#paris

During Thursday's nationwide strike, the Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors and ticket holders were told to check email and the official site for rescheduling or refunds, Sortiraparis reported. The Louvre opened, but some galleries were closed by the labor action, days after an Oct. 29 agreement ended 11 months of staff protests. The Palace of Versailles said it could not guarantee opening and warned of a significant risk of full closure, with automatic refunds if it shut. The Musée d'Orsay kept to 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m., skipping its Thursday late opening. CGT-Culture and CGT-Spectacle had called a general strike across the cultural sector from Nov. 5.

Twenty-five metro stations closed from 11 a.m. at the police prefecture's request, and a union march ran from Place de la République to Place de la Nation.

Instead of the strike-hit landmarks, the City of Paris museums kept normal hours: Carnavalet was listed as open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and the Catacombs 9:45 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

Student-led protests over school conditions and the cost of living have grown into some of France's largest in years, Condé Nast Traveler reports. On October 22 the Préfecture de Police banned unauthorised gatherings from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. around the Louvre, Champs-Élysées, Élysée Palace, Bastille, République and major rail stations, and several Metro stations, including Bastille and Gare d'Austerlitz, were closed from 10 a.m.

Students have called further days of action on October 24, November 3 and November 5, and a large security operation is planned for central Paris on October 24, including Opération Sentinelle troops. Localised curfews have been introduced in Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Instead of crossing central Paris on announced protest days, consider scheduling museum visits and train connections for other days, and check RATP updates before setting off.