Paris metro - the underground kingdom of the city

If you compare the Paris Metro, for example, with the Moscow subway, then the first - loses. There is not very clean, in places everything is painted graffiti, and the station is much smaller, but due to the fact that the subway is still located in Paris, even under the earth there is a charm of the city. Or maybe because the Paris Metro is the second oldest subway, the opening of which dates back to 1900.

If you decide to explore the city with its sights, then the subway - it's the most. Small trains between the stations will allow you to reach any monument or structure in a matter of minutes. All because the construction was carried out exclusively under the underground passages because of the danger of touching the cellars of apartment buildings, which would inevitably lead to tragedies. The Paris metro was built literally in a few years, from the beginning of construction, up to 10 stations were opened annually, which is virtually impossible by modern standards. For example, Moscow builds one station with a haulage for 3 years with continuous financing. By the way, even then the genius engineer Bienvenu proposed construction of a method for freezing the soil. His name remained in history, after him one of the stations metro Paris - Montparnasse-Bienvenuux was named.

Today, the underground realm is successfully automated, there is already one branch, completely switched to automatic control, besides, the authorities, taking care of their passengers, introduce free Wi-Fi.

Interesting Facts

The Paris metro is a bit unusual. For those who have never been there, everything will be strange and unusual.

For example, the approach of the train on the knocking of the wheels you will not hear, but all because they are rubber. Yes Yes. Strangely enough, however it is. Underground, the metro station is rather quiet due to the lack of knocking wheels on the rails.

There are many ladders here, they replace escalators, because the subway itself is rather shallow and automatic lifts are pointless.

There is one more, rather unpleasant and shocking moment - this is the smell. The Paris subway smells unpleasant, and each station has its own smell. Somewhere you can smell the smell of dog and urine, and somewhere else and perfume. However, in general, the smells are unpleasant, and it is simply unacceptable for an unused to such a tourist. The fact is that one of the oldest subways in the world has poor ventilation, which so far no one has decided to start repairing or changing. The Paris metro is basically not automated, so in order to get out of the car, you have to turn the handle and press the special button, the same goes for the turnstiles - here you have to push them with your hands.

Another slightly unusual fact: in metro cars to meet white - a rarity, more precisely, in the subway ride only tourists, all the rest - Afro-French. And it's not about racism or intolerance, but simply in the unusual situation.

And one more thing. Tickets are bought in vending machines (kiosks with cashiers are very small). And the car does not know any other language, except French, so before you go down to the Paris metro, find out how to purchase a ticket.

Well, in fact, that's all, at last it is worthwhile to give a few figures that will more clearly show the need for the Paris subway. The city is equipped with 16 metro lines, at each stop there is not only the next station behind it, but also the final branch station, so it will be difficult to get lost. Metro is not more than half a kilometer from the main attractions of the city, so this trip will not only interesting, but also cheap, as well as fast.

Every year the subway passes through itself to one and a half billion people, which means that up to 4.5 million people can visit the metro day. The figure is amazing, especially if you never think about it.