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French Level 2 Unité 3: Leçon 4b
Salut! Monsieur Charon has asked me to explain "le Métro"! The metro is the coolest thing. It has stops all over Paris (a "stop" is the name on the map of places where you enter and exit the metro system). Nearly every important landmark has a stop within walking distance. It's easy to get anywhere you want to go using the metro. Even better, its really fast! I can promise you that once you get the hang of how it works and you use it, you'll want to use it every time you go anywhere in Paris. Check out this cool map of the metro system: 
Be prepared to scroll up, down, and sideways across the page because we'll be referring back to the map from A LOT! (You might find it easier to print a color copy of the map to keep in front of you!) Thinking back to my first time using a metro map, it looked like a maze of words and lines. Well, to be perfectly honest, that's exactly what it is! In order for our map to make more sense, think of each line as a street and each set of words (or names) as stops. For the non-native French speaker, each line is color coded and numbered. Make sure you know your numbers from 1-13! Now I bet you're thinking, "Hey Luc, that's brilliant, but how do I get around on this thing!" I'm so glad you asked! The first question most people say is, "Where do I get on the métro?!" The answer is simple: you begin by finding the closest stop. The best way to find the closest stop is to ask someone. "Le" or "la concierge" (hotel clerk) is usually your best bet. He or she will usually give you easy to follow directions (I will teach you all about French direction "giving and taking" in a later leçon). Once you have the directions, you are on your way! (Another way to find the closest metro stop is from a map. All hotels have maps of the city and the metro system. I usually take one of each!) Just in case no one told you before, the name of our hotel is "Louvre St. Honoré". The closest metro stop to our hotel is "Palais Royale/Musée du Louvre". Let's take a look at our map and find our stop. Let's say that we want to go to the stop called, "Opéra". How do we get there? Step 1: We leave our hotel and go out into the street to look for the BIG sign that indicates our metro stop. Once we have located the sign, "Palais Royale/Musée du Louvre" we can see some stairs nearby leading down under the sidewalk and into the station. Once we are inside the station and before we can get onto the metro train, we will need to purchase tickets. Since we know exactly where we are traveling we can purchase one ticket for our outward journey and a second ticket for our return (or we can purchase a pack of ten tickets called a "carnet" so we have tickets to use later! Buying tickets as a "carnet" is cheaper than buying tickets individually). Step 2: Find "Opéra" on the metro map (*Hint: it is three stops above "Palais Royale/Musée du Louvre" on the "Pink" Line). The "Palais Royale/Musée du Louvre" station connects to two metro lines: one gold and one pink, however we know that to get to "Opéra" we need to take the pink line going north (up) . Looking at our map, we follow the pink line north (up) to the last stop which is titled: "La Courneuve-8 Mai 1945". Now you may be asking yourself: "Why is it important that we know the name of the last stop on the line going north (up)?" I will explain. At the end of each line, the name of the last station is inside a black box. Inside the metro station are signs that have the names of these stops (along with their corresponding "circled and colored" numbers). Just for fun, follow the pink line south (down). You see that the line splits and that the last stops are titled: "Villejuif-Louis Aragon" and "Mairie d'Ivry". All three names: "La Courneuve-8 Mai 1945" and "Villejuif-Louis Aragon"- "Maire d'Ivry" represent pink line number 7. However that is not all that they represent. They also represent different directions to travel. From our current location: "Palais Royale/Musée du Louvre", we must follow the signs that say, "La Courneuve-8 Mai 1945" to arrive at our new destination: "Opéra". If we follow the signs that say, "Villejuif-Louis Aragon" or "Mairie d'Ivry" and board the metro train we will be heading south (down) which is the opposite direction from the way we want to go! See how it works? Let's follow the signs leading to number 7, "La Courneuve-8 Mai 1945" until we come to the train track. Once there we wait for the train to arrive. Now that you have an understanding of how the Métro works, let's go to the next leçon where we will go to my stop, "la Notre Dame". 
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