[Paris, Basle] points of interest
Tadej Brezina
Beginning of August I'm heading towards Paris and probably Basle in
Switzerland. What points of interest from the rail and public transit
point of view would you recommend.
thanks and regards
Tadej
x-post: mtre,mtu-t
fup2: mtre
--
"Frauen sind als Gesprächspartner nun einmal interessanter,
weil das Gespräch nicht beendet ist, wenn nichts sinnvolles mehr zu
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<David Kastrup in d.t.r>
Mark Brader
> Beginning of August I'm heading towards Paris and probably Basle in
> Switzerland. What points of interest from the rail and public transit
> point of view would you recommend.
Note: Tadej's Followup-To line was invalid. This may prevent some
people from posting followups, depending on which software they use.
Followups can be posted to this message instead.
For Paris:
* There is a funicular up the south side of Montmartre, although
it only covers the steepest part of the hill and you have to walk
the rest. Also in the Montmartre area, Abbesses station on Line 12
of the Metro has one of the last two examples of Hector Guimard's
famous art nouveau entranceways.
* As well as the tour boats (Bateaux Mouches and its competitors),
there are public transport boats (Batobus) on the Seine. I have
no details.
* There are three modern tram lines just inside and outside the city
limits of Paris, all running roughly circumferentially to the city:
T1 in the northern suburbs, T2 in the southwest, T3 in the south.
* There are two places to ride driverless trains: the OrlyVAL shuttle
(which has its own fare) connecting Orly airport to Antony station
on RER Line B, and Line 14 of the Metro.
* Metro Line 6 has a long elevated section running southeast from
Passy station with decent views of the Seine and the Eiffel Tower
as well as passing streetscapes.
* Line 2 has a shorter elevated section over the railway tracks just
north of Gare du Nord, with a view of parked TGVs, Eurostars, and
Thalyses as well as lesser trains.
* Line 5 has a short elevated section *inside* Gare d'Austerlitz,
perpendicular to the main line tracks.
* Line 10 splits into separate eastbound and westbound routes near its
western end. Mirabeau station is served only by eastbound trains,
but westbound ones actually pass through it -- without stopping,
because the westbound track is climbing steeply at that point.
* RER Line E's two underground stations (Magenta, for Gare du Nord and
Gare de l'Est; and Haussman-St-Lazare) have to be seen to be believed:
massive excavation, very wide platform, just for two tracks.
* The main interchange of RER Lines A, B, and D at Chatelet--les-Halles
is impressive in a different way, with 7 or 8 parallel tracks on one
underground level. And the corridors to various Metro lines seem
to go on forever -- you can make a free transfer to either of two
consecutive stations (Chatelet and Les Halles) on Line 4.
* RER Line C traverses the city center under the main streets along the
left (south) bank of the Seine, but above water level. From time
to time there are ventilation holes in the north side of the tunnel
wall through which the river may be glimpsed.
* Line B's station at St-Michel--Notre-Dame, where it interchanges with
Line C (and two Metro lines), is located under the south branch of
the river, with entrances both on the Left Bank and Ile de la Cite.
* The Metro is great if you like trains, but if you want to see
the city as well, you'll see more of it from the buses. If you will
be using buses, I recommend getting the RATP's Big Map ("Grand Plan")
of Paris. This is free, but seems not to be very widely distributed;
I've obtained them on past trips at RATP headquarters (customer
service section; the building is on Rue de Bercy, near Gare de Lyon)
and I think once at an information office in the Gare de Lyon.
The Big Map shows the Metro and RER *to scale* on one side, and
a detailed bus map on the other side, much better than the pocket
bus maps.
(There is a display copy of this map in every Metro station, but
that's not so useful if you want a bus. Buses and their stops have
detailed maps of the individual routes, but not other routes.)
The RER, Metro, buses, and funicular in Paris all charge the same flat
fare, but while you can transfer freely between Metro lines and to/from
the RER on a single ticket, there are no free transfers to/from any
buses or the funicular. If you go outside the Paris city limit, the
same flat Metro fare applies, but on the RER zonal fares apply even
if you are going to a place where the Metro goes (like La Defense).
Just buying ordinary Metro/bus tickets in sets ("carnets") of 10 is
often a good choice, but there are also various passes.
Paris used to have an urban transit museum, but it closed for
relocation and then ran into political problems, had to relocate again,
and still hasn't reopened. However, the French national railway museum
in the city of Mulhouse is well worth a visit. This is close enough
to Basel that you could easily go there as a day trip from Basel,
or you could stop off in Mulhouse on the way from Paris to Basel.
As for Basel itself, I haven't spent much time there, but I know it
has a sizable network of streetcars (trams), including one line that
stops just short of the border with Germany and another one that
actually crosses into France.
--
Mark Brader | "Europe contains a great many cathedrals, which were
Toronto | caused by the Middle Ages, which means they are very old,
m...@vex.net | so you have to take color slide photographs of them."
| -- Dave Barry
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Mike Roebuck
>Paris used to have an urban transit museum, but it closed for
>relocation and then ran into political problems, had to relocate again,
>and still hasn't reopened. However, the French national railway museum
>in the city of Mulhouse is well worth a visit. This is close enough
>to Basel that you could easily go there as a day trip from Basel,
>or you could stop off in Mulhouse on the way from Paris to Basel.
>
>As for Basel itself, I haven't spent much time there, but I know it
>has a sizable network of streetcars (trams), including one line that
>stops just short of the border with Germany and another one that
>actually crosses into France.
There are two tram routes in Basel which run to the German border, the
14 to Kleinhueningen (Weil am Rhein border) and the 6, to Riehen
(Loerrach border). The 6 used to run through into Loerrach, and there
are plans, I believe, to extend the 14 into Weil am Rhein.
The no. 10 route (BLT yellow trams) runs from Dornach to Rodersdorf,
and runs briefly through France, with a stop at Leymen. It's an
interesting route, and worth riding the whole length for the
experience. The Dornach terminus is outside the Dornach-Arlesheim SBB
station.
In Basel itself, routes 15 and 16 to Bruderholz are interesting, as
they go hill climbing en route.
I think they have now got rid of their remaining trolleybus routes,
so, unless route 31 is still trolleybus-worked, you'll miss out on
those.
On summer Sundays, you can do a 1-hour tour of the city on one of the
many preserved trams. This is often an old 4-wheeler, which may or may
not have a 4-wheeled trailer. The tour starts in the tram station
outside Basel SBB railway station at 10.30h, and costs CHF20.
More information is available on : http://www.bvb.ch
There is s substantial collection of preserved trams in Basel.
Information on these is available at: http://www.tramclub-basel.ch
(the link seems not to be working at the moment).
Bernard T. Higonnet
> Tadej Brezina writes:
>> Beginning of August I'm heading towards Paris and probably Basle in
>> Switzerland. What points of interest from the rail and public transit
>> point of view would you recommend.
> * There are two places to ride driverless trains: the OrlyVAL shuttle
> (which has its own fare) connecting Orly airport to Antony station
> on RER Line B, and Line 14 of the Metro.
It should be emphasized that this line is very interesting as well because
1) you can stand at the front of the train where there's a window and no
conductor as the train is automatic
2) this line has doors on the platform so it's impossible to commit
suicide on it
3) The Gare de Lyon station has a nice garden and the Bibliothèque
station is a pastiche of the Temple of Louxor in Egypt...
Not exactly public transportation, but a bit unusual, is the Canal St.
Martin, part of which goes under the Place de la Bastille and for which
there are cruise boats.
Bernard Higonnet
William JONES
"Mike Roebuck" <mike.r...@privacy.net> a écrit dans le message de news:
q5n3745g6o82k0uii...@4ax.com...
[...]
|
| I think they have now got rid of their remaining trolleybus routes,
| so, unless route 31 is still trolleybus-worked, you'll miss out on
| those.
|
The last trolleybus line closed on 30 June 2008.
--
A+
William.
=============
La mort est une blessure qui ne se referme jamais ; parfois on saigne moins, c'est tout.
Mike Roebuck
<william.jones[NOSPAM]@pandora.be> wrote:
>Hello,
>
>"Mike Roebuck" <mike.r...@privacy.net> a �crit dans le message de news:
>q5n3745g6o82k0uii...@4ax.com...
>
>[...]
>|
>| I think they have now got rid of their remaining trolleybus routes,
>| so, unless route 31 is still trolleybus-worked, you'll miss out on
>| those.
>|
>
>The last trolleybus line closed on 30 June 2008.
Thanks, William.
Just as well then that I rode them all many times in the 14 years I
lived there.
The city will seem strange to me without them.
Neil Williams
<mike.r...@privacy.net> wrote:
>>The last trolleybus line closed on 30 June 2008.
>
>Thanks, William.
>
>Just as well then that I rode them all many times in the 14 years I
>lived there.
>
>The city will seem strange to me without them.
Seems a very silly time to withdraw them, given fuel prices and the
political climate at present...
Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.
Tadej Brezina
> Tadej Brezina writes:
>> Beginning of August I'm heading towards Paris and probably Basle in
>> Switzerland. What points of interest from the rail and public transit
>> point of view would you recommend.
>
> Note: Tadej's Followup-To line was invalid. This may prevent some
> people from posting followups, depending on which software they use.
> Followups can be posted to this message instead.
Thanks, I somehow forgot to complete the newsgroup name.
Tadej
Franz Oberlechner
>
> For Paris:
>
> * There are three modern tram lines just inside and outside the city
> limits of Paris, all running roughly circumferentially to the city:
> T1 in the northern suburbs, T2 in the southwest, T3 in the south.
New pics at New pics from the tram in Paris now at
http://public-transport.net/bim/Paris.htm
Ic an recommend also tram line T4 which is operated by SNCF, nice ride
through different small cities...
> As for Basel itself, I haven't spent much time there, but I know it
> has a sizable network of streetcars (trams), including one line that
> stops just short of the border with Germany and another one that
> actually crosses into France.
For Basle: Just start at the railway station, some lines go to the
French border, I think one line goes throuch a small part of France,
very funny.
The city centre is a good place to find all tram types
(Pics from Basle: http://public-transport.net/bim/Basel.htm)
Regards
Franz