Saturday, September 10, 2011

Breaking the law in Paris....sorry about that

With the first night we arrive in Paris, Adam and I have a ritual:  dump our bags in the apartment and take the nearest Metro to see Mamo at our favorite pizza place- then take the short walk to Champ du Mars and watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle.

The dumping the luggage and getting to the metro station went well. We knew exactly which train to take, but there was one problem. The ticket office was closed and the ticket dispenser only took coins, but  we only had bills. So, with the lateness of the hour we knew we had to quickly make our way to the next metro station in hopes they had an attendant. However, we came up with a brilliant plan- we would stop at McDonalds (a definate no no for us) and buy some fries in hopes of getting the 3.70 euro in coins we would need. Nope, we gave a 10 euro note that didn't net enough change.  We dug through our pockets and scraped together all we had to get our two one-way tickets. Voila! We were at Mamo's eating pizza by 10:30!

We raced to the Eiffel and got our annual pic, then headed for the closest metro station before closing. Mamo gave us enough change to buy the tickets home -- but guess what, this station had no machine to even buy tickets! Folks, we have been to Paris so many times before that we should know better than to be so unprepared. Well, we had coins, but no tickets, and no machine to buy tickets....but wait....the gate to the train was open and there was no one around to catch us....so....

We raced through the open gate without paying! I know! We just broke a major French law. Is it okay that we told ourselves we needed to get home and this was our only option? We smiled slyly at one another, like two juvenile delinquents, as the last metro roared home.....
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