I was in Paris today, staying the past two nights at the IC Marceau. When I went down to breakfast this morning there were police in riot gear grabbing coffee. I thought that was a bit odd to see in a luxury boutique hotel. Then I saw more and more police walking into the lobby, then opening the door to the stairwell and heading up. I guessed they had a command center there. Then, around 10:00 am I decided to leave a bit early as I had to go to Gare du Nord to pick up a car at Hertz there. I asked the police and others and it seemed the best choice would be to walk the 500 meters to the Champs-Élysées, cross and grab a taxi there, as Avenue Marceau was blocked. When I walked out of the hotel I saw why it was the police HQ. The street was filled with parked police cars, swat team cars (CRS) and armored vehicles. So I walked over to the Champs-Élysées and just before I got there a group of police asked me where I was going and wanted to look into my bag. I passed the test and continued, crossed over and one block later ordered an Uber to go to the station. On the way we passed the Place de l'Opéra where about two hundred gilet-jaunes were standing around, mostly taking selfies of themselves. Up til then I only saw a few gilet-jaunes and lots of foreign journalists doing stand-up reports. Also there were many people like me who were just going about our business. I also saw lots of broken windows, and stores with plywood sheets covering their windows, and the luxury shops with all the inventory removed.
I finally reached the station and grabbed a Renault from Hertz and headed out of town. No real issues for me at that hour. But had I waited til the afternoon I think it would not have gone so well.
Oh, and according to reports, the major museums were open today.