Paris is not looking (or smelling) her best as strikes continue and garbage is piled up high around town. When the controversial retirement legislation was pushed through parliament via a legal technicality people took to the streets and I happened to be near the Élysée Palace the following day where the acrid smell of burnt trash filled the air. The government may fall today but on the whole everyone is going about their lives, seizing the perfect opportunity to throw away old Christmas trees and I’ve never had so many text messages about garbage truck sightings, they’re the new celebrities. MVP of the week was the champion I saw casually parkour his way over a mountain of trash, adding a little flip at the end for extra flair.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to A Week in Paris to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.