walk 2: discover the metro

its so easy to forget about blogging when you are having the time of your life. since i need to catch up on a few days im going to try to keep it short and sweet.

Saturday. April 28.
Walk 2: discover the metro (forgive the iphone photos, its no fun lugging around a heavy camera all day every day)
It was raining and cold today so we chose to do the metro walk so that we wouldn't have to spend a lot of time outside. We learned some cool things about places that most people would not take the time to see when visiting Paris.

Above is a shot of the unique vaulted ceiling in the Saint Lazare metro station.  This station used to be the hub of two separate metro lines, the North-South, and the CMP. The green tiles were used in the North-South metro stations while the brown tiles were used in the CMP. Here you see green tiles on the ceiling and brown tiles on the pillars. The two separate lines merged in 1930.

 Above is a picture of the art nouveau metro entrance designed by Hector Guimard. Classic. (ps. i have been posting some cool paris pics on instagram, most of which i don't post onto my blog so if you're on instagram follow me!)

my favorite part of riding the metro :) I was trying to be discreet so forgive the horrible video and just listen

This is the Rotonde de la Villette, one of the only tollhouses that was not destroyed during the French Revolution. At the time it was built there was a 11 foot wall that went all the way around Paris, with 60 tollhouses. Each one had its own unique design based on an ancient temple or pavilion.

Most metro stations are dark and smelly, but the above ground ones aren't so bad.

By lunch time the directions had us stop at Place d'Italie (which sounds really awkward whenever I try to say it outloud). It is a big mall with lots of nice shops and restaurants. We had fun window shopping then I ended up buying the cheapest scarf I could find because I was so cold. Awkward moment...When I was paying, the lady at the register said something really fast that I couldn't really understand, so I thought she was trying to get me to sign up for the rewards card or something because I had just seen another customer signing up for one. So I said no, and she looked kind of surprised. So then afterwards I realized she had asked me if I was having a good day and I sounded like a total grump. Haha. Next time I will try my dad's "Il est plus beau jour de ma vie" which I don't think is exactly grammatically correct but that is how my dad insisted on saying it when we were in Switzerland. ( I would probably say "Aujourd'hui c'est la meilleur jour de ma vie". )

Embarrassing story time: So, the first time I went to Paris when I was 17, we took the metro from the airport to Gare de Lyon. Once we got off, I looked at the map and it said 'Bastille'  not far from where we were. I wanted to go because I had learned about the storming of the Bastille and the French revolution in school and I thought it would be so cool to see the prison in real life. So we walked to the Place de la Bastille, where there is a sweet monument, but I was looking around for a prison and I couldn't see it anywhere. Well turns out my history textbook had left out a tiny detail, there is no Bastille anymore. It was completely destroyed not long after the Revolutionaries captured it. The pieces of stone were carved into miniature models of the Bastille and then sent all over France as a symbol of victory.
 In the Bastille metro station, however, you can see the last remains of the Bastille's foundation. (See picture above).

This is the super high-tech Line 14, built in 1998. It is the only line that has been added since 1911!
 

**If you are going to Paris you will absolutely need to use the metro system to get around. Here are some tips:
-You can view and print a map here. I would recommend getting it laminated before you leave and then just keep it in your purse or wallet.
- Make sure the platform you are on is for the right direction. Once you know the number and color of the line you are taking, look on the map to find the name of the last station in the direction you would like to go. It will be in bold.

-Also keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in your purse.
-To avoid being pickpocketed, keep your bag zipped up and in your lap. Don't draw attention to yourself on the train, if you want to have a conversation in English keep it quiet.
-It is considered flirtatious if you hold eye contact and/or smile at someone.
-Be polite. Pardon, allez-y, and merci are essential vocabulary terms for the metro.