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.

During the day it's fairly simply to find your way around here, even though it's extremely…read morecrowded. At night it's a nightmare and extremely confusing to find the exit. They have a decent amount of places to get a bite to eat, but the lines are long and there's nowhere to sit. The bathrooms smelled awful, but at least they're available.

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.

My boys love any unique mode of transit, and they were pretty into the Funiculaire de Montmartre…read more The Funiculaire opened in 1900 and was, at the time, a functioning funicular, with two connected, counterbalancing cars moving in opposite directions. I guess it's been reconfigured in the years since and is now more of an inclined elevator, but "Inclined Elevator de Montmartre" doesn't have the same ring to it. My older son was feeling sick the day we went to Montmartre, and the Funicular provided both entertainment and an easy way up the steep hill to Sacre Couer. It was a short, pleasant walk from the train station and was easy to get on, as it's operated by the same state-owned system as the Metro. The motion was not particularly exciting, but it was cool going up a hill in a big diagonal elevator. The ride was short, and it deposited us at the top of Montmartre, where we could use our energy to see the sights. Highly recommend if you want to skip the uphill walk, or if you or your kids might enjoy a faux funicular.

Wow this is a "don't miss" for me in Paris. The funicular takes you up or down the very steep…read morehillside to Sacre Couer at the top of Montmartre. We had gone running to get to the top, then gone to mass at Sacre Couer, and just happened across the funicular walking downhill from the church. We took it down the hillside, but could see that it was far more popular going up from the crowd at the station at the bottom of the hill. It's clean, well run and your Paris Metro card works at the gate. It's also great for people watching and views

The world's largest underground railway station, the Station Chatelet - Les Halles is located…read moreunderneath the Westfield Forum des Halles shopping center. It's also the most convenient place to take a connection from the Paris Metro line system to the RER airport lines. Loaded my final trip for 2,5€ on my reloadable metro card on the morning of Day 7, taking line 1 to stop Chatelet. I made a mistake here: knowing I needed to connect to RER Line B, I couldn't find any signs so ended up going outside. Google maps seemed to indicate that, but thinking back, I am realizing that there must have been an underground connection between them. Navigating the outside with luggage in the rain was difficult. But after entering the shopping mall, I just followed the signs for RER. I found a machine to purchase an airport ticket, but it refused to work with my card that I had been using all along on Metro (it had the airport option grayed out...which was frustrating...showing that it was the right machine, but that I was doing something wrong). The only option was a bus to the airport which I definitely did not want. I then began to wander around until I found a staffed office. I tried to explain my situation to the older gentleman..he scanned my ticket, got exasperated (I think with the situation, not me) and told me I needed to go a ticket office to get it fixed. I was going to leave, but then a younger woman intercepted and told me she could fix it. She took my card, did 'something' to it, and then told me I could use the machine now. Sure enough, when I scanned the same card, it now gave me the option to purchase an airport ticket (13€). There is definitely something strange about how you can have the right paper ticket, but if it wasn't initially set-up a certain way, it won't work in all case. Not a good thing for a tourist. I paid the $15.18 (13€) and used it to scan through the gates (which were for all RER various lines). I then followed the signs for the airport line. I boarded the first train that came, and it ended up being OK. The journey took a while, going through five stops to terminal 2. Most people got off before then. I got off at the last stop, and had to scan my ticket to exit before I could enter the airport. Got to the airport station by 11:33. I had left the hotel around 10:15 so it takes a while...an Uber would have been around $35 for the journey. I'm glad that I experienced it, especially since I was by myself. But I see the use of Uber when in Paris next time.

This is a nice and big metro station with all the shopping stores around. However everything is so…read moreexpensive. They have AC inside. You have t pay €.70 euro for bathroom. Very crowded

Gare d'Auber, which is the actual name of this business rather than Station Auber (English…read moreTranslation) is one of the largest vaulted underground stations in the world, it is one of the few stations of its' kind to have step-free access in the whole of Paris (It is rare) and has two platforms on RER Line A. I really didn't like this station, it was not only difficult to navigate with multiple entrances (Step-free access wasn't well signposted either) but the staff were also so unhelpful, after asking if there were lifts at another station and being told "Yes" I was able to purchase my ticket and as I went to the platform I was told that the lifts were out of order and I couldn't use my ticket... WHAT? I then had to spend more time, all in all I must have been in the station for a good 15-20 minutes finding the right lifts (which were old and smelly - I used hand gel straight after exiting, it was that bad!) for them to re-issue the tickets, as they wouldn't refund me I was then given a new ticket which would allow me to go part-way from this station and then get the bus, they then lied saying I could use the tickets and if it wasn't for the bus driver's understanding or simply not causing enough bother to raise the fuss, I could have been refused travel and had to spend even more money. Auber Station pretty much sums up how dismal the Paris public transportation system is. Dirty, old and pretty much doesn't save any time whatsoever. 1*

Connecting Lines 8 and 9 of the Paris Metro subway, the Richelieu Drouot station was where my…read morenephew and I got off to visit the National Library. Like all other stations, there is no tap to exit and it costs 2,5€ per trip (no matter how many connections).

This metro line was very convenient for us in getting around Paris. We went everywhere around the…read morecity. Lots of stations that allow for transfers to other trains. My only caution is to watch out for pick pockets. The police actually were waiting in one station to nab three boys that had stolen items. Also, only purchase your tickets from machines or a customer service agent. Some people dress to look like employees and offer to help, only to take your money and give you the wrong tickets. I didn't mark the metro down for that, every person needs to watch out for themselves.

Not a bad metro station, a little old maybe but Paris is old. At least it is clean, all the gates…read moreseem to work, it doesn't smell bad, and the lines 8 and 9 work well and run frequently most of the time.

The French subway system sucks. Their ticketing system is extremely primitive and backwards. It's…read moreall tiny paper tickets that are easy to lose and the fare inspectors know it, so are very predatory. They need to join the 21st century.

Well, I guess this is another one of those random stations that I came to, probably because I was…read morelooking to get myself down to the Louvre, not that I was going to be able to get in. Anyway, like a lot of these stations, this one was pretty convenient, but then again in central Paris you aren't actually all that far from a metro station, like this one, which is pretty cool. Also, like a lot of them, you can use this one to transfer as well.

So MANY steps This…read moremetro station was near the hotel. Very easy to use. But.......from the north from the hotel there is an uphill walk and a flight of stairs to get to the entrance. Inside the station there's four flights of stairs to get down to the platform. At the entrance there are kiosks to purchase tickets. These tickets are good for metro, bus and tram. The kiosk takes credit cards and cash. There offer several languages. If you are in the city for several days, I recommend the T+ ten pack. The pack makes each ticket $1.80. Actually all the Paris metro stations were clean and easy to use. Good signage for lines and directions. An electric board at the platform tells you how many minutes the next two trains are out. My last recommendations- try to avoid rush hours, and load the Paris RATP app. It's easy to use and was a great help finding the lines to take. Rode it alone without issues.

Handy. Loads little fun local joints about In The 18ème, surrounding this station. Fresh fruit,…read morelocal businesses, lots brasseries and bars with those quintessential small bistro tables! I do approve. Every time I think of this name, I think of Marius warning the people to galvanize because General Lamarck is ready! I can't help how my brain works. Just being in the moment in taking it all in, especially the terribly romantic hillside of Montmartre, boasting some of the best bakers and winners about!