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Published: October 20th 2012
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St. George Metro Station
We used this station quite a bit. Very short walk to the Hotel Les Trois Poussins. Three generations of women; six in all including an aunt, a sister, a sister-in-law, a niece and a cousin traipsed off to Paris.
I'll cover the trip in a series of blogs starting with transportation issues. We walked, used the Metro, caught busses, zipped up (and later back down) on a funicular, headed out of town on trains, hailed cabs and hired shuttles.
The well organized, color-coded Metro was the obvious second choice (after walking) for getting around. Our quaint hotel, Les Trois Poissons in quirky Montmartre, was an easy walk to two Metro stations. We could walk down the gentle slope to the St. George Metro Station or choose a slightly longer but pleasant trek up to the livelier, more colorful Pigalle Metro stop. A five day Metro ticket cost the equivalent of $47.84 US and access included the Sacre Coeur Funicular and city busses. We chose zones 1-3 which took in the entire city. On day six, we bought a one day ticket for $14.99 US. We heeded all the warnings and rules - watch out for pick pockets - keep your purse tight in front of you - figure out
Metro
On the trip that Wes and I took to Paris, we stayed in Montparnasse. your stops and connections before you start your ride - know the station before your destination or transfer stop. We even had a plan should one of us get left on the platform. Free Metro and bus maps are available in each station. The Metro routes are easy to read. Bus routes are a bit harder to figure out mostly because of fine print and density. A magnifying glass and highlighting pen are useful accessories.
At Charles de Gaul, our prepaid round trip airport Super Shuttle was a little hard to find. Luckily a female tour guide for the Disney bus helped us get where we needed to be. Most tourism industry professionals were quite proficient in English and we all gave our high school French an energetic work out. Our US air flight out of Philadelphia had been delayed so we arrived at Hotel Les 3 Poussins, 15 Rue Clauzel a little more tired and a little later than we had expected. We followed the "don't go to sleep until your normal time" rule, grabbed a nice light supper in the neighborhood with two bottles of wine and hit the hay by 9pm. Our server, Kareem,
The Sacre Coeur Funnicular
Our Metro tickets were good on the Funnicular going to and from Sacre Coeur. was playful and got us in “the mood François” by refusing to respond unless and until we made an attempt at speaking French. His approach was friendly and worked wonders. A great brand of language emersion. I’d vote to keep him with us all week.
We bought Metro tickets in the St. George station from a machine using credit cards and made our way through Gare Lazare (one of the huge Metro stations) and on to Pont Alma. As soon as we emerged from the tunnel steps, we saw the Eiffel Tower and a golden flame tribute to Princess Diana. We caught the 11am Seine cruise on the Bateaux Mouches (which is the boat without the hop on / hop off feature). The fee was 11e50 and the hour and 10 minute cruise was a great way to view Paris. The commentary was in French and English and an electronic "crawler board" near the bow told us the name of each bridge and important landmark as we passed them. We headed west cruised all the way to Ile St. Louis where we turned back along the Right Bank, past the docking terminal, beyond the Eiffel
Concord Metro Stop
Love figuring out the French words and phrases on the wall tiles at this stop. Tower and back to the starting point.
The Pont de l'Alma was close enough to the Eiffel Tower to provide us with a nice walk! We were amazed by the huge crowd and long queues to climb the tower! We would later on take city bus 69 on a circuitous route back to the Eiffel Tower, this time at night when the edifice was doing its 10 minute top of the hour imitation of a giant sparkler! So very impressive at night. This was one of the only times that we used cabs during the entire trip. It was late, we were tired and we felt justified with the relatively inexpensive (maybe 9E divided by 3 in two separate taxis).
Our other transportation experiences were a railroad trip to Chantilly out of Gare Nord and for three of our group another train trip to Giverney. In all cases advice from guide books (especially Rick Steve's "
Paris"), maps, signage, and helpful staffing made the adventures out of town seamless.
I’ll get into the neighborhoods and some of the “monuments” and museums in a subsequent blog.
Hint: Wear and bring
Les Trois Poissons
Here's our hotel under the blue awning at 15 Rue Clauzel, Paris, France! disposable items – old almost worn out clothing, toiletries that can be used up, etc. Once used or used up; toss them to make room in your suitcase. Would love your travel hints in the comment space at the end of this blog.
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Marilyn
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tips
JoAnne: I did the same thing for a month trip to Naples, I brought several tops that I could wear 2 times and then toss. The rule is.. You pack it, you carry it. You pack it, you wear it. I usually do black,khahi,and maybe blue for bottoms, and color on top. Into comfort.. wore sneakers most of the time for all the walking. Marilyn