Paris to experience first car-free day on September 27

PanARMENIAN.Net - For once, Parisians won’t have to escape to the countryside during the weekend to get a breath of fresh air.

On Sunday, September 27, Paris institutes its first car-free day, banning most vehicles from the central part of the city and allowing people to stroll, cycle or skate from the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Bastille, USA Today reports.

Landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Élysées, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Left Bank will be free from car noise and exhaust fumes between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. this Sunday.

“Parisians will be able to take back their daily living space and experience the city in a different way,” said Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who would have liked to make the entire city off-limits to vehicles on Sunday.

The closure is unprecedented for the French capital and opens the entire city center to pedestrians only for one day, expanding on popular areas already off-limits to Sunday traffic like the fashionable Marais, the cobblestoned Montmartre and the hip neighborhood along Canal Saint-Martin.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic that normally clogs the city’s boulevards will be replaced by street parties, yoga classes, markets with fresh produce and — this being Paris — food tastings with top chefs.