Tag: money

Strike, Navigo: Money comes back ?

The good news after the long and exhausting public transport strike is: we, the ordinary citizens and residents of Paris, may demand our navigo compensation for December 2019. And you know what? I am very lazy in everything that concerns procedures and papers, and knowing how long, chronophagic and exhausting the French bureau-crazy and paperasse is, was rather skeptic about the fact of making the request itself. Though, I was really curious and intrigued: what if it works and I’ll get my 75.20 euros back, paid for my monthly pass navigo just the day before the great strike, la Grande Grève, bursted out?

So I put my skepticism on pause. If you’re a fighter, you fight like a Homeric hero. It took me only a couple of minutes right now to fill in the form and send the demand. If you’re in Paris too, and bought your monthly or week or whatever pass the last December, leave your request here. The site functions well now, but just a few days before it was down as it was overloaded with demands. They’ll decide if you are eligible for recompense, and you’ll receive it on your bank account max in three weeks.

So good luck everybody living and struggling for every penny – sorry! – centime in Parisian jungle!

Tropical Landscape, American Indian Struggling with a Gorilla, 1910 by Henri Rousseau (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond VA) Ренуар, Тропическое Озеленение, История Искусства, Импрессионизм, Сюрреалистическое Искусство, Фрида Кало, Книга Художника, Масло На Холсте, Изобразительное Искусство

Versailles. Easter

It’s stunning to see crowds of people waiting patiently in a long line for the audioguides in Versailles. The guides are “free of charge” or, rather, included in price of the Billet Château. Some know that, others don’t but follow those who know, yet others are informed by us on the spot and then stand in line. This is not the desire of knowledge but the power of money and of what is seemingly free.

One of the last days, our team distributed around 100 000 guides. The price of the ticket is 18 euros. Now count how much money gets the Château de Versailles during holidays. Don’t forget that the audioguides are distributed only to the 50% of the visitors or even less.

I worked there yesterday from 8.45 to 18.30. It was Easter, and all of us were dead by the end of the day. I think that before I was not really tired. Everything is relative.

The Chinese people want the guides especially bad – for the third reason: because their human Guide told them to take the guides, and they obey.

Seems like the Chinese suffer most of all from the cultural shock. After them the Russians come: the representatives of both nations look really disoriented and… wild. But they express the shock in different ways: the Chinese are afraid of getting lost, so they move around in big cohesive groups menacing to smash everything and everyone who is on their way. It’s a collective body with no individuals. The Russians are not that “collective”, but an overt astonishment and failure to communicate is often drawn on their faces.

chateau vers

Here are some of the less FAL (frequently asked languages): Dutch and Deutsch, Arabic, Romanian, Swedish, Breton, British, Hindi, Farsi, Hebrew (asked once only), cantonal Chinese…

  • In which language?
  • Breton.
  • British.
  • Dutch.
  • Deutsch.