The Metropolitan (Metro, for short) is Paris' subway system, one of the largest and most efficient public transit systems in the world. It carries over a million people a day within the city limits. It's makes travel in the city easy and quick. There seem to be Metro stations with a couple blocks of nearly anywhere you happen to be in the city. Even for someone who doesn't speak French (like us!), it's easy to get a map and figure out the 14 color coded and numbered lines that intersect and snake throughout the city limits. To someone who grew up without a public transit system, this is an amazing invention that allows us to see Paris without having to hire expensive taxis, drive ourselves (Mon Dieu!), or take hired tours. It's quicker than a bus, although the majority of it is underground so we don't have the luxury of gaping at the wrought-iron balconied buildings and ornate bridges while zipping to our destination. Nonetheless, the Metro is an interesting underground place, and we see something new on every trip into this subterranean world.

We have learned many things about the Metro in the past couple weeks, and we've developed some strategies to make our trips easier . We always do two things before leaving on any excursion: one, make sure we have purchased Metro tickets, and two, plot out our trip in advance. The little bar a few doors down the street has the red neon sign above the door that reads "Tabac."  This means they also sell Metro and bus tickets with their wine and beer. We went in and told the lady behind the register, "Carnay, sil vous plait."  Because my French pronunciation is so bad, she was puzzled the first few times, but we followed that with "Metro and bus?" and she responded with "Ah! Buse!" as I repeated "Carnay."  She held up the little packet of 10 tickets that work for both Metro and bus, and we nodded vigorously. Success! Metro tickets in hand, we next sit down with the map and plot out our trip. We didn't do this pre-planning step the first few times we rode the Metro. We were the confused tourists standing in front of the large wall map in the Metro trying to figure out which line to take while hundreds of people walked around us on their way to their destinations . Now, before we leave we take a few minutes in the quiet of our apartment and study the color coded map, writing down the line numbers and destinations in the order we need to arrive at a particular destination. I stash the directions in my pocket, and it makes each trip so much easier and less stressful.

 The Metro appears to be a weird kind of underground world. Once you put your ticket into the validation slot and pass through the gate, you can ride any Metro line as long and as far as it goes. Conceivably, one could buy a $1.50 ticket and ride all day and night as long as you don't ascend the stairs and leave the system. We have seen some interesting things in the Metro tunnels. Some of the tunnels are narrow and the walls plastered with movie posters and advertising. However, in some stations where five or six lines intersect, the tunnels and pathways are wide. We've seen several accordion playing men with cups for donations from travelers. In one station tunnel, we heard the music before we turned the corner and saw a five-piece band playing a concert while a woman gyrated and danced surrounded by several dozen curious Metro riders watching and tapping feet to the music . In another tunnel, I smelled a curious sweet scent and turned the corner to see a complete fruit stand with cantaloupe, strawberries, watermelon, and other seasonal fruits laid out for sale. A vendor had obviously brought cases and cases of his fruit to the subway and set up his own little shop. In some of the larger stations that intersect with long-distance train stations, there are small shopping plazas underground with permanent stores selling clothing, jewelry, and sandwiches, much like the stores we see in airline terminals.  Nearly every tunnel and station have fast food vending machines for Parisians on the go who need a quick candy bar or bag of chips. It seems like the Metro lacks only bathrooms to make it a complete world where one could live and never emerge into the city above.

Unlike New York City's subway, the Paris Metro incorporates some interesting art into the subway stations. Above ground, the original 140 Metro entrances created around 1900 have the beautiful green art nouveau entrances. Underground, most of the stations we've seen are utilitarian tunnels with white tile walls, but some are adorned with interesting art. At one station, the wall tiles were each painted with a letter and the letters formed words (in French, of course) that referenced the history of the station. At the Versailles station, the tiles were painted in 18th century style pictures of flowers, trees and natural scenes. One station we glimpsed briefly from inside the train yesterday appeared to have walls entirely covered in copper panels with rivets outlining each panel. We may need to go back and check that one out further!