Once off the plane picked up luggage, traversed customs easily through a machine process, and was on my way to the hotel. There are several options to travel to Paris from Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport. A taxi is about 100 euros, so I selected the train – about $15. Once through customs Air France staff were present to assist and direct customers with this transition from Airport to Paris, as CDG is a bit of a jaunt from Paris.

As directed by Air France staff, I followed the signage to Gare du Nord to obtain tickets for this train journey into Paris. There is also a tourism office along this route, so stop for information. They are a great source and speak English. Here I found the museum I wished to visit had hours till 1 a.m. that night. It gave me time to take a quick nap after making my way from the airport to the hotel.

The “Brain” which lists train comings and goings.

At the ticket machine look for the gal with this hat as she assists tourists in their purchases. Also, keep these tickets away from your cell phone. The magnetic stripe is quite sensitive and I lost 2 tickets because of this, about 4.5 Euros.

As I was getting on to the train at Gare du Nord a young couple befriended me taking me through the train station passages. I don’t know if it was the time of the year, my increased age, or the effects from the Pandemic, but French folk were extremely helpful, and pleasant in guiding me throughout my entire visit. People would simply come up to me and say, “Can I help you?” It was like the stars were in alignment as Prince Harry said when he met Meghan, I digress. Actually, I think it was Di looking out for him, but for another time.. I recall she sent the weather on their wedding day, wow I really am disgressing..

The Gare du Nord Train

Upon reaching the Gare du Nord Station another ticket needs purchasing to use the Metro. These tickets are about 2 euros.

The Metro Map

The French Metro is reasonable, clean, well signed, and easy to use. Ask fellow patrons for directions, and they will inform you, and if they don’t know, they will tell you that as well.

Having internet on your phone is a must, as merely searching in Google will give the correct line, time of train, as well as the amount of time to walk to the train stop. If you follow me on my blogs you are aware I am a computer nincompoop. I purchased $75 of international time from Mint, and used that in 18 hours. Data usage/Data Roaming can be turned on and off, so do so, or you’ll loose $75 a day as well. The first day I was unaware of this, so only spent another $25 the rest of the stay. Also, in some parts of the City there is free internet and look for that. And then there is always a paper map, valuable Metro signs, and as I said earlier friendly Parisians.

Don’t you just love subway billboards.

Typical Metro Opening. How French..