PARIS Day 8: Versailles

PARIS Day 8: Versailles

It was inevitable. In two weeks of traveling abroad, there was bound to be a day straight from transportation hell. That day was today.

Let me begin by stating: AVOID THE METRO IN PARIS.

For quick, between this station and that station transport, it’s not all bad, but when you are trying to get somewhere far away *coughcoughVersaillescough* it is probably the worst way you could take.

This could easily turn in to a rant, so I will restrain myself. Basically, it was a bad day due to the subway: the tickets, the stairs, the rush hours, the signs, the incomprehensibility of it all. John and I both have intermediate familiarity with the French language, and it wasn’t much help. Our consensus was that the system doesn’t make sense, no matter what language you speak.

We bought round trip tickets to Versailles at Gare du Nord, the train station where the Eurostar comes in. Best case scenerio we had to change trains on the way there at Saint-Michel. Before we even left Gare du Nord one or both of our tickets had stopped working, we ended up on the wrong platform twice, and we had wasted close to an hour. Then, at Saint-Michel, we couldn’t find the right platform, and when we did, the tickets stopped working again. John got through the gate, but I got denied so John opened the door to come back, and a frustrated Parisian, also with a not-working ticket, walked in the “out” door, and we followed. Finally in Versailles, the palace was beautiful, but man, it almost wasn’t worth the hassle.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="Church at Versailles"][/caption]

The ride back was even worse, but I’ll save you the gory details. Just know that it involved rush hour. 5:30 PM rush hour. It was packed, about 150 degrees Farenheit, and we had to change trains, TWICE. You fill in the blanks.

THEN to top it all off, we still had to get to a different train station for our overnight train to Lourdes, our next destination. This subway ride involved 6 pieces of luggage and about 35 flights of stairs. Again, I’ll let you fill in the blanks.

In defense of the subway, we have used it successful three times before this disastrous incident. But it seems like you ALWAYS have to change trains at least once to get anywhere worthwhile, and the tickets were always a bit tricky to use.

The story does have a happy ending though. We made it to the train station in plenty of time, and we dug down deep enough to laugh about the whole thing. Here’s to a better day tomorrow at Lourdes!