Paris, the city of lights. Dwelling of “The Iron lady”.  Home to one of the most complicated metro systems in the world. There are numerous comprehensive articles on the internet—like this one—that you should definitely read to get a better idea on how to survive on Paris Metro. But not this article. This article focuses on some fun facts about Paris Metro and my experience of using it for five days. I realise visiting Paris for five days doesn’t make me an expert, but here it is anyway! Click to read on!

1. Why this map looks so complicated?

With 14 lines and more than 300 stations, it’s a given that the Paris Metro map looks complicated. Don’t forget to consider RER (speed trains) that runs both around and outside Paris. Add major train stations where intersections take place, and you’ll get a recipe for disaster. Those colour codes where a different colour is assigned to each line? Yeah, not really helping. I feel you. Definitely allocate some time to get yourself familiar with everything. Don’t wait until you’re in the middle of rush hour, inside the metro, to open the map *note to self*.

2. Paris Metro stations are totally instagenic.

I still don’t know why it surprised me that Paris Metro stations, as does the whole city of Paris, are totally instagenic. Every station—especially the major ones—has its own decor and quirk. Movie posters, alphabet tiles, or a specific colour are among the themes. Yes, I could occasionally see a homeless person sleeping or asking for money. Yes, most of the stations are not that clean either; but Paris is neither Tokyo nor Singapore, so that’s perfectly understandable in my book.

3. Need to go to the toilet? Boy, you’re in trouble!

(And how I finally used the toilette)

If you’re the kind of person who needs to pee all the time, I don’t think you would like Paris all that much. It is very hard to find a pay toilet in Paris—let alone a free one—including in metro stations.

When I first arrived at Paris Bercy after 5 hours of travel on the bus from Amsterdam, it was 05:30 AM and I needed to pee badly. The toilet was still closed and I wasn’t patient enough, so I headed directly to my B&B around Montmartre area to drop of my luggage. The B&B still had a guest staying, so I couldn’t use the toilet. There was apparently no toilet whatsoever at all Paris Metro stations around Montmartre, and according to an outdated TripAdvisor thread, the closest station with toilet was Madeleine. Of course I immediately went there.

Guess what? The toilet at Madeleine station no longer exists.

The toilet sign was still there, therefore I tried asking the information centre where the hell is this stupid toilet. Not in those exact words, of course. Since the information centre lady couldn’t speak English very well and I couldn’t speak French except bonjour and bon appetit, I didn’t get any proper explanation. She simply said that the toilet was “no more”. Why Paris, why???

After walking around Madeleine in a painstaking search of a toilet, I finally reached an ancient-looking green toilette, pointed out by a very nice homeless man. I’ve read numerous warnings on the internet about how you shouldn’t use toilette unless you really have to. Well, the rumours are true folks. Although the toilette came as somewhat futuristic at first—they have automatic sliding doors; I know, it’s a stupid point—its hygiene was as bad as public toilets in a gas station somewhere in Indonesia. Or even worse. Not futuristic at all.

I learned the hard way that pay toilets are only available on a couple of big stations, such as Montparnasse. The whole toilet-sign-is-still-there-but-the-toilet-is-not is happening virtually everywhere. Besides Madeleine, Cluny La Sorbonne had the same issue. There is definitely more, but I can’t remember which station. 

4. Why is the door not open yet?

I honestly don’t know whether it is common to have to push a button or pull a lever to open a metro door in other parts of the world, but some trains in Paris Metro do. At first, I assumed it was automatic, similar to MRTs and other new trains out there. I nearly missed my stop by spending some time standing in front of the metro door, stupidly waiting for it to open itself… 

5. Aren’t there any elevators?

At smaller and older stations, no, there are neither elevators nor escalators. Considering the Paris Metro was first constructed in 1898, this is not unexpected. Newer/bigger stations do have elevators and even moving walkway. At some certain older stations, there is usually a huge elevator that can carry a lot of people. This type of elevator actually reminds me of one of those movies where prisoners are moved from one room to another room in a locked facility. (Excuse my overactive imagination)

6. Paris Metro is occasionally free!

Out of five days in Paris, I had free transport for the last three days! Those last three days included a train trip to the Versailles and the Charles de Gaulle Airport. How did it happen?

Sorry, there’s no dramatic answer whatsoever. It was purely sheer luck.

It was Saturday morning at the Guy Moquet metro station, and I was about to purchase a ticket bundle for the day when I realised that all of the gates were opened. Weird, huh? It was a confusing moment. Was the gate somehow broken? What if I boarded the metro then I got caught by a policeman because I had no ticket?

Suddenly a nice African lady approached us and explained—with broken English and lots of hand gestures; God Bless you miss, for helping to sort our confusion—that the metro was free for a couple of days! The government did this to encourage citizens to use public transportation instead of personal vehicles, because Paris had been dealing with bad air condition for the past week or so. So yes, FREE TRANSPORTATION IN PARIS. How did I get so lucky? It saved me more than 35 Euros!

I totally got too excited taking pictures of these flyers and unlocked gates. They fascinated me. This is one fun memory that I'm going to remember about Paris!