Rome to Stalingrad

Along Ligne 2 on the Paris Metro, you will find a station named Rome and another one called Stalingrad.  From Rome, Italy, to Volgograd, Russia is a long way.  I think Rome is nice enough, but I haven't been to Stalingrad/Volgograd.  Nor are we likely to go there.  We did Russia once.  One of those places where once is probably enough.  Never say "never" though.

The Paris Metro is the best public transit system that I have ever used.  It goes everywhere.  Like the San Francisco Muni, it lies across the city map like a grid, so you don't have to go into a center and back out on another spoke like in London if you are starting outside the Circle Line.

A single ride ticket is 1E70 if you buy it on a bus, or 1E60 if you buy it in a metro station.  For 12E50, you can buy a "carnet" of ten tickets, so this is a pretty good deal.  Passes are also available, but we thought we would not get enough use out of them to get those.

You need to keep your ticket with you throughout your journey!  They don't collect the tickets when you get off, and there is no machine like in the BART exit.  But if you don't have your ticket with you and you are caught by the fare police, it will cost you big time.  They even have credit card machines to collect your fines on the spot.  So beware!  We see cheaters all the time.  Sometimes they get caught.

This is a great system for getting around.  The subway trains probably work better than a bus for most out-of-towners,  because you don't have to know what your stop looks like.  One of the many things right with Paris is its Metro.