The Paris Metro

The Paris Metro will be the last stop on our journey in history from my trip to Europe. So it is only fitting for this post to be about the Parisian subway system I used every day while in Paris. The metro in Paris is the fourth oldest in Europe, so of course there’s more to it than railway lines, tickets, and busy people.

The icon “Metropolitan” entrance.

Short Background History:

The first line of the métropolitain was completed in 1900, during the Paris World Exposition. Nowadays, there are 16 lines consisting of 132 miles of tracks! There are around 300 stations and  87 that offer connections between the lines. It’s even said that every building in Paris is within 3/10 mile of  a metro station.

An entrance to the underground.

Travel Experience:

I first used a subway system in New York City, what one would think of as a typical representation of them. But the Paris metro runs differently. NYC is a more modern city, with more straight lines and roads, and each subway line seemed to run in mainly one direction. On the other hand, Paris is an older city built on over hundreds of years, with a more curving city landscape.

When in Paris, we had to plan ahead to find intersecting lines for the shortest way to a monument we wanted to go to. And the terminology for the rides itself can be confusing. When you hop on a line the directions aren’t cardinal, you are either going towards one end of the line or the other. For example, Line 4 towards (stop) Porte de Clignancourt or Marie de Montrouge.

I also find it helpful that the names of the metro stops are related to their surrounding areas and/or monuments. It can be harder to miss a uniquely named stop than to mess up the street number of a stop. And each metro stop has a theme- usually a historical French figure. The Line 13 Varenne stop exhibits a replica statue of the Thinker, as the stop nearest to the Rodin museum.

As a disclaimer though, I’ve never lived in a city so I have limited experience with subway systems. But as a first time experience- the metro can be tricky without prior knowledge, but thankfully I had (theoretically) learned how to ride the metro in my high school French class beforehand.

Interesting Facts:

During the Nazi occupation, the Metro was a meeting place for the Resistance, and feared by German soldiers.

Only one metro station is named after a woman: Louise Michel.

Small dogs are allowed on the metro (and luckily enough I got to pet one as I was missing my dog while away.)

A Short Bit of Advice:

Lastly, a word of forbearance, keep your wallet, money and/or valuables in an interior pocket of a bag to keep it safe. One man in my group had his wallet in his pocket, even when warned not to do that. He got robbed of his credit card and around 100 euros when he was distracted by a disturbance on the train. For some more travel tips, click here.

Poster for the store “Printemps” in the metro underground.

Poster for the movie Fantastic Four.

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