Paris1972-Versailles2003

I have done when I started my blog way back in Nov’2010 a series of runs on each line of the Metro de Paris. I figure it is time to update and reduce the non essentials and leave the vital for any visitor and resident as well. Paris not only have Parisians but French from every department of France and even some foreign residents and/or citizens who use it every day.  I hope it helps you understand a bit more what Paris metro or subway or tube underground is all about. Of course, remember, this is my take condense information there is a book on the metro !! Therefore, here is my take on the Metro de Paris , part I !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

I am amaze at the number of people coming from places where there is no subway .metro:tube and gladly jump in into the Paris metro and rave about it back home. Like it was a tourist attractions; well , I like to tell you above ground is better but anyway here is the metro of Paris, It has 16 metro lines so far, and it was not the first one to have one. It all started with the idea of hosting the Universal Expo of 1900, so to be ready work on the metro began in 1897. The first line or line 1 was done and started on July 19 1900 to be exact on 3 wagons from Porte Maillot to Porte de Vincennes. This line is almost all underground ;  except at  Bastille stop, in 1934 it was extended to Chateau de Vincennes, and by 1937 to Neuilly-sur-Seine. This line is now an automated line without driver that is computer controlled.

The stops are  Les Sablons, began in 1937; It is here that Louis XVI had a plant which he brought from Prussia, it was the beginning of what we call potatoes in France or pomme de terre. The best to see here is the Jardin d’Acclimatation where a zoo was done under Napoleon III,and still is,you can take the petit train or small train at by the parking Vinci in the palais de congres building and the porte maillot to get into the park in grand style. Another great stop is at Charles-de-Gaulle-Etoile,  you can actually see the silhouette of the star shape street from top of the Arc de Triomphe at 54 meters high and 284 steps , Moving on to Georges V, after the English king done while alive on May 27 1920 for his efforts to help the French in WWI, the only king so name in Paris metro , We arrive at a nice roundabout station name Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau, where the tiles are done by portuguese master azulejos in exchange for a arch entry of Guimard for the Lisbon metro , Then we have Concorde, (my favorite stop when worked nearby) at the old place Louis XV from 1772, the guillotine was installed here in 1792 during a year. Afterward became pl de la revolution and then place de la Concorde. We continue towards Tuileries, where from the 13C rooftiles were done here so tuiles in French,here was the palais des tuileries (destroyed in 1871 razed by city of Paris 1883), We reach Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre station; the palace done by Cardinal Richelieu, and of course the Musée du Louvre,and the musée des arts decoratifs at 107 rue de Rivoli by the marsans wing of the Louvre , Go over to the Louvre-Rivoli stop, just renamed in 1989.a beautiful church , and one of my favorites, St Germain l’Auxerrois from the 12C, here the bell sound when the massacre of St Barthelemy.

We are at the mega station Chatelet, one I always tell the visitors to avoid on their first run or try it for fun with plenty of time.  open on August 6 1900 with the  name of Pont-au-Change, then in 1926 it became Pont Notre Dame, and from 1934 it is Chatelet. The first station equipped with running walkways at 3kph ,and long,,. We are at the Hôtel de Ville, previously call here pl de la Gréve, where folks looking for work came, where negotiations took place for a job ,so the expression in French ” faire la gréve” is to do a  labor strike. We are headed for Bastille, a middle age fortress with 8 towers of 20 meters high built between 1370-1383 under Charles V. Became a prison under Cardinal Richelieu one of its most famous occupant Voltaire. It was this prison in July 14 1789 that the official French revolution began. We reach Nation,  before call Place du Trône in honor of Louis XIV, the guillotine was place here too; from 1880 it is name the place de la Nation in honoring the National Day of Bastille. We are finally at Chateau de Vincennes, line done in 1934. with 6 exits or sorties. at no 2 you go out to the Chateau de Vincennes. The donjon tower is the highest in Europe at 50 meters at the time ,ramparts of 378 meters by 175 meters.

I will talk about line 2; open december 13, 1900. It has four above ground stations, for more than 2 kms. These are Barbés-Rochechouart, La Chapelle,Stalingrad, and Jaurés. It has ,also, the biggest metro tragedy when in 1903 more than 80 persons died after a fire in one of the rails lines.

First let get on to Porte Dauphine,,name after Marie Antoinette,yes the one queen;where she was young stayed at the chateau de la muette (yes that quartier of Paris,castle now gone),the line open in december 13,1900. The best here is the omnipresent Bois de Boulogne done by Philippe le Bel in 1301. Go on to Ternes, a deform way of writing Villa Externa or external village controlled by the bishop of Paris in the middle ages, later it became known as Estern and then Ternes facing the villa episcopa, by 1860 this area was annexed to Paris. Move over to Monceau, it was the outside limits on the west of Paris then in 1300, called Mousseaux; the area developed by the Duke of Chartres, it is one of the prized areas of Paris, later the Rothschild family came in as well as the heirs of chocolate Menier. It open as metro station in october 7 1902. The magnificent parc Monceau is here, with a rotonda of 16 columns that came from the walls of the fermiers généraux, main entrance by blvd de Courcelles. Going to Blanche,  for the whites of the gypsy clay stones on the quarries of Montmartre.

Move over to Stalingrad,  name after the fame battle of WWII in Russia, it open as metro in 1903. Quickly move on to Belleville,  where the name has a street and an avenue of same name. In 1860 it was attached to Paris, going up by rue de Belleville you reach one of the highest point in Paris at 128 meters high , Continue to Menilmontant,  from the word mesnil or small farm and mauvais temps or mesnil montant from the unduling bends on the roads here. Also came to be part of Paris in 1860. And we reach the end Pére Lachaise , named after François d’Aix de la Chase, confessor to Louis XIV built in 1803, it is a city within a city really ,a cemetery….

I will talk about line 3 of the Paris metro. It goes from Pont de Levallois-Bécon (Levallois-Perret) to Galliani (Bagnolet); ironic its not the third line but the fifth line of the metro de Paris. It open by sections from October 19 1904, and it later added a side line call the line 3bis by Gambetta (see post). It was the first line to have steel rails in use still today.  It also, has one of the phantom stations in Paris at HAXO, built in 1921 but never open to the public. We skip and hop to Wagram, one of the historic moments of Napoleon Ier in 1809. It has picturesques streets such as that of rue Fortuny, after a Spanish painter, At place du Général Catroux built in 1862 and named in 1977 after the general that sided with Charles de Gaulle, you will find the statues of Alexandre Dumas, father and Sarah Bernhardt. Moving in to known quarters at Havre-Caumartin, name after the city of Le Havre and the merchant Caumartin who help clean up Paris from 1774-1784. You have the works of arts such as the L’Heure pour tous d’Arman, many clocks mounted on each other to create a tower at the parvis de la gare St Lazare. Nearby you have the famous dept stores Galeries Lafayette, and Au Printemps.

We arrive at my old working area of Paris, metro Opéra, the building was done by Charles Garnier by order of Napoleon III.  Therefore known at the Opéra Garnier, a jewel done in 1874. We move on to the real stockmarket of old at Bourse,   The palais Brongniart, built from 1808, with a glass dome of 25 meters high, Nearby the Church Basilique Notre Dame des Victoires back to the religious cult in 1802 to this day. it is a high rite of pelegrinage today and one of its attendant was St Theresa de Lisieux. You ,also, have the Galeries Vivienne et Colbert near ,built from 1823 and 1826 respectively. We move on to Réaumur-Sébastopol, previous name of Rue Saint Denis was renamed in  1907. You can see the Passage de la Trinité after an old orphanage ,go in by 21 rue de palestro or 164 rue Saint Denis. See the wonderful Musée des Arts et Métiers inside the old abbey of Saint Martin des Champs, closed after the French revolution ,over 8000 objects awaits your curiosity inside,at 60 rue Réaumur ,do nice shopping at the Marché des Enfants Rouges by 39 rue Bretagne;,name after an old orphanage that was there and house the kids in red sheets. You now come to my neck of the woods at night, République, the station has five correspondance stations, tops together with Chatelet on 1878 the Paris council decided to name it République, the statue on the center measures 10 meters with a pedestal of 15,5 meters, all was done on July 14 1883 , See the passage Vendôme it is 57 meters long and built in 1827, linking the streets blvd du Temple to the convent des Filles Saint Sauveur, right at the square or by 16-18 rue Béranger. Slow down to Gambetta,  after Leon Gambetta who was a great politician and came to proclaim the République at the Hotel de Ville in 1870. And on November 11 1920 his heart is at the Panthéon. Further on at Galliani, you find the terminal of the inter European Eurolines bus companies.

We have the much lesser used but exist ,the Line 3bis of the Paris metro.  This line from the 20éme arrrondissement or district of Paris links the Gambetta and Porte des Lilas stations to the east of the city. It is the shortest on the network, and by far the least frequented, Built during the 1910s as an extension of line 3, it was disconnected from it in 1971, during the extension of line 3 at Gallieni, and operated since independently. The line 3bis get you to the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Théatre National de la Colline, and the Church Notre-Dame-de-Fatima-Marie-Médiatrice , main Catholic church of the Portuguese community.

The official RATP Paris metro : https://www.ratp.fr/en/plan-metro

There you go folks , my dear readers, we have a wonderful metro network overall They take you to all these wonderful spots in my eternal Paris, even if as I said, above ground is better ::) Just for the curious and visitors who dare go underground in the most beautiful city in the world, Paris !!! Again, hope you enjoy the post as I

And remember, happy travel, good health, and many cheers to all !!!