With the eyes of Europe and the world turning to France for the European Championship, the host nation isn't putting on its best face.
On the streets of Paris you'll find rotting, uncollected rubbish and train strikes in addition to industrial action on planes that should be carrying fans across the country.
A tug of war between the Socialist government and union leaders over changes to workplace practices is frustrating fans hoping for a month of fine football and a great time.
On Thursday, strikes threw train services to the national stadium in Paris into disarray 24 hours before the opening game between the host nation and Romania.
Action is also planned from Saturday on the national carrier Air France and both the government and labour leaders have warned fans to brace for hardship.
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"The strike, clearly, will disrupt the Euros," said Beranger Cernon of the left-wing CGT union, leading strikers at the Gare de Lyon, one of Paris' main rail hubs. "We will continue to strike."
Using the arrival of the European Championship to increase pressure on the government is the latest step in an extensive protest movement against a bill that will loosen workplace protection.
Recent weeks have also seen violent demonstrations and gas shortages.
A big question was how 80,000 fans would get to the opening game at the Stade de France?
The stadium, which is situated in the north Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, is hosting seven games, including the July 10 final.
Organisers generally recommend spectators take public transport to get there, with two overland lines and one underground Metro line serving the arena.
But while the Metro line to the stadium is running normally and will have extra trains for the game, the two overland lines were severely disrupted.
The national SNCF rail company said strikes wiped out two-thirds of RER B trains that run past the stadium and that six out of 10 trains weren't running on the RER D that also serves the area.
The strikes are having smelly repercussions, too, with refuse collections disrupted in half of Paris' districts since Monday, City Hall said.
