Driving through central Paris. Madness?
Discussion
Gents, final day of our Euro trip tomorrow and currently in Brittany. I've nagged Mrs B into letting me drop in on the air museum at Le Bourget to have a nose around Concorde on the way back to Calais. I'm thinking it would be good to stop off for a bite for lunch and some touristy pics on the way there. This would entail a detour through the middle of Paris. We have a TomTom so I could just direct it to a parking garage in the centre. My worry is, are we likely to spend hours and hours trying to do it? Is parking impossible? Will we end up very angry and frustrated/divorced with the stress? Should I just stick with the peripherique and forget a lunch by the Seine?
PS - not going through the tunnel until 10pm, so not in a huge rush.
PS - not going through the tunnel until 10pm, so not in a huge rush.
Done it a few times. If you are going tomorow (non work day) it should be fine. I have been in the centre during the rush hour and that can be scary - especially in the British registered car. I think I turned into some sort of target for French driver frustration. However at quieter times I found it relatively easy and that was before I had invested in a sat nav.
I have taken my vx220 and old mk1 Toyota MR2 round Paris and really enjoyed it....
Have fun..
Mike
I have taken my vx220 and old mk1 Toyota MR2 round Paris and really enjoyed it....
Have fun..
Mike
Ken Sington said:
Without watching this, why did it take 20 minutes to post? Hugo a Gogo said:
it's good laugh, do it, go round the Arc de Triomphe
Yes, that most be the most insane roundabout in the world ever. People talk about lane discipline. At the Arc de Triomphe there are no lanes. There is no discipline.It all boils down to sticking the snout of your car in and hoping the other drivers have slightly less joie de vivre, or should that be joie de mort, than you do.
Some people say a lap of the IOM circuit at 100mph is impressive. I say 10 laps of the Arc de Triumphe without a dent is more so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lay8aZlsbB0&fea...
My Dad and his mates took their fully laden (with scousers), battle-scarred series 1 Land Rover around the Arc de Triomphe in about 1971 on their way to find the Land Rover dealer. Apparently they didn't have any trouble.
Paris is a little mad, compared to the relative calm of the UK, but driving in the dark between swerving, honking taxis, buses, horses, suicidal pedestrians and donkeys through unsignalled intersections in South America was arguably worse.
Paris is a little mad, compared to the relative calm of the UK, but driving in the dark between swerving, honking taxis, buses, horses, suicidal pedestrians and donkeys through unsignalled intersections in South America was arguably worse.
We drove through central Paris a couple of years back. Overall it's no worse than any other major city, poor signage, the locals know where they are going.
We stayed in an apartment next to Galeries Lafayette so parked up in their carpark to avoid the worst of the touch parking that goes on.
We relied quite heavily on the sat nav though.
We stayed in an apartment next to Galeries Lafayette so parked up in their carpark to avoid the worst of the touch parking that goes on.
We relied quite heavily on the sat nav though.
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