EULAR 2014 Meeting in Paris - a kind of diary

Wednesday
Last year the air traffic controllers had been on strike and I've been late to the Tweetup. This year I thought better to use the train from Cologne to Paris. But then we had thunderstorms crossing the Northrhine Westfalia (NRW)damaging also railway connections and moreover the railway is one strike in France.
So I took the car and had a pleasant journey out of heavy rain into nice weather. The sun was and currently is laughing out of a blue sky. But in Paris the taxi drivers are on strike, too. And they blocking road with their cars. So I arrived later than expected, but early enough to do a little sightseeing and start the congress.

Traffic jam caused by the taxi drivers (near Porte de Clichy)

Sacre Coeur

Tour Eiffel

Oh, the taxi drivers again. They were honking their horns madly.

Paris / EULAR

I've been one of the first entering the Amphi Theatre for the Opening Plenary Session

Thursday

And that's today's first session with Dr. Andrea Rubbert-Roth.

Next have been some sessions and abstract viewing, which will end in some blogposts on new development, mostly concerning RA, PsA, and AS. But this will have to wait until after the meeting.

Keeping notes during the session

And the Tweetup lies behind us, the better part of the  EULAR 2014 Meeting in Paris lies ahead of us.

Nearly all could attend. Thanks for coming and sharing news and visions again. Dr. Ai Lyn Tan excused herself as she wasn't able to find us. Too bad!

First line up

Dr. Shashank Akerkar ‏@doctorakerkar twittering about the tweetup!

We definitely should have placed Abigail(ArthritisResTher ‏@ArthritisRes) in the front row. Last year there were more women supporting the Tweetup.

We should have included a social meeting in the evening. Next time we'll do better.

After the afternoon sessions and a late satellite symposium I went to the big Arch, then back to Montparnasse, just ready for a nice setting sun and some pictures of Sacre Coeur again.

I've seen this building so often in the "Bourne Identity" that I believed having been there before, but I hadn't. this was the first time.

Paris under a full moon.

Sacre Coeur in the evening.

No! Haven't been to the Tire Bouchon.

Friday

This morning has been busy into the afternoon in on stretch of long sessions and poster viewing instead of "public viewing", oh, not what you think that's a new German expression for people watching football on a big screen.

After the last session I went on a sightseeing trip together with Michiel Zandbelt (@zandbelt). Thanks, Michiel for organizing the itinerary, which proved to be magnifique. I enjoyed the talks about our experiences with health systems across the border.

St. Germaine des Pres (I'll put on the accents later)

Old town, small lanes

Inside St. Sulpice

The Pantheon

That's Michiel in front of the Sorbonne

And ... we had a really good look at Notre Dame

Saturday

I've spent most of the time with poster viewing. Lots of interesting new development that will find entry onto this blog.

During the afternoon I did some sightseeing before I headed back to Germany.

Quoth the raven, Nevermore.

Paris,14.06.2014

Meerbusch, 17.06.2014

Tweetup EULAR14

So we've finally met again! The Tweetup lies behind us, the better part of the  EULAR 2014 Meeting in Paris lies ahead of us.

Nearly all could attend. Thanks for coming and sharing news and visions again.

 

 

 

Dr. Shashank Akerkar ‏@doctorakerkar twittering about the tweetup!

 

 

We definitely should have placed Abigail(ArthritisResTher ‏@ArthritisRes) in the front row. Last year there were more women supporting the tweetup.

Original text below:

The EULAR 2014 Meeting in Paris lies only about 3 weeks ahead of us and we should plan our tweetup. Lets plan for a Tweetup at the meeting itself as well as a Social Tweetup as we already did a couple of times.

I propose communication should be done on twitter with the hashtag #EULAR14.

There are the usual problems, which I believe shouldn't be too difficult to solve, like how many people to expect and coming to a consent as for time and place.

Let’s first try to make sure, who is coming. Next step would be, where we could meet.

The meeting will start at the 11th of June and end at the 14th of June. More on the homepage of EULAR: http://www.eular.org/. Information on Le Palais des Congrès de Paris / 2, Place de la Porte Maillot / 75017 Paris at: http://www.venuesinparis.com/viparisFront/do/centre/venues-in-paris/palais-des-congres-paris

Some people already announced that they’ll be at the congress (Name / @ twitter):

Seth Ginsberg @CreakyJoints and @SethSaidSo

Dr. Nowell

Dr. Ai Lyn Tan @DrAiLynTan
Dr. Shashank Akerkar ‏@doctorakerkar 

Dr. Michiel Zandbelt @zandbelt

Dr. Antoni Chan ‏@synovialjoints 
Dr. Alfred Kim ‏@alhkim 
Dr. Chetan Narshi ‏@rheumi_  
ArthritisResTher ‏@ArthritisRes  
Dr. Thierry Cardon ‏@Docrhumato 
Dr. Carlo V Caballero MD ‏@carvicab 

Emilio Besada @besada_emilio
If you don't see your name here, please let me know. Anyone interested in tweet on rheumatology is welcome at our tweetup anyway!

I propose that we meet on Thursday at 12:15 p.m. at the exhibition hall. 12:15 p.m. would leave enough time to get to the meeting area and not having to leave a session too early. Please have a look at this map: http://www.eular.org/myUploadData/files/EULAR%202014%20Exhibition%20Layout%20Level_1.pdf 
In between GSK, Medac, Novartis, and the oval shaped room is a catering area that isn't too large and marked light blue. Please tell me, if that's convenient. We can talk over then, if we meet later in a bar / bistro, unless someone already has a good idea about the when and where.

08.06.2014:
Last year I've travelled to Madrid by plain and the had been an airtraffic strike in France. This year I intend to travel by train and there's a strike to be expected on Tuesday and Wednesday. So check your connections and expect some trouble reaching Paris. This is part of the text EULAR has sent to me:

Based on currently available information, the following strikes are now confirmed for next week in Paris (although the expected disturbances are still subject to evaluation):  

SNCF – FRENCH TRAINS:

• Strikes announced for Tuesday 10 (as of 19:00) and Wednesday 11 June 2014 (until 19:00 but can be extended)
• This is a nationwide strike that will also impact the RER B line that is the main line travelling from the Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport to Paris city centre
• Impact:
  • Participants not being able to reach Paris by train (national and international)
  • Participants not being able to leave Paris airports by RER to reach the city centre, the hotels and the congress venue 

TAXI:

• Strike announced for Wednesday 11 June 2014 (full day)
• This is a European strike that will be also impacting other European capitals and that should impact most of public/official taxis in Paris
• Impact:
  • Traffic jams and road blocks inside and outside Paris
  • Participants not being able to leave Paris airports by taxi
  • Participants experiencing transportation delays due to traffic conditions  

The above will most probably not affect the EULAR 2014 congress but will certainly affect participants trying to reach the city centre, the hotels and the congress venue on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 June 2014. 

09.06.2014:
Nothing new concerning the strike, but I hope to get more information tomorrow as today is a public holiday.

10.06.2014:
Metro will be available for transport in between railway stations, hotels, and the Congress Center (Porte Maillot). I've chosen to go by car, though.

Here's Michiel's PDF (full info see below):
The route of the 7km walk on PDF is here: (and I have a dutch text PDF telling me what we see) http://parijsmijnstad.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/wandeling_Germain.pdf

See you on
Thursday at 12:15 p.m. at the exhibition hall!