One of the things I was most dreading about moving to Paris was getting around. I had never lived in a capital city before and an essential part of my job (itinerant business English teacher) is to travel from office to office, spending as little time in between as possible - because as any TEFL teacher knows, time (spent traveling) is money (you don't see).
I was envisaging becoming a harried, sweaty, stressed-out sardine with chronic sciatica - due to humping ruck sacks full of text books - and a wish to return to the humdrum yet peaceful world of the outskirts of Dusseldorf, my former home.
Well, after a month, the sciatica is coming along just fine (I've been promised a wheely-bag, for Christmas!) and after a couple of Metro journeys my pores are happily ejecting whatever delicious Parisian pastry products I've hurriedly consumed that day.
However, the most feared symptom, the stress, has been substantially reduced by several brilliant, barely mentioned characteristics of the French capital's transport system:
1. Buses - you would have thought that most capitals' roads would render this public transport inviable and impractical. Not so, by taking a bus you can, for example, reach Place d'Italie (13th) from Place Gambeta (20th) - as I once did with 30 kg of luggage - in about 40 stress-free minutes, while avoiding the crowds and the labyrinth of the metro and taking in some lovely sights along the way. What's more I've never waited more than 10 minutes for one.
2. Bus stops - if you wander as aimlessly as I do, you will be happy to know that all bus stops in Paris display both a local and city map, so, as you're never very far from one, at least you'll know whereabouts you became lost. The RATP also provides you with a door-to-door mapping service on its website. www.ratp.fr
3. Overground Metro lines - a large part of lines like the 6 (Etoile - Nation) run above ground, a breath of fresh air in more ways than one, which brings me onto...
4. Windows on Metro trains - they actually open enough to let (what accounts for) fresh air in (only if you stand mind).
5. Buildings, signs and other accoutrements - they have style here, so Metro signs, station buildings and even the viaducts holding the overground tracks are often works of art. Some you barely see (Place de Monge). In fact most you don't have time to admire because I've never waited more than 5 minutes for a train at any of them.
I'm not saying getting around the biggest city in France during the morning rush is a breeze, but there's less to sniff at than you'd think (unless you count my shirts).
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