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.

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.

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.

Loved the Paris Metro and RER trains. I went everywhere in Paris via RATP and used their online…read morewebsite to get around to various destinations. Also used Apple Maps with it. Are the stations and tunnels old & dingy? Sure. But they do their jobs. It reminded me of the subways in NYC because the trains were so frequent and accessed everywhere I wanted to go. Compared to San Francisco, it was amazing. Just be aware at the Montmartre station, the stairway up goes round and round and round forever. It was never ending, but I was very grateful to not have been one of the many tourists there who were lugging their rolly bags up those never ending steps with them. Some of the agents working in the Metro stations don't speak english, even in the main large stations. Luckily the little station I used for my main departure route had an english speaker and suggested I get a Navigo card since I was staying 2 weeks. It cost 10 euros, you need to get a photo (much smaller than US passport size, and they will cut it down to fit) and they will upload whichever amount pass you want on here - weekly pass is minimum and those are from Monday to Sunday, no matter which day you purchase it on. The Navigo card is good for ten years. Just buy your tickets and keep them on you. The 2 weeks I was there, on three occasions, Metro Police/Officials checked everyone for their tickets. Two times was in the tunnels of I don't remember which stations, once was just before arriving to the Palace of Versailles when they fined a handful of confused tourists and an international american student 35 euros each. A ticket to the Palace of Versailles Rive Gauche station from the Saint-Placide station in the Louvre area was just 4.15 euro. If you're disabled, RATP may be difficult to navigate. They do say they've made many stations disability friendly with escalators and elevators, but it didn't seem that way with many of the stations. They're still working on it. Paris is imo not a friendly place for disabled and wheelchair users. Alas, too old and too many cobblestones. Things that make the city amazing also has its drawbacks and this is one of them.

Very bad service in general. I tried 3 kiosk machines and two are out of pass and another one…read morecannot load weekly pass. What is the problem with French People! I tried use phone app and because I do not have France phone number, that is denied too. Again, I am really furious at this moment, what is the problem with France!

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.