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Old Feb 7, 2010 | 5:28 pm
  #27  
Benjh
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Advice from a Parisian

I'm a born and raised Parisian, and now live in NY.

Your plan sounds good, but a few thoughts:

- I do the same thing ATM wise, the other way around. I have a BNP account in France, and withdraw cash in the US through B of A ATMs. It's always worked fine. Only caveat is that it takes a few days for my BNP account to refresh and show the withdrawal, so if you check online what your balance is, remember it might not be up to date. However, it's very possible that this problem is related to BNP itself.

- BNP is one of the largest, if not the largest french bank, you will find ATMs pretty much anywhere, especially in touristy place (however, areas such as the Versailles Palace might have no ATMs at all around, so be warned).

- First thing first: there is no "Club RATP" (where you buy a navigo decouverte pass) at CDG.

- Take the AF bus. OMG take it, I beg you. The RER is so bad on this line, you have no idea. First impressions are very important, and CDG will NOT impress you. The RER would make it even worse. I know you're going to Versailles, so listen: Take the AF bus to Porte Maillot (it's the first stop on the way to ADT) for 14 euros.
Then jump in the RER C from there (it's barely 200 meters away). You'll have to first take the RER (any train) southward 5 stops before getting on a C1/Versailles line at "Eiffel Tower" (opposing platform) but it's worth it, and the RER C is much nicer and safe than RER B. You'll still save time. You'll save worry. You'll spend a little bit more, not much, that's it. It's your best bet.

- NAVIGO PASS: here's a good trick. There are "discover" windows in the street to get your pass, for I think, 5 euros. You'll barely wait in line, and there might even be someone nice serving you.
At the RER stations, you can get it too, but you'll wait an hour, with all the parisians who can get their pass free there (it's only free if you live in paris, it's 5 euros for everybody else). And people will be rude. Go to a street store, parisians can't get their's for free there. Add to that, most Navigo stations close an hour before advertised time, because there are enough people already in line to make it last another hour.

So my advice: wait 'til you're at the Hilton ADT to get your pass on the Champs Elysees. Versailles is out of Zone 1-2 anyway, so you don't need the pass the first day (you should charge it only for the first two zones, you won't need more than that for most of the visits). Buy tickets to Versailles and back the first day, buy the Navigo the second. You'll save money that way, too.

- Learn one sentence by heart in French: "Parlez vous anglais?" (do you speak english). French people do speak english, but they're very proud of their language, and they appreciate efforts from foreigners (especially americans). Start every conversation with this, and you'll find parisians to be actually (gasp!) friendly (or as friendly as they can).

- I don't mean to be patronizing, or to teach you how to enjoy your vacations, but I just want to say one thing: you're obviously a big planner - so am I! But don't forget to leave some space for the unknown and the adventure!

Hope this helps, don't hesitate to PM me for more info!
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