Mass Transit, London and Paris

London's underground, the Tube, is one of The Best mass transit systems anywhere: clean, punctual, and easy to navigate! The map is easy to figure out; the stations are easy to find; and it's all in English! woo hoo!! rofl

Is it perfect? Of course not. If the station you need happens to be closed, it's probably a pretty good walk to the next. But the other side of that coin is that it moves pretty quickly because it's not stopping every 1/4 mile either! And it can, like any other mass transit system, get very crowded at peak hours. It has over 250 stations, many of them in the 'burbs and outlaying areas. Great for getting to Wimbledon, and Windsor Castle!

It's not in English in Paris. But you really only need a couple words of French to figure it out. And any travel guide/translator will have those couple of words you need.

Other than that, Paris' subway system is very good, also. Like London, it's clean and punctual, and not too difficult to navigate. And, it is very, very extensive- 368 stations!!! Many of the entrances still have the Art Nouveau designs which make them easy to spot, and fun to photograph.

We had a couple scares on the Paris system that changed how we move around as a family.... Now, when we go through turnstiles or board anything, we go parent, kid, kid, parent. That way, if a kid gets 'stuck' on the other side, there's a parent there, too. Granted, now my kids are grown ups, but at least there are 2 of us together if one of them gets stranded. If both parents are through a turnstile, and a kid gets caught because his ticket doesn't work it's scary! Scarier still, both parents are ON a train and the doors start to close while a kid is still outside on the platform!! Our experience on the train in Paris, is that the doors do NOT open back up just because there is a body part in the way. I walked around Paris, bruised for days, because I stepped into a closing doorway to ensure my kid got ON the same train as me.

Lesson: parent-kid-kid-parent. Add as many kids in the middle there as you need, but a parent should go through or on first, and last.