Paris, public transport (need help)

[theholygideons]

I'm going to Paris in a couple days time. In case I have to wander around on my own, HOW DO YOU USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT THERE?!!?!
plus is it true there are pickpockets and gypsies that lurk around?

Thanks.

[oxy60]

Try to buy your tickets from a ticket booth, not on board. The system is one of the best in the world. You will need a moment to learn it.

Paris is a big city so like any big city it has thieves, etc. Act big city style.

[indianajo]

Paris metro and bus and RER are the same card, and they give a discount for a 5 day pass.  I got mine at the station below Le Sacre Coer in Monmartre, which was open on Sunday afternoon.  A zone 6 pass will get you to the Charle DeGaul airport or the Palace de Versailles on the RER with no extra charge.  I bought that one so I wouldn't have to worry about going too far.  There are no discounts for buying the metro pass outside the country, unlike UK which does give one.  
You stick the pass in the gate going in, and again coming out.  If you can't get out, your pass doesn't have enough zones or something.
If you are only going to be there a day or two, you can get a book of 10 carnets, which is 10 zones.  6 zones would be 6 of them, I think.  I bought the pass so I didn't have to think too hard.  Ours was orange with chrome squares on it.  One pass for each person, they have cameras watching I imagine.
The museum pass available at Rodin Museum, or the unicorn tapestry museum, is another great bargain. I bought 3 or 4 days.  It gets you right into Versailles without waiting for all the bus tour people at the main gate. The museum pass does not work on the tram ride at Versailles, or on the Louvre. Does work on Musee de Orsay, which is better than Louvre IMHO. Museum pass doesn't work on the Eifel tower.    

[theholygideons]

mhmm, so if your pass doesn't have enough zones, you can't use it twice to increase your distance?

[indianajo]

No, it won't let you out if you are a zone too far.  At some stations you could go to the window and buy something else, but I imagine that has all been replaced by machines now.  I was there in 2010.  The 6 zone pass allows infinite rides for the # of days you buy it, but won't let you leave the station outside of zone 6. I looked at the map going in, knew I wanted to go to versailles and maybe the airport, and bought zone 6.  We had mini-bus service to the airport from the hotel so I didn't use that feature.  The guidebooks say thieves haunt the RER to the airport and will take your luggage. I didn't ride that segment, don't know.  I had a backpack most times, but had my cash inside my clothes.
I think St Denis Cathedral is a zone 6 ride, but the wife was not interested so I didn't get to go hear the organ improvisations after Sunday Mass. In town, I've heard the organist from the English "cathedral" play in Indiana, and he was quite good. But this church isn't in the guidebooks, I didn't know about it until he showed up here.  there was a mass finishing in Notre Dame when we were there, but there wasn't any organ postlude.  It was a weekday.  
The Paris Opera was closed when we were there the start of May.  I think they use it for ballet.  I would have enjoyed seeing a performance there, it has the chandelier that "Phantom of the Opera" was copied from.  
There is a Paris city website in English telling what goes on, but google was no help in finding it.  I stumbled on it on search entry 168 of my seach for bus trips to the Loire Valley.  Google wanted me to spend $1500 for 2 on a minivan day trip very badly, but I booked the trip for $190 by ignoring the first 167 suggestions. 

[Bob]

I don't know anything about travelling, but it's fun to wander around Paris on Google maps street view.

[theholygideons]

I don't know anything about travelling, but it's fun to wander around Paris on Google maps street view.

that's exactly what i'll be doing.. but in real life. 

[theholygideons]

so i should just buy a 6 zone pass, for however much money that would cost, and i'd be safe to explore most of Paris and the peripherals up to versailles?

[oxy60]

so i should just buy a 6 zone pass, for however much money that would cost, and i'd be safe to explore most of Paris and the peripherals up to versailles?

Spend the extra money and buy the extra zones so you won't get stuck and waste time.

I prefer to travel above ground so I bought the CARNET of ten TICKETS (=1 zone ride of 1 person per ticket) and rode the buses.