One thing that I've really come to appreciate about London is the ease of transportation. For someone who doesn't own a vehicle, getting around is still relatively easy--whether one hails a cab, rides the tube, or gets on the bus. Public transportation might slow one down a bit, but at least it's convenient.
To be honest, I only rode the bus once in Paris--so I don't really have a firm grasp on that mode of transportation. Using the taxi, however, was cetainly a learing experience. After some difficulty in finding ourselves a taxi on Friday afternoon, my flatmates and I discovered that taxis keep stationed along the side of streets. One merely has to look for a blue sign with the word "Taxi" on it, to find transportation. (Though if all the cabs are in use, a novice might not understand what is going on.) We also learned that one does not stop at any taxi in line, but must request the services of the first taxi in line.
I found the public transportation via the metro (Paris' version of the tube and American's version of the subway) less palatable. Whereas the London tube stations are relatively clean, the Paris metro stations are filthy and often omit noxious odors such as urine and vomit. Furthermore, the metro system reminded me of ancient catacombs with secret passageways and corridors. We often found ourself walking upwards and downwards and upwards again just to get from one line to the next. The seemingly poor planning often left us doubting our location. The signs were often just as confusing so that, at one point, we actually exited the station (rather than catch our train) because the signs (which we followed to the tee) directed us outside! In retrospect this seems rather comical, however, at the time we found this quite frustrating. Unable to get back into the station with our tickets, we had to kill some time before we were able to re-enter.
I also couldn't help but observe that the tube stations in London are much closer together than the metros in Paris. What happens if you are in a hurry to get somewhere and the metro station that you needed to use is unavailable? How far would you have to go to get to another one? I realize that I only spent 3 days in Paris, but I'm much more impressed by the transportation system in London. I was very happy to return and experienced a new appreciation for the tube system. How clean, how efficient, how uncomplicated to use!
To be honest, I only rode the bus once in Paris--so I don't really have a firm grasp on that mode of transportation. Using the taxi, however, was cetainly a learing experience. After some difficulty in finding ourselves a taxi on Friday afternoon, my flatmates and I discovered that taxis keep stationed along the side of streets. One merely has to look for a blue sign with the word "Taxi" on it, to find transportation. (Though if all the cabs are in use, a novice might not understand what is going on.) We also learned that one does not stop at any taxi in line, but must request the services of the first taxi in line.
I found the public transportation via the metro (Paris' version of the tube and American's version of the subway) less palatable. Whereas the London tube stations are relatively clean, the Paris metro stations are filthy and often omit noxious odors such as urine and vomit. Furthermore, the metro system reminded me of ancient catacombs with secret passageways and corridors. We often found ourself walking upwards and downwards and upwards again just to get from one line to the next. The seemingly poor planning often left us doubting our location. The signs were often just as confusing so that, at one point, we actually exited the station (rather than catch our train) because the signs (which we followed to the tee) directed us outside! In retrospect this seems rather comical, however, at the time we found this quite frustrating. Unable to get back into the station with our tickets, we had to kill some time before we were able to re-enter.
I also couldn't help but observe that the tube stations in London are much closer together than the metros in Paris. What happens if you are in a hurry to get somewhere and the metro station that you needed to use is unavailable? How far would you have to go to get to another one? I realize that I only spent 3 days in Paris, but I'm much more impressed by the transportation system in London. I was very happy to return and experienced a new appreciation for the tube system. How clean, how efficient, how uncomplicated to use!
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