For this endeavor I took a trip from London to Paris and back again. I've never travelled by rail between the two cities, I have only gone via airplane - and in that trip always going from either Luton or Stansted airports. This requires a short tube trip followed by a coach (bus) ride, then the flight, and then the RER from Charles de Gaulle airport into the center of Paris. It's quite a hectic trip usually and takes much londer than I always anticipate (and wish) it would. Travelling by rail in my mind was going to feel a bit more continuous and connected. And also be a bit less of a hassle and a quicker trip. I always thought of it as more expensive though. But when you add in the coach (around £15 roundtrip) and the RER (€20) it starts evening out a bit. The rail ticket only cost £109, booked about 11 days in advance. My last roundtrip air to Paris was £103 - one ticket being booked far in advance and the other very last minute.

Curiosly, before the journey even started I received the following email on July 17th:

Dear traveller,

Due to industrial action in the UK by Network Rail staff on Friday 21 July and Saturday 22 July, Eurostar is amending its timetable to minimise disruption to travellers.

There is expected to be widespread disruption across the UK rail network on these dates. However, in spite of the planned industrial action Eurostar will still operate over 85% of its normal timetable.

Timetable Alterations:

Friday 21 July
13.41 London Waterloo-Paris (train 9030) is planned to depart at 13.26

Saturday 22 July
09.37 London Waterloo-Disneyland Resort Paris (train 9074) is planned to depart at 10.10
08.56 Brussels-London Waterloo (train 9117) is planned to not call at Ashford

Cancelled Services:

Friday 21 July
14.09 London Waterloo-Paris (train 9032)
21.13 Paris-London Waterloo (train 9063)

Saturday 22 July
05.34 London Waterloo-Paris (train 9078)
06.10 London Waterloo-Brussels (train 9106)
06.34 London Waterloo-Paris (train 9002)
07.37 London Waterloo-Paris (train 9006)
08.12 London Waterloo-Paris (train 9008)
08.39 London Waterloo-Brussels (train 9116)
09.09 London Waterloo-Paris (train 9012)

06.37 Paris-London Waterloo (train 9005)
07.25 Brussels-London Waterloo(train 9111)
07.43 Paris-London Waterloo (train 9009)

Travellers holding tickets for these trains will be re-booked on earlier/later services and should contact Eurostar on (01777) 777 878 to amend their tickets.

Eurostar will be offering a free ticket exchange (for travel within 60 days) or refunds (from the original point of sale) for travellers on all services on 21 and 22 July who don't wish to travel.

Travellers on all other services are advised to check-in as normal. However, as a result of the strike action, these services may be subject to delay.

Eurostar Customer Services

I was really amused by the fact that the strike was announced. I was chatting with one of my English friends and she was astonished that we don't announce our strikes. I found myself remembering the recent transit strike in NYC. I arrived in Boston after a long plane ride from London and immediately drove down to NYC to see friends. Realizing there was a transit strike was a hilarious turn of events, but we ended up walking plenty around the city. At one point as I was walking in midtown a bus drove by with the door wide open, the driver shouting "chinatown - 2 dollars!" and lots of people were flagging it down to get on. But I digress... So I had planned on arriving to the station for the now earlier depature time and having a longer train ride, but then I received this email:

Dear traveller,

Following our communication about planned strike action by Network Rail signal workers on 21-22 July, we are pleased to announce that the proposed strike has been called off, following talks between Network Rail and the RMT. Additionally, the planned 48 hour stoppage on 27-29 July has also been cancelled.

We will therefore be operating a normal timetable between the UK and the Continent and all trains are due to run as planned.

Your co-operation throughout the process of amending your travel arrangements has been much appreciated.

Should you have any further need of assistance please do not hesitate to contact us on (01777) 777 878 from 09.00 tomorrow.

Eurostar Customer Services

So everything went back to schedule and it was convenient because I still had been too lazy to phone up Eurostar as they seemed to have instructed. The train was at 1:41 and we were supposed to be there 45 minutes early for security check etc. I was travelling with a friend and we decided to leave at noon just to have enough time. Of course as usual we were not ready and ended up getting out of the house around 12:30.

We boarded the train at Brixton, since it is the end of the line it is usually not to full once everyone gets on. There were only a few people in our carriage. As I have come to learn it is customary on the tube, we placed our luggage up against the little dividing wall near one of the sets of center carriage doors. I've always thought that this was a bit unsafe, if someone wanted to pop on and grab your luggage and run, unless you were sitting right next to it you might have little opportunity to notice or, even if you did, to catch the person. But I do it anyway because there's not much option. Carry-on bags will fit in the aisle but it's a bit rude in a crowded car and not really worth the effort mostly. I also noticed two guys drinking some drinks (right photo) one of which was this weird red and yellow colored bottle that appears to be some sort of energy drink. I've been seeing discarded bottles of it all over the tube platforms and carriaged. Also there was one woman reading a paper.

After just one stop we hopped off at Stockwell to change to the Northern line which would take us to Waterloo. The Northern line (as you can see from the map posted to the wall across the tracks) is fairly complicated. It sort of has two main branches connecting in Camden Town but it's even less straightforward than that. As we got off the Victoria line train we crossed straight over to the Northern Line northbound platform (see previous notes on 7.17.2006 for the comments on the closeness of these two platforms) and there was a train already waiting there. I had my camera out and was being a bit slow, but we made a quick run - the problem though is that there are not large signs on the outside of the train saying where it is headed.

You have to look up at the LED displays and it's actually quite tough to manage that while running for the train. Additionally, since the map is so complex, and since it tends to describe the destination along with a station it is going "via" I'm not immediately sure which train I need to catch. I have to look at the map. The large map is conveniently behind the train so essentially in order for me to figure out if it's the correct one I have to look up at an LED display, consult the map of the entire tube network on the wall on the platform and then jump on the train - but there's not quite enough time for that. Needless to say - it was the train we needed, and we missed it. Another one came and so I went to get on it, but it was not the one we needed so my friend stopped me as I was climbing in.

A few minutes later ours came and we got on. The trains on the Northern line do look different from those on the Victoria line (which I basically consider my line, since it's the one that takes me to Brixton where I stay when I'm in London). The doors are read which visually lets you see where the openings are a bit better, but more strikingly the doors pop out and open along the outside of the carriages, spreading the color where as on the Victoria line they slide into the walls of the carriage - a big visual difference. It's been really useful to have the photos because although I can often feel some difference in the way things look and feel, it's often hard in the moment to get at what it is, or to confirm that the difference I perceive is correct.

When we hopped on the train the first thing that I noticed was that there was an awful lot of children. There was a large group of Asians and the woman furthest from us had two kids with her, one sort of fastened to her with cloth the way I see a lot of the women around Brixton doing. I've always found this method of carrying a child particularly cute and very natural. There was a another woman, white, 40s, with blonde hair, and when I got on she had her babies pacifier in her mouth, obviously holding it - and it's quite a sensible place because if the train lurched she'd need one hand to grab the stroller and the other to grab a pole, and you wouldn't want to get the pacifier dirty. But she stayed with it there for a stop or two but I didn't manage to get a photo of it. The baby was in a little stroller with only a small white terry cloth around his waist - likely because it was so hot in the Underground and in general, but it's the first time I've seen a child on the tube so under-clothed. I guess I normally stereotype that as being something someone of a lower class status might do, but then I remember as a kid I hated wearing clothes when I was hot - so maybe the kid was just resistant like me ;] It seems a bit tough to have strollers on the Underground, especially ones so large, since there's often many stairs or at the very least escalators. I really hope I manage to speak to some people who have children.

These days I've also been seeing half drunk Starbucks coffees, always the cold/frozen kind, in carriages and platforms. It strikes me as rather nasty to leave one of those sitting around since they are are open, sticky, and easily spilled. However, there have been many announcements while on the platforms these days (by a pleasant voiced British woman) reminding us something along the lines of summer is here, and things are getting hot, so we ought to carry bottles of water with us. I guess a frosty cool Starbucks concoction (barf) has a similar cooling effect (though I doubt a hydrating one). Lastly, I noticed this man using his cellphone, but he had it down between his legs most of the time, seemingly shielding it a bit. Most other people I see are using there phones a bit more out in the open. In future interviews I will ask people about how they hold their devices.

As I said in the notes from 7.17.2006 Waterloo is a visually striking station. Here the Northern line platform was much different than that on the Jubilee line though. There were these giant old looking mosiacs with pipes passing in front of them and the wall peeling behind. It looked a bit like a decaying paradise.

As you began to leave the Underground platform and head for the rail you are struck by this intense whiteness. White tiles floors and ceilings - all with an interesting curving effect. These tunnels are tube shaped to the extreme. Finally going up the escalator all of the frames were filled with Nivea ads, adding to the white effect. I have to say the tunnels were a bit heavenly, a bit like ice cream (but not quite), and a bit slippery feeling (I'm forever afraid of slippery).

The evening standard kiosks are usually outside of the stations, but this one was set up inside just before the ticket hall. The orange and blue and big signs stood out even more with the white backdrop. I considered buying a paper to find out the crime statistics of all the stations but was in a rush. Instead I snapped a photo of this guy who was looking right at me. I would assume he sees a bit less excitment not being out on the street.

The last bit of being still within the Underground's territory is this escalator up to the Eurostar just across from the Evening Standard kiosk. Just to the right of this escalator was another bank going to the National Rail. I got a bit confused seeing as they appeared to be going the same way. But once we emerged to the top there was a little bar right in front and a wall immediately to the right, so it seems they were going to different places (or at least it would've been a bit tougher to get to the Eurostar area had I gone up the other side. Also, the walls of this escaltor were completely bare, which is a marked difference from the escaltors of the tube. This was sort of the first moment when you could feel a change from being in the tube and moving in to a train station. That and the fact that the sign was also in French.

The hall of the station is an intense change - it's open and bright and the ceilings are extremely high. Your eyes are immediately drawn upwards, and in fact you have to look higher to understand the layout of the space and read the signs. There were many queues, and it was tough to see through them to understand which you were meant to join. The queues themselves moved slower and people seemed less hurried or antsy. In fact there were many people with bags sitting by the wall on the floor, waiting. This, of course, would surprise me much more on the Underground - not only because it is more busy, and a smaller space, but also because it feels dirtier and I personally wouldn't opt to sit on the ground in there. I found my way to the ticket machines so that I could print the boarding pass. The machine I approached had already been used by someone as it wasn't on its initial start up screen - and so it was in French. I was a bit confused as to how to switch it back to English. My friend located the button for going back to the main screen and then from there I inserted my credit card as instructed. When I booked the tickets it was made very clear that I had to bring the credit card with me that I used to book the tickets in order to pick them up. Cause I had managed to leave my wallet (I think) in my broken car in the desert, I had ordered new credit cards but only one had arrived, so I had to use that one, and so I did. My boarding passes printed - both there and return, which always makes me a bit nervous because that means I'm not meant to lose it.

Then we headed over towards the queue for getting to the trains, through security. There were many lines and they seemed quite long and a bit slow. People were more or less relaxed. At some stage though as the line was moving forward I was turned around observing things, taking photos, and a woman blatantly cut into the line because I had left a momentary gap - even though there was clearly a substantial queue behind me. My friend and I exchanged some judgemental words about the apparent self-entitlement of this well dressed woman with a burgundy red suitcase and black sunglasses, which she was curiously wearing in doors.

While I was waiting in line I began noticing a few things due to the fact that I actually had a bit of time to let my eyes wander around. I was a bit intrigued by the family pictured on the left - who I judged as french given their style of dress. Because the Eurostar train here is explicitly linking two countries I found myself putting people in to one or another category more by default and only reevaluating if I heard them speak or if their style of dress was just too unlikely to be French or English. I also found it interesting to watch people moving through the queue. Generally (in my mind) it seemed the French were the most quiet and patient and the Americans hanging around seemed the most confused and loud about their confusion. Also, I noticed this interesting, gigantic, gloved hand sign on the right. I guess it was either for some sort of assistance or business but I couldn't make out which. Also, all around the Eurostar area were these mixed French/English signs describing a new sort of credit card - I think it was the Maestro. I suppose they are generally geared towards English speakers who knows some French and not the other way around. Even so I was thinking we'd never see something like this in America - nor Quebec for that matter. It didn't seem anyone in North America would be much amused or sympathetic to these ads. The queue of these photographs is one for security and immigration. Essentially you first queue to put your ticket into a small machine which reads to see if the ticket is valid, spit its out again, and then opens a set of thigh-high doors to let you pass. This barrier is much less effective or aggressive than the ones in the Underground. Nevertheless, I didn't see anyone bothering to try to jump over it. Once you pass the barrier you then enter a security area which scans your luggage. The signs are a bit confusing - some seems to indicate not to have or to take out of your luggage electronic items. Additionally the attendants by the screening machines ask if you are carrying electronic devices, but when you say yes they don't seem to care much. We decided just to leave ours in the bags and it didn't seem to matter much. Once you pass the security check you then go through immigration. The lines are not separated by EU/non-EU as they often are in airports and when you approach the security guard he addresses you in French - I was a bit surprised by that considering we were still well on English soil. Once you pass immigration you are then in a waiting area. We realized we had forgotten to bring the bottle of wine we were planning to give to our friend so we stopped in a little gift shop to see if they had something. The collection of available items included candy, tea, shortbreads, tube paraphanelia in abundance, perfumes and creams, whiskeys and French wines and champagnes. We were a bit frustrated because we weren't sure our friend drank whiskey and it seemed utterly pointless to bring a French wine as a gift to France. I found myself wondering why they only had French wines (perhaps for people taking the train to Brussels - that would still be odd, or perhaps Amsterdam - a bit more plausible) and now I find myself wondering if that has anything to do with the Underground, haha. After the gift shop we wandered over to a Costas to get some breakfast - I bought some bottled smoothie and crisps and my friend got a cappucino. We then went to try to find the gate which our train was leaving from. There were large numbered signs near the beginning indicating 23 and 24, but we were departing from gate 20 (as I remember) so we just kept walking assuming it would be ahead. Eventually we encountered the waiting area for our train.

We found a seat in the waiting area - which was very similar to that of an airport, especially because of the carpetting and soft leather seats. Interestingly though when we had arrived a large queue in front of the ramp (which is directly opposite the people in these photos, that is, behind me) at first I thought it was boarding but then I realized people were just waiting. You can see the tail end of the queue in the photo to the right as well as Costa towards the back. We waiting around for about 10 minutes there - and my friend sent text messages using my mobile phone (she didn't manage to top hers up before we left) to various friends in or coming to Paris that weekend. I took photos and people eyed me a bit suspiciously, including the men above. Finally the boarding was announced - I waited a bit for the queue to clear up and then started indicating my to my friend that we had to go, but she was on the phone. I stood up and headed towards the ramp, there were many people still sort of queuing but on the sidelines. The were in a line but not advancing, and many of them were a group of young kids - it seemed they were French because one of them said something to the passersby in French but on reflection my friend noted they might be English kids headed to Euro Disney. So as we queued I dragged my friend along a bit - I was toting the suitcase, my messenger bag, the little bag from Costa and her coffee. She was sort of absentmindedly wandering behind me - but this turned out to be pretty easy given that the queue was moving rather slowly. I found myself thinking most of this just wouldn't be possible in the Underground - walking slowly, not getting separated if one is inattentive, talking on the mobile phone. At the top of the ramp we had to choose and escalator towards the proper set of coaches, I got a bit confused but then chose the right one and when we approached it we had to show our tickets to an attendant who checked the coach number. This would seem inaffective since if you were headed up the wrong esclator turning around would cause much more commotion than merely walking further down the platform. I also thought it a bit interesting that so many people were queueing to get on to the train while there were free seats in the waiting area because the train, unlike an airplane is much longer and so getting to the front of the line doesn't really mean you'll get to sit down all that much quicker. Additionally the setas are assigned so there is no worry for that. The only real advantage would be if you were incredibly slow and needed extra time or if you wanted to get a specific spot for your luggage on the luggage rack.

As we got on to the train platform and headed towards our coach I noticed this interesting plant which was sitting up on a while near to aguard booth but not connected to it. I'm not really sure what it's about - with the photo of the guy pasted to it. Is it a memorial? An indicator of ownership? A joke? In ancy case I was reflecting that this sort of personalization isn't something I've seen in the Underground. The comparative slowness of the train system would allow an attendant to have time to water the plant and there would be enough sunlight to let it grow. Somehow, also, I felt the plant would be safer - who would deface it?

The platofrm itself is wide and full of light. People were moving reasonable quickly once we got up there - the platform was wide enough to allow people to pass one another and maintain a quick pace when they needed to. The queues waiting to board (left) didn't seem to block up the platform too much. It was interesting that you could see through the windows to other platforms and trains simultaneously boarding. For the most part in the Underground this is a rare case and I've grown surprised when I can see other passengers/carriages through the windows of the one I am riding on. It's a bit of a fleeting ghost light in that case - here though I was unsurprised, more impressed by the vastness of the trains and the station, mostly due to how bright I found it.

As you look down the length of the train you are confronted by a massive and high wall of whiteness and despite the gap between the train and the platform there were no warning signs painted on the ground. There was, however, a fair amount of the tactile pavements (although not the yellow color that I usually see them in). I was a bit confused as to which coach was ours as they are not numbered on their outsides but only with a small digital display at their sides, which as the photo shows, was barely readable due to the glare of the sunlight.

To get in to the main part of the carriage you have to operate the sliding glass door. It's a bit odd actually for being so high tech looking - you pop the handle in the direction of the little arrows and the door mechanically slides open, but if it starts to close (after some timer is up) you have to pop it again. The handle isn't very ergonomic especially when you are lurching about on the moving train. Once in we stuck our luggage in the little rack. Strangely I give less consideration and worry to putting my luggage in these sorts of things than I do in the tube. Although I do get worried people will abuse, scratch or squish my cute little carry-on :]

Finding your seat is fairly straightforward as they are numbered overhead. Though from time to time there are unexplained gaps in the numbering system. The ceiling is brightly lit and it feels a bit like everything is fabricy.

As we made our way to our seats we found that we were seated in one of the groups of four that are centered around a table in the middle of the car. Half of the seats face forward in the car and the other half face backwards and they meet at this little central table. Two older English women were already there when we arrived - both of them had their cellphones out and were talking about texting. The one not pictured had longer blondish hair and glasses as well. In this table situation you have to negotiate the shared foot space a bit more - I have to say I think these women were hogging it a bit. The one on the aisle side (not pictured) asked my friend to turn her bag (which was by her feet) perpendicular so the woman could spread her legs out forward. It's sort of hard to say no, no?

After a few minutes out our window I could see all of those kids who had been sideline-queueing downstairs rushing past. Still not sure of where they were from or where they were going, as none of them got into our carriage.

There was a family next two us, English father, Irish mother and two daughters, in the other 4 seat area of the car. The little girl (partially seen at right) would later prove to be insufferably loud and her mother would basically ignore her. Additionally the girl seemed to eat non-stop. They brought plenty of food on the train and she visited the snack car more than once - her chunky figure was evidence that this was not a one time event. At some stage she kept urging her father to make his "double chin wobble" and he seemed not to be at all embarrassed and induldged her. But the best bit was that at some stage she came back from being in the dining car and announced "I just love opening the doors [between the cars]. It's so satisfying."

After watching them a bit I started noticing the equipment people bring with them for the trip. There was a notable amount of food, and people were eating immediately after sitting down. We, as I said, got some food as well, but I didn't eat anything until about half way into the trip.

I also noticed a fair amount of water bottles - probably more than I see on the tube, even though the train is air conditioned. Some of those many bottles were sitting on our table. The table is one with a fixed center part and little leaves that fold down on either side over the laps of the passengers to add some extra space. Now I had my laptop out to work but you can see the two water bottles to the right are on my side of the table. The women had folded their leaves up and proceeded to place their waters on our side despite it was clear we were working. My sweet revenge is the photographic immortalization of their impropriety. I eventually moved the bottles back to their side. I think one might have gestured a half-hearted sorry. Note that the woman continues to have her phone out for texting.

At some stage the woman on the left said to her friend, "In a plane there's no continuity. You don't know where you are in time and space." Priceless.

For most of the trip the view out the windows is fields. I had a strong impression of burnt browns and light greens. Somethings the brush flying by is quite close creating a blurred effect and other times the fields are wide and open. The glass of the trains is highy reflective, similar to the tube, but here the characters are painted across an ever changing background (rather than a black, blank slate) so that it is hard to keep focus on one or the other - and also, I suspect, harder for people to notice that you are staring at their reflections.

In my notes I have written that early on in the journey the train bobs along through fields of wheat and it feels a bit like a boat, like a ferry. It really did.

Two interesting affordances that the train has include coat hooks above and between each set of seats as well as restrooms, which also double as a site for no smoking signs.

Although the train is more spacious in some ways on the inside that space is for one taken up by much bulkier seats, tables and luggage racks. However, as you pass through the train it feels much more narrow. The window of the door to the outside is small - presumably because you don't really need to be looking out of the train there. Also the corridors are quite narrow, but also well appointed and a bit hi-tech looking. In general it does not feel that the train is a place for moving through, but rather for staying put. The tables in the dining car (right) are an interesting way of indicating this. If you are going to linger in the snack car to eat you better try and stay still while you are doing so (although that's easier said than done).

I found the small square shaped menus placed around the dining car particularly intriguing for some reason - they seemed so delightfully jetset (despite remaining terrestrial).

I think this might be one of my favorite photos from the day. The two people who were sitting together here, guy and a girl mid 20s it seemed, had setup what appeared to be a tiny home theatre in there little seating area. I couldn't hear any sound coming from it and I was only a few seats up - they seemed to have headphones, although the guy doesn't appear to be wearing any in this photo. Generally (other than the little loud girl) people were quite quiet, having hushed conversations. I didn't notice any adults talking in an excessively loud manner, which does happen from time to time on the tube.

Incidentally. it took me quite a bit to get this shot as I was lurching around and managed to slam myself into the luggage rack - needless to say I was becoming increasingly conspicuous. Like I said - bobbing like a boat. Is there such a thing as getting your train legs? In Boston and NYC there is a concept of urban surfing (riding on the metros without holding the poles) but the feeling her is much different, probably because of the massively increased speed and all of the hard corners which are very nearby - as opposed to the comparative emptiness of a metro.

So I was fiddling around with my camera trying to set some of the settings. Nestled between "LCD brightness" and "auto-rotate" was something that said "CF format" and when i geniusly and accidentally clicked it, it reformatted my memory card. I grew anxious. So I had to stop taking photos so I could do some triage on the camera once I got some necessary tools (memory card reader). As you can see I managed to recover most of the photos but I was unable to take any when we arrived into Gare du Nord. What I particular missed being able to capture was the intense amount of graffiti on all of the walls the train was passing by as we were getting nearer and nearer to Paris - it was such a marked, and also spectacularly beautiful, change.

After I managed to mess up my camera we went in to the chunnel. Just before we entered they announced that we were going in and that it would take about 20 minutes to go through the whole thing. It's interesting somehow that going underground is in this context taken as quite an important event. Once we arrived in to Paris and got off the train the first thing I felt was the increase in heat - like a wall as we stepped off. Once we walked down the platform into the main part of the station we looked for signs for the metro. We finally spotted one but as we began walking in that direction the signage suddenly stopped and we were left wandering a bit. Finally I spotted that we had passed the enterance to the metro, a little escalator and set of stairs going down. For such a massive station the signage was quite bad. Once we got downstairs we queued for the ticket machine. There's no people in booths to by tickets from here and the line at the machine was about 10 people/pairs long. I stayed in line while my friend went to hunt out another machine but she returned eventually having found nothing better. The ticket machine is on a wall next to the metro entry gates. The long queue forms a bit of a blockade for people getting to the gates. While we were waiting a girl and her mother were walking through the gates and the little girl started screaming. She seemed to be caught and the mother was trying to force the gate open. No one did anything for a few moments and then eventually someone tried to help but seemed to accidentally force them shut again and the girl was screaming more - it seems maybe her finger was caught. Eventually a few guards came and spoke to the woman who then took her crying daughter down in to the metro. About 5 minutes later they emerged again, the girl still sniffling and at this time it seemed like it was her hand that was hurt, escorted by guards back outside of the gates to the metro. Behind us in line was the English family who had been next to us on the train. A man approached them offereing to sell them tickets. The father agreed and was asking how much etc. It seemed like he said 15€ in the end, but tickets are only 1.40€ for a single or 10.90€ for 10, so unless they were getting tickets for the RER or something else like a carte d'orange (sp?) I have a feeling they were getting ripped off. They seemed to be able to use the tickets to get past the barriers okay though. And the tickets they were sold came with these big sort of paper cards attached, they weren't just the typical purple bit. Just in front of us in line was a couple with rucksacks. After being at the machine a few minutes the guy grabbed the girl by the hand and sounding very stressed and tense he pulled her away from the machine and said in an American accent, "Let's go. We're embarrassing ourselves." Our turn at the machine I suddenly remembered that these things never take foreign credit cards. We tried to get a pack of 10 tickets both with my card (no success) and then were about to try with my friends who has a chip and pin card which is the kind picture on the machine but there were two French guys behind us who started trying to "help." I know how to get tickets just fine, I was just trying to relate to my friend to get out her bankcard so we could try it. But the guys started grabbed at the tickets saying in bad English do you want one or two. We wanted 10 but the problem was we didn't have enough cash and we were trying to get the chance to use the bankcard to see if it would work. They were trying to be helpful but since neither of us speak French well we weren't able to relate to them that we were fine. So we acquiesed and just bought two tickets for the time being. Once we passed the barriers we were menat to head 4 stops north on line 4, towards Port du Clignacourt and get off at Marcadet du Poissoniers. Initially there was a sign for line 4 but then suddenly there were no more. We wandered around a bit lost in the tunnels and just kept wallking and walking until eventually another sign appeared. Once you are in the tunnels it seems that they assume you know exactly where you are going. The signage is horrendous. Down on the platform my general impression was one of "filthy and hot." Once you are at the right platform you don't have to worry too much as, in this case, there is only one possible train. We got on and the 4 stops went by quite quickly. When exiting the station we were faced with a few choices - our friend total us to exit at a specific street. Off the platform there was an exit at one end which was not the right street so I directed us towards the other end. From there we had two choices and the one we wanted, Barbes, was there. And poof - we arrived.