My Parents' European Adventure: Paris, France

Day 23: Off to Paris!

Hopefully that is. I received an email telling me our train to Paris would run as scheduled, that’s odd we thought. Then we saw the news of the rail strike in France starting next Monday. 

Everyone here depends on the trains to get from one town to the next, not just the tourists. 

The train to Paris was fast and uneventful. A very nice train. Arriving in Paris was probably the most stressful day of the vacation. First off, I wasn’t sure how I was gonna get to the hotel. I had marked on a Google map where the train station was and the hotel, but I didn’t have a plan of how to get there. A call to Katie directed us to look for a metro sign as that was the best way to get there. That became the first challenge as we couldn’t find the metro we stood around. We looked at signs, we followed people, we talked to people. We still didn’t have any idea where the metro was. Then a call from Katie. She helped us with a video call where she could be our eyes and ears watching and reading the signs as we walked around the station.

Our first task was to find how to buy a ticket as there were no people to talk to. There was some kind of a line for some kind of a ticket. I’m not sure if it was for a metro or not but had a lot of people waiting, maybe 50 to 70 people waiting in line. I didn’t elect to get in line as I didn’t know what was being sold. Then we found this much shorter line that involved interaction with some machines. We decided to give that a try. Deb was very good at talking to people, allowing us to look over their shoulders as they were doing transactions. It appears this is probably the right place to buy a ticket for the metro. Our first try at the machine we selected some kind of a pass instead of a ticket that led to a much higher price so we didn’t finish the transaction. Katie said you want a ticket (not a pass) went back through this and with the help of some strangers went through the menus and came up with a way to buy two tickets. So we bought two €20 tickets which would allow for 6 metro rides each, with the expectation of using most of it as each ride costs €2.5. 

We hadn’t found any Metros yet and we weren’t sure which way to go so Katie became her eyes again as I kept the phone on (it’s amazing that the phone data works so well all through the metro including down deep tunnels), so we went downstairs and with Katie‘s help again holding the phone so she could read the signs we navigated from level to level in the metro getting to a train that appeared to be one of the four lines that would take us towards our hotel none of which according to the maps goes directly to our hotel or even close. We started off on I think it was a Purple 14 train, and we knew that we had to get onto a different line to get up near our hotel. (Katie's Commentary: Yes, please imagine a video call where I am telling them, look left, walk towards that sign. See purple 14 and their arrow to the right, go that way. Scan your ticket. How? Look for a slot or a pad to place it on. camera is flying in every direction as they dig for tickets.) We hung up the phone with Katie with instructions to get off at the Madeleine stop and look for signs for Marie d’Aubervilliers (and she texted the name to us too). This is where it became more interesting. We got off at the right Station. We followed the signs, and Katie told us to look for something where the end of the route ended with the name Marie, right color, right number and we got on it. After we had passed a station or two, I noticed that the signs on the stations were not the signs I was expecting to see. (Katie also was tracking us on her phone and saw we were going in the wrong direction). This is not good. Katie texted me that you’re going the wrong way, get off! I tried to get off, but I didn’t know how to open the doors and by the time somebody told me how to open the doors we already left the station so we’re going to our third station now in the wrong direction.  (Katie commentary: At that moment I checked to see that the other end station on the same line was named Marie d’Issy. They followed the wrong Marie. Doh! At this moment I'm realizing my tutorial on how to use Google maps for public transportation was insufficient)

We got off successfully and without any signs to tell us, we assumed that if we went up a double flight of stairs (go up and over and down, these are all through tunnels without any signage) that would be on the other side of that same station so the trains will be going in the opposite direction. We really couldn’t tell when the train pulled up to that station that it was going where we wanted, I didn’t see any signage. Katie said get on it. We did, then we watched the stations go by and the names matched on the map to where we were going. We got to the end station that was near our hotel. We went towards the exit.

There were two elevators to take you to the street. One was out of commission. The other had a line of people and there was no sign of any elevator working. Adjacent to that was a set of stairs going up. I said let’s take the stairs, that was a mistake. The staircase wound upwards with no options to exit so we kept going up and up and up and up 178 steps later, we stagger (carrying out packs) to the outside.  Ends up, this is the worst and deepest subway station in the system. This is the last time we rode the metro!

It was a short walk to our hotel and it was very nice. The room was the smallest we have had, no complaints. This area of Paris (Montmartre) is on a hill and is highly attractive to tourists. Everywhere there are restaurants and shops and people!

Day 24: Taking on Paris!

The next day we saw the usual attractions. The Eiffel tower, but we didn’t go up it as we refuse to stand in lines.

But Deb found her favorite collectible coin machine. 

Found the Louvre and decided not to go into it either. We’re not much for museums, especially ones with lines. 

Long lines at Notre Dame too, but Deb vowed that she was going into that church. She hobbled up to the head of that line with her walking stick (she now calls her cane) and next thing you know she’s pointing to me to come with her, and just like that we jumped 200 people in line! 

There was a mass taking place in the center roped off area with tourists parading around the periphery. There’s even a jewelry store in the church (I think Jesus had a problem with this). 

As we vowed never to get on the metro again, we went everywhere via Uber, that’s the way to go. Uber in Paris was usually 10 to 15 Euros, the one we took in Queens, NY was about $35. 

There’s another church to see on top of that hill we stayed on, Sacre Coeur. It had a wonderful view of Paris. The fence along the hilltop had locks on it, I was amazed that so many people thought of bringing a lock. Then I saw the street vendors selling them. 

 That is enough about Paris and about wraps up this story. Oh, by the way, never ever drive from Queens NY through Manhattan and New Jersey!