce energy consumption by 10% — the target set in July by President Emmanuel Macron as part of a nationwide “sobriety plan” to conserve energy.

For safety reasons, streetlights will stay on across Paris and the ornate bridges over the Seine River also will remain illuminated at night, Hidalgo told reporters.

To align with France’s savings plan, she said she will press the government to adjust the lighting on national monuments in Paris, such as the domed Pantheon and the Arc de Triomphe, the famous Napoleonic arch that dominates the Champs-Elysees Avenue.

Paris authorities also aim to save energy by moving back when they turn on the heat in public buildings by a whole month, from mid-October to mid-November. They also plan to lower the temperature in public buildings by 1 degree, from 19 to 18 degrees Celsius (66 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit) during office hours, and to 16 C after hours and on weekends.

By NICOLAS GARRIGA and BARBARA SURK