Paris Subway

My husband and I took the subway all over Paris while we were there. It was a very good way to learn things about Paris I never wanted to know. Our first day I was nearly smashed in the door of one of the cars, as I was taking a photo of a man playing incredible busic on our car, and almost missed getting off the train, lol! Several Parisians came over out of concern, and seemed very relieved to see that I was ok, just a little dazed. Apparently you can be killed getting closed in a door on their subway. They do not reopen like other subways I have been on.

The Subway

The photo I was taking that almost got me closed in a subway door...

We actually saw a lady with a baby under one arm and a baguette under the other arm begging on one of our trips. Monsieur, cil vous plait... Madame, cil vous plait... I didn't take her picture, but her image is still stuck in my mind, and I now know how to beg in French.

Our last subway trip was from our hotel to the airport. It took much discussion to get my husband to agree to try taking the subway to the airport, as he was unsure about taking our luggage. However, we pack light, and in the end he decided it would be ok.

As we made our way out of the city on the rails, the last images of Paris that stuck in my mind were little cardboard shacks built one on top of another with chimneys jutting out the tops. These are built all along the route out of the city. I wanted pictures of them as well, but we were in no position to reach my camera at that moment.
As we reached our destination, the door behind us between cars opened, and a group of subway officials entered our car. They proceeded to check our tickets and demand 25 Euros each from us, in cash, immediately (a taxi would have probably cost about the same amount). Apparently the "unlimited" two day pass we bought for the subway did not include the trip to the airport. We thought maybe we were just dumb non-French speaking Americans, who had made an honest error, so we paid the fine. As they walked further up the car, we realized that they were also shaking down the French citizens, who were much louder about how ridiculous it was. Apparently they didn't buy the right tickets either, in spite of being obvious French speakers...