When you have arrived into Charles de Gaulle and gotten on your RER train or a bus, you are just moving towards Paris but you are not actually in it. Getting into Paris is the easy bit; it’s getting somewhere in there, which that can be frustrating. We arrived into Paris through the Gare du Nord railway station. Honestly, it’s not the place you want to start you visit with. It was around 8 PM so it was full of all sorts of people and activities so moving around with a luggage and back-pack is just dreadful and tiresome. I guess it’s the same for all major railway stations – people hurrying and moving into every direction possible, someone having kids running around and suspicious looking people, the kind that get your every cell telling you to keep away. Well, I bet you get the big picture.
By now however you should be accustomed to the live-music on the trains and stations. Don’t worry, you’ll hear it. And it’s very enjoyable actually. I honestly believe that some stars are lost somewhere in the system there. Anyhow, don’t mind them and they won’t hurt you. Only perhaps with their music if you are not the mainstream kind of person.
When you exit the station, it’s a different world. Travelling through popular and big streets may look safe, but they are also full of people trying to profit on you somehow. We did the mistake of standing and deciding while having our GPS out first when leaving the station and momentarily I could see one man approaching us with this “I can help you, if you help me” kind of look in his face. Well, don’t you do it. First, just move into some direction. It may not be the right one, but it does not make you look like a tourist. At least not a tourist with a label “This is my first time in here”. Make it look like you know your way around. And, whatever you do, do not look around and into their eyes. It’s always best to avoid eye contact when you don’t feel yourself comfortable in your surroundings. Learn the places you move in first. And in case someone approaches you, do it the way we did. Just move into some direction, preferably further away from this person approaching. I know this may seem rather extreme and even mean but I have always believed that it’s better to be safe than sorry. Even more so when you don’t know the language either.
So while moving towards your destination, please keep in mind the few points made above and also don’t forget to pay attention to your gut feeling. Paris has a quite good sign-system, which indicates major streets, places of interest, parks and parking areas. Metro-stations are not so distinguishable, they can carry the sign “Metro” or “Metropolitan” and are in yellowish green or red. Between colorful streets and different commercials, signs they can be rather hard to see, but still, they are marked somehow, right?
Really, it’s almost like another big city, so getting around shouldn’t be as difficult if you are used to big metropolis. And in case you aren’t, well, tough luck.
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