I hope you are all well and didn't eat too much chocolate at Easter time! I have been in Paris almost a week now and we have mainly been walking to get us from place to place using maps and our iPhones. We have been wearing pedometers which measure our steps/kilometres/calories and most days we are walking about 15km. 15km is more than if you walked from Noranda to Perth city.
The theme song of the blog today is The Beach Boys - I Get Around
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnPL5OXSBNE
We were getting very tired at the end of each day so we decided to explore other modes of transport. One very popular mode for people who live in Paris is the Velib. The Velib is like a bike hire, you can pick up a bike from any station throughout in the city and then drop it off at another station. You pay at the station or, if you are a regular user, you use a swipe card.
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| Velib Bikes |
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| Velib Station |
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| People buying Velib tickets |
You can read more about Velib here http://en.velib.paris.fr/
After watching the traffic we decided we would not use the Velib this time in Paris because the traffic didn't seem to have as many rules as Australia. The traffic is a bit too chaotic.
So we considered the Metro - better known as the Trains or Subway. Tickets were cheap! We had to read the map to find where we wanted to go. It was very overwhelming at first but as soon as you found the right colours for the different train lines it was a lot easier. Now, Room 3, remember when we did mapping and directions? You will need to know how to read a map, timetable and know directions to get around any city.
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| Map of Paris train lines |
Once you have read the big maps there a lines and smaller signs to point you in the right direction and to the right platform.
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| The station closest to our hotel is Pyramides |
Each platform (the place where you wait for the train) is different. The best part about the trains is every day at any time to trains come about every 2 minutes. This makes it very convenient and fast to get around. In Perth you often have to wait 20-30mins for the next train.
On some of the trains the doors open automatically, on others you have to press a button to open the door the wish to get out but on others, like in the photo on the left, you need to flick a handle up to open the door. If you forget to do this - you miss your stop! |
| A lady sings on the train. |
Sometimes, if you are lucky, people get on the trains to entertain you for money. This lady got on the train with another man and he had a tambourine. She had a small speaker that was hooked up to a microphone and iPod. She sung along to the music. The music was loud and her singing was too. It was very funny at first to have someone singing so loudly right next you to. I think the local people must be used to it because many of the just ignored it. See the small white cup on her stand? That is where people could put money. Many people just gave small change. At the end of her performance she walked around with the white cup for extra money. It made the trip very entertaining. We have also seen people playing instruments like trumpets and violins on the train and throughout the stations.
We have been using the trains as our main way of getting around but even with the trains out pedometers still read as 10km. It is good for us to walk that much though because we have been eating a lot of cheese and bread (and maybe a little wine).
My question for everyone is Room 3 is: Why do you think these people are playing instruments or singing on the train? Discuss your thoughts with someone in your family.
Au revoir
Miss Stinson
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