A traffic free Sunday in Paris

Dozens of animations, two times less noise on the central axis and a drop of 20 to 40 % of nitrogen dioxide levels compared to a similar Sunday... the first car free day met with a resounding success. It was an initiative by the city's mayor Anne Hidalgo who wanted to make a point that Paris can operate without cars and what a great initiative it was! It seemed as if everyone was outside enjoying the beautiful fall day.

I dragged my family out with the excuse to visit the Vide Grenier in the 7th arrondissement. Turned out it was more of a junk sale but being never the ones to falter we just decided to join the crowds and make our way across town by foot with the bikes, rollerblades and skateboards whizzing past us.

Let's see what the outcome will be for the United Nations Climate Conference which the city is hosting end of November. In the meantime, we enjoyed a glorious sunny day surrounded by smiling Parisians...

Pedestrian traffic on a sunny Sunday afternoon on the Champs Elysées

Sacre Coeur in the background

Big and small biking along the quais

Musée d'Orsay taken by assault by tourists

Skateboarders having a ball

Ooops, I lost the kids...

What would Napoleon think of all this?

The Dôme des Invalides, which contains Napoleon I's tomb, is the emblem of the Hôtel National des Invalides and an unmissable monument in the Parisian landscape.