Samois questions

stuckinkansas

I am going to make the journey to Samois all the way from Kansas this year for the first time. I have spent hours on the forum, webpages etc picking up tips for my first time. Does anyone know if I need to make a reservation to camp at the festival? Does it cost to camp? Is it acceptable for a "non-rude" american to camp? Any tips would be great. I'm so excited about going. Also, has anyone heard anything about who might be there? Thanks guys (gals)
Shane Marler

Jack

Did you see this in your travels?
http://www.hotclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=914

Have fun,
Jack.

stuckinkansas

I did, but thank you very much for the link.

dennis

one thing about samois, is that it is very poorly organized..(perhaps on purpose to keep it as intimate as possible)... on top of that, paris is not exatly tourist friendly for the non-french speakers (still not very friendly to the french speakers but that's the way it is) getting there by train can be a nightmare for a non-french speaking person, and absolute hell for someone who is unfamiliar with paris and surrounding areas

print out the subway map from here

http://www.ratp.fr/

from the airport, i assume you'd arrive at charles de gaulle airport... you want to take the RER B (or if you can afford a taxi) to Chatelet les Halles

from there, you take RER A (east bound there are different directions but it doesn't matter which one you take as long as it is eastbound)

to Gare De Lyon which is if i'm not mistaken just one stop away...

inside gare de lyon, you have to find the place where they sell tickets for the ILE DE FRANCE region... the gare de lyon is huge, and it's easy to get a bit lost... when you get there, it would appear you can get tickets in a number of places, but that's incorrect, it's located in a tiny corner ....

so you ask for a ticket to FONTAINEBLEAU.

when you reach fontainebleau, it gets really nightmarish.... the festival is located a couple of miles away from here.... the shuttle bus is only there (hopefully it'll change this year) on thursday til sunday...

that shuttle bus takes you to samois...

if you're going to camp you can camp close to samois or samoreau (where all the real action is going on) ... unfortunately samoreau is yet a couple of miles away from the samois festival itself....

if you're sure to be going, maybe i can try to help you out, i'll be there as well , and we can go together.... i still have to figure out my pre-samois itinerary...

a few things to keep in mind in paris... when taking the RER, you need to keep your ticket, as you'll need it to get out...

that's not necessary if you're traveling by metro....

the subway system is divided between the RER (which takes you to the major areas of paris and surrounding areas) and the metro (which takes you to all the places in between). They intersect a lot, and at just about every RER stop, there can be numerous metro lines crossing...

if you want to buy ticekts to the festival, you can get them online at www.fnac.com (the equivalent of tower records, virgin, etc...), you can then pick up at any fnac ticket counters... you might as well pick it up at the one located at "Chatelet les Halles" (where you'll have to get off anyway to take the RER A)... from there, you take the underground exit to the Forum (it's like a mall), you take the massive stairs going up , and the FNAC is right around the corner...

good luck!
D

ramsezaz

Damn reading your explainations dennis, I'm glad to be parisian
I didn't realise that was that difficult

But it is indeed. Anyway more and more people speaks correct english in France, and don't be afraid to ask for directions, most people are glad to help foreigners.

Steve

I agree with Ramsezaz.

Wirralgitane

i hope so because i'll be on my own and i have trouble speaking my own language never mind french :?
If anyone see's me i'll have a John Lennon Hat on, a tent, a gitane and a BIG BIG sign saying SAMOIS :arrow:
it should be fun either way, even going round paris i suppose. But thanks Dennis thats really helpful.