I gave Gare du Nord a 1-star review in 2010, and honestly, most of what I said still kind of holds…read more But the station is beautiful, and I believe it has, at least, stopped deploying those ridiculous unusable ticketing machines. We went through Gare du Nord to go to London last month, and EuroStar has actually gotten worse. I suspect this has more to do with Brexit than the train station, but it was not fun waiting in that line. It got extra unfun when my three-year-old told me he was feeling sick, then threw up all over the floor. So you know what, I'm calling it even. Gare du Nord is annoying but useful and gorgeous, and my offspring has now vomited on the floor (I ddi clean it up). I'm also giving myself permission to skip reviewing the Paul stall, where my mom picked up some pretty decent pastries and sandwiches. Three stars, and we'll see each other next time.

We came to this rail hub in Paris for our high speed train to Amsterdam. We were on the…read more"Pre-tour" portion of our river cruise and had to go to Zamdam to catch our ship. That required us to get the main station on Amsterdam, then catch a bus. What can I say. It was your typical train station with many trains ready to go and you could also catch a subway here. It was easy to maneuver through and while I was waiting I went for a coffee and a pastry. That's the special thing about Paris... even in the train station was good coffee and great pasteries. I noticed lots of Police patroling the area which definately helps make you feel just a bit more safe and comfortable. Boarding the train was quick and easy and they left right on time. KUDOs to the team here at the Gare du Nord.

This train station in Paris, France is one of the seven large mainline railway station terminals…read more Several railway lines have been immortalized in various works of art notably paintings by Monet at the Musee d'Orsay. It is the second busiest train station in Paris after Gare du Nord, handling 100 million passengers a year. The station is quite large so it took me a while to walk from one end to the other to catch my train. This train station makes it easy to get to Giverny to visit the Monet house and garden. It took about 40 minutes. I'm so impressed by the mass transit in France and Europe.

On my last trip out to Paris for the Olympic summer games, I came through this train station…read moreseveral times. In addition to catching the RER E train, there were multi-levels of shops and stores of various types. The McDonald's here tends to be very busy, I would go to the smaller one just across Rue Saint-Lazare. If I needed any snacks or drinks, I went to the Carrefour City which has very decent prices.

The Gare de l'Est (East Station) is two train stations: one being part of the Paris Metro line,…read moreconnecting Lines 4, 5, and 7 and the other being the one of seven Paris mainline stations supporting TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) going to various cities in Europe. My nephew and I had planned a weekend trip to Luxembourg, and this station was the origination of the 2.5 hour high-speed trip, beginning early on a Saturday morning. We came from different places in Paris using Metro, and met up here. The walk from the Metro part of the station to the main central holding area takes a bit of time, with need to closely follow signs pointing to Gare de l'Est. About 24 minutes before the scheduled departure of our train, the platform number came up on the big board. At that point, we used the QR code from our purchased ticket to pass through the security gate of the platform. Then it was a long outdoor walk parallel to the train until one finds the correct car. We left right on-time. We came back to the same station from Luxembourg, and it was a simple matter of reversing direction back to the Metro side of the station to get back to our dorm/hotel.

Navigating thru this station is a nightmare once you arrive by Metro. Missed our train because of…read moreno clear signs and help available in the station. Had to exchange out pre-booked tickets and paid an additional fee for the same. Strongly recommend having a lot of buffer if you are planning on taking a train from here.