Once again about Paris

Strikes – Beach of the Paris Metro. Once a year, or even more, two generations Parisians humbly postpone visits, business meetings, theaters and other cultural events. Minimum movement. Have a job – you can not get anywhere – you need to go, but if you can walk in half an hour, go on foot. About using the machine, as a means of movement, nothing to dream. Already close streets clogged with hour traffic jams. The metro does not stop at the same time, but turns into a hellish lottery – you can enter it, and it may be difficult to go out, you can get away, and you will reach the right side, and I will turn the happiness with your back – and you will go somewhere else. And maybe so: on one station will announce that the line you need continues to work, and the next will report that it has already joined the strike. Drops of hopes and disappointments for acute sensations.

Add to this a prince, the jungle law when landing on the train – the strongest, teenagers, who strive to leave the coupling between the cars, and the long distortion with them, who does not want to send a train, while they hang there, and since the doors of the carrot do not close automatically arriving passengers continue to be squeezed into the wake-up already wagon. Understanding the meaninglessness of persuasion, the driver bloodthirstyly states through the speakers that today the metro employees will have many meat dishes for dinner, and touches. End of the world. Usually strikes continue week – ten days.

In the intervals between strikes to use the subway, it is even convenient. Paris Metropolitan One of the oldest in Europe and the oldest on the continent. Proud name "Metropolitan" given this type of transport by the French.

According to the rules of the metro buildings, the location of the stations should be such that it is impossible to get to one station in different ways for the same time. Must exist the shortest path. Paris Metro this requirement fully consistent.

Old ring stations intersect radially, the stations are very short, like a tram, and you can take the metro in the center almost anywhere. Paris Center does not know ground transport, from any place a ten minute walk, as a rule, two metro stations of different directions. Extremely conveniently disabled on the four sides of the Light Rer – high-speed trains with three-four stations inside the city, which go beyond the limits of Paris to the suburb. Two of them are connected to airports – with Charles de Galer and Eagle. Eagle can still be reached by super-modern metro view – automatic train. Two wrappers with glass doors so that everywhere was noticeable absence of a driver, racing with terrible speed, impressive. It is worth it, however, this is a miracle of technology, about fifty francs. You can get to the eagle you can reach the old grandfather’s way, so we usually do not use this train, they ride on it.

Within the city, the price of RER tickets does not exceed the value of ordinary metro tickets, and as it removes it increases along the zones and quite significantly. Better immediately go to the ticket to the desired station, although there are also cash offices in the places of crossing zones, and the automata where you can pay, but then you will have to get out of the train and even make quite long transitions. HA Gare Du Nord from which high-speed train tickets are sent to the airport, there may be long queues for tickets, and the automata will require a large number of coins that will not always be in your pocket. Has this case is useful credit cards.

The subway is not the cheapest view of the city transport, and prices for tickets are growing every year. Monthly travel ticket with a photo and surname of the owner – Carte Orange – today there are 220 francs for two city zones. For the use of a stranger pass – fine. Can buy "Carnet" — Block out of ten one-time tickets – 41 Franc (last year it cost 39), or one one-time ticket – 7 francs. (Frank ratio to ruble today approximately 1: 1000).

All figures refer to second-class tickets. To the first class tickets, I, frankly, never asked for even curiosity. Two years ago in Paris canceled the first class in the subway, now social differences are preserved only on RER lines.

Six years ago, descended for the first time in the Paris subway, I was pleasantly surprised to approached the semi-empty car at the rush hour, happily rushed precisely into it and even hurts to take a sedentary place, believing that the crowd would immediately fill and this island calm. This, however, did not happen, and I comfortably rolled two stations, reading the newspaper, while I did not hang a blue cap controllers. With the mind of an indisputable right – four francs paid for a ticket, then seemed to me a huge amount – proudly stretched your ticket controller. Having heard the amount of the fine for travel in the first grade – 85 francs, I guess that I guess the fool, and instantly decided to continue to join him and on. Have a pure Russian language I told her that I do not understand in French. I probably, I am a bad actress: The aunt immediately agreed that I grabbed the essence of the case, the details remained. She pulled out a piece of paper and lasted a murderous digit on it. Long tirade on an unfamiliar language did not impress any. Which is characteristic, none of the first-class passengers did not even turn his head, I’m not talking about to speak in support of a foreign tourist. My further experience shows that the second class in this sense is more responsive, therefore, probably, the controllers go there less. After a long interbrying of a deaf with a dumb, drove into the angle, broke up with the currency and said in the back of the controllers Freshly across the French curse, also not given any reaction.

Penalized me and for violation of zones. My acquaintances lived on a cunning station, which remained along the metro line within the city feature, and the RER line went out of the city zone exactly to one station. Have this output and got clouds. Most of the turnstiles are arranged in such a way that when the ticket passes, the turntable is scrolled through the machine, and one passenger penetrates the station. The same when leaving. The ticket is swallowed by a machine, and the yield is free. If another zone is indicated on the ticket, the machine with indignation spits it and begins to feed the sound signals of the disgusting. Mass of Parisian passengers, even a very powerful species, famously jump over the turntable, or, if the complex allows, break under it. Exit control significantly limits these sports exercises. Controllers rush to sound – penalty 85 francs. Conversations do not help, the owners of French documents write out fines on the house and, they say, then no fool pays them.

I was convinced that the controllers are extremely smart and in any documents disassembled as in the relatives. In the Soviet passport, they instantly find out a visa page and began to write off the address of the mayor’s office, which visa issued. Want wishing to exacerbate trouble, I chose to pay in cash. The only consolation that no one was ashamed and disgustingly did not look around. Normal commercial operation.

Some stations Another type of turnstile – automatic sliding doors that will not jump and under which you do not bring up. These, however, can be done with your hand and skip although the oven orchestra. The French sometimes provide such a courtesy to the coming rear. The output then, if you have control, you can lower a pure ticket, and if the control does not exist, save it until the next trip.

For two years already, as it is fined and smoking at stations. At the beginning of the campaign for the purity of the subway, Istivo fined and almost won. Cleaner did not become, but the air improved markedly. But only the control was lost vigilance, the Parisians were revived tradition and smoke again, although less. As for purity, then in the view of the resident of the reviving capital, the Paris metro requires a cosmetic renovation. The aesthetic requirements for its construction were made minimal, the focus was on the convenience, and now old stations look like bathrooms of utility apartments – cracked tiles, opened floors, free from advertising walls – in graffiti and just pencil inscriptions. In terrible transitions, the longest of which at Les Halles stations, many beggars, homeless, musicians, in some places even orchestrics – and Peruvian, and, on tourist stations, classic.

There is a station, I will not make it advertising, where there is a brisk drug trafficking. There are endless areas, and a random person will come to horror at the sight of young guys jumping through rails.

His all times I got into transitions in which a gas bomb exploded a minute before my appearance. Experienced Parisians reacted instantly: closing the eyes of the hollow coat, lasted a large trotter back. I left for some time awareness of what happened. These few seconds are enough to cry for two hours, and four more – hoarsely cough and talk with a belling whisper.

Beautiful Louvre-Rivoly Station, where copies of museum exhibits are exhibited in the windows. I also love the entrances to the boulevard stations, with inscriptions "Metropolitaine" beginning of century. In general, the Paris Metro is very organically fits into the life of the city, without having shown, on the manner of attractions, but nothing particularly please.