Today we embarked on another journey on the Paris underground. We decided that we would take the RER 3 train to the Eiffel tower from St. Michel (our nearby metro) because it had no transfers or changes. By the way there is NO metro, train or bus that drops you off in front of the Eiffel tower. Every public transportation involves a walk so taking the train appeared to us to be the closest to the tower.
Getting there was our first indication that our plan might need some tweaking. We couldn't figure out which way to go since train travel is different than metro. It doesn't make mention of tourist attractions on the way, you just have to look at the map and make sure you are going in the right direction. Once we inserted our ticket we realized that we had to be on the other side of the tracks so I asked a ticket man if we needed another ticket. He said since we hadn't exited we could re-use the ticket. Got it!! Once You Are In You Are In--When You Are Out You Are Out!
We arrived and had a long line. While waiting in line it started to sprinkle and became very windy. Pretty soon it started to pour! And the wind was really strong. And soon the sign came up that the summit was closed due to the wind and we could only go to the 2nd level. Oh well better safe than blown overboard.
We were pretty much drenched and finally got to the window (about a 30 minutes) and went up. While on the 2nd level we had moments when the rain and wind stopped. After the necessary picture taking we headed back down.
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| Gosh how did this picture get in here? From 2006-- want to see if anyone noticed! Nothing changes, still a little scared way up there! |
Walking to the RER we put our ticket in and walked to the station. Then realized that we were at the wrong station. So we excited without going through the ticket machine (we watched someone else open a gate and walk through thus keeping your ticket from being stamped) and walked back to the station from whence we came. The ticket worked again and so we found the right train. So again Once You're In You're In--When You're Out You're Out!
Soon we noticed people mumbling, a man walked by and said take the metro it is faster, people started walking away and the train we were planning on taking disappeared from the monitor so we knew something was amiss. Finally I asked a nice chap if he spoke English and could he help us know what was going on.
He said our train was cancelled due to trees on the track. The next one would be by in 20 minutes and to stay there. It came, we got on and then down the road it stopped. We were sitting there wondering what was going on when our nice lad appeared and said, "come with me. The train has been cancelled and we must get off." So off we got!
A train spokesman greeted us (facetious) and told us to go down to platform (down non working elevator) and find platform B. Again we used our ticket since "Once you are In you are In--Once you are Out you are Out!"
Finally a train came along, our friend said this was our train and we finished our journey! We then went to leave and had to use our ticket to open the gates for us. Mine worked, Angela's worked, Steve's worked BUT Jim's didn't! He was stuck on the other side. We said he obviously had gone out once too often and his ticket stopped working. I told him to jump over the gate but being the law abiding citizen he wouldn't. There was no one nearby but he still wouldn't jump over. I said "we are going on then so I guess we will see you tomorrow when we come back to go to Versailles!" He jumped over it and no police showed up or anything. We were finally OUT!!!!!
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| A view from the 2nd level. Couldn't go any higher! Sacre Coeur in the distance. Rain and wind on its way. |
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| A view underneath 'the Iron Lady' |
1 comment:
I had the thought...why on earth did you dye your hair?!? Glad to see it was 2006. Your "natural" hair color suits you well. Just wish there was a 2014 to match!
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