Post by paris...ahh on Jan 29, 2013 12:27:59 GMT -5
A Comedy of Errors - Getting to Malmaison
For anyone who has been to Malmaison, and for those who’ve travelled outside of Paris, you are going to wonder how I could get so discombobulated. But I did ;D I’ve written about our adventure in excruciating, boring detail, because I want to encourage people to persevere.
Armed with my directions to Malmaison, I consulted a tiny metro map and proceeded to Metro Cardinal Lemoine. That was my first, minor error. We were situated roughly ½ way between that metro entrance and the Place Monge one, I looked at my miniscule map (miniscule to me, anyway) and decided there was a direct line to Line 1 from CL. I chose wrong. Just a small hiccup in the trip.
We eventually made it to La Defense station. I had never been there before. We were changing from the metro to a bus, so we exited up to the station. It was so big! Almost like a mini mall. I did see one exit that people were using that had four initials. My search for the bus began. I know, I know, it was probably very simple, but this wasn’t a simple day, lol. We kept walking toward signs that had a picture of the bus, but when we got there, it was a dead end or there would be another sign. We walked around in circles for a bit, finally deciding to take the escalator to ground level as surely the buses ran at ground level. We walked around the square, consulted a “you are here” map sign, noticed that there were more Christmas cabins at this location, and then finally gave in and went into the door marked with the four initials (looked like a mall with offices and stores) and asked the first person we saw. The kind lady sweeping the floor pointed to the nearby elevator and told us we had to go back down. A young man was on the elevator said he would help us. When we returned to where we had started, he began trying to convince us to take the RER instead. He said it was direct, faster and we would be more comfortable. He almost had me convinced, but when I thought about the fact that all my written directions were for using the bus, I told him we would probably still take the bus. He looked concerned and I really felt he thought he was helping us by keeping us off the bus. He pointed us in the direction we had already looked once, accepted our many thanks with a concerned little furrow between his brows and went on his way. Of course, we walked back in the direction and once again could not find the bus stop. I decided to turn to one of the ticket sellers to ask a question. Well, where there had been lines at two different windows across the station, they were now closed, break time? At this point, I noticed a sign up on the wall where the escalator was. It stated that as of November 17, 2012 (it was now Nov 28) that the routes had changed and bus #258 no longer went to Ruel-Malmaison, but now bus 247? (not sure of exact number) did. I finally gave up and decided we might as well take the RER as we know how to get to it. We tried to enter, but our tickets wouldn’t work. We tried a few times, AND noticed others were having similar troubles, so I assumed it was the machines. An older couple (older than us, anyway, lol) was having trouble as well. I asked her a question and she looked at my ticket and said I had the wrong ticket. My RER ticket could only access the RER while I’m in Paris, but now that I was outside of Paris, I had to buy a new ticket. Oh joy, another error on my part. Luckily, everyone understood my French inquiries. The ticket sellers were still closed, so we stood in line for a machine. I was having a bit of trouble (surprise) and a beautiful young woman in line behind us, she turned out to be Australian, offered to help. We bought 4 tickets, two for the route there and two for the return, and went on our merry way. We got on the RER and then arrived at Ruel-Malmaison station. We got off the train, could see the town below us and wondered which exit to take. YAY, we took the correct one the first time.
We entered the station and consulted the map for a while. Hmm, which direction should we leave the station? Was Malmaison close enough to walk to? It looked a little remote on the map. We approached the ticket window and asked the nice young woman there for help. After consulting many books and maps and speaking with her co-worker, she finally gave us the directions. I then asked if she could write them down, and she did, cheerfully
We proceeded out the door to the bus stop. Our new directions stated we should get on bus 247!? (the one now running to Ruel-Malmaison), take it for two stops and then get on bus 258! (the original bus number from my notes on how to get there). I spoke briefly with a girl who appeared to be a high school aged student. I asked if the buses offered transfers, she said they did not. So, the money wasn’t a lot, but now I was paying for two additional bus fares. Bus #247 (remember, I’m guessing here, but it matched the number at La Defense) arrived, I got on and spoke to the driver. I understood him very well, but I guess my Southwestern Ontario version of a Canadian French accent was just too “off” for him. He explained, more than once, that his bus was going out of service now, and that we were to take then next one, coming soon. We disembarked. He then called the student into his bus and explained the same to her, so that she could translate it for us. Once again, a very nice person to our rescue (although I’d understood everything). The young girl kept an eye on us on the bus and indicated when we had reached our stop. (how sweet of her).
Bus # 258 came along, and we got on it and away we go!!!. Annette, I had your extra little direction which read, “When you get off the bus, cross the street and backtrack about ½ block and you will come to the road Malmaison is down”. YAY, these directions were perfect! Such a sense of relief, we enjoyed our surprisingly long (to us) walk to Malmaison. Was it worth it? To us….YES! On this day, other than the people who work there, there was only ONE other woman in the place. I felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. We took our time. We enjoyed. We discussed, took pictures and videos. (there is a great description on the home page blog of this site) It finally came time for us to leave. We walked back down the road, taking note of the brass bee inlays set into the sidewalk. Back at the main road, it occurred to me that in my quest to get there, I hadn’t given any thought on how to get back! Lol. I made the assumption that we could find another bus stop on this side of the main road that would take us back SOMEWHERE. It wasn’t as close as I would have thought, but yes, we found a bus stop. It had a route, clearly marked on it, that bus #258 would take us right back to La Defense! YAY. We got on the bus and made it back. I was so happy and intent on getting to the metro, that I didn’t pay any attention to the door we used to get back into the station, or from what direction. So, if I return to Malmaison in the future, I still don’t know where the bus stop is! Really, I’m not usually ditzy!
For anyone who has been to Malmaison, and for those who’ve travelled outside of Paris, you are going to wonder how I could get so discombobulated. But I did ;D I’ve written about our adventure in excruciating, boring detail, because I want to encourage people to persevere.
Armed with my directions to Malmaison, I consulted a tiny metro map and proceeded to Metro Cardinal Lemoine. That was my first, minor error. We were situated roughly ½ way between that metro entrance and the Place Monge one, I looked at my miniscule map (miniscule to me, anyway) and decided there was a direct line to Line 1 from CL. I chose wrong. Just a small hiccup in the trip.
We eventually made it to La Defense station. I had never been there before. We were changing from the metro to a bus, so we exited up to the station. It was so big! Almost like a mini mall. I did see one exit that people were using that had four initials. My search for the bus began. I know, I know, it was probably very simple, but this wasn’t a simple day, lol. We kept walking toward signs that had a picture of the bus, but when we got there, it was a dead end or there would be another sign. We walked around in circles for a bit, finally deciding to take the escalator to ground level as surely the buses ran at ground level. We walked around the square, consulted a “you are here” map sign, noticed that there were more Christmas cabins at this location, and then finally gave in and went into the door marked with the four initials (looked like a mall with offices and stores) and asked the first person we saw. The kind lady sweeping the floor pointed to the nearby elevator and told us we had to go back down. A young man was on the elevator said he would help us. When we returned to where we had started, he began trying to convince us to take the RER instead. He said it was direct, faster and we would be more comfortable. He almost had me convinced, but when I thought about the fact that all my written directions were for using the bus, I told him we would probably still take the bus. He looked concerned and I really felt he thought he was helping us by keeping us off the bus. He pointed us in the direction we had already looked once, accepted our many thanks with a concerned little furrow between his brows and went on his way. Of course, we walked back in the direction and once again could not find the bus stop. I decided to turn to one of the ticket sellers to ask a question. Well, where there had been lines at two different windows across the station, they were now closed, break time? At this point, I noticed a sign up on the wall where the escalator was. It stated that as of November 17, 2012 (it was now Nov 28) that the routes had changed and bus #258 no longer went to Ruel-Malmaison, but now bus 247? (not sure of exact number) did. I finally gave up and decided we might as well take the RER as we know how to get to it. We tried to enter, but our tickets wouldn’t work. We tried a few times, AND noticed others were having similar troubles, so I assumed it was the machines. An older couple (older than us, anyway, lol) was having trouble as well. I asked her a question and she looked at my ticket and said I had the wrong ticket. My RER ticket could only access the RER while I’m in Paris, but now that I was outside of Paris, I had to buy a new ticket. Oh joy, another error on my part. Luckily, everyone understood my French inquiries. The ticket sellers were still closed, so we stood in line for a machine. I was having a bit of trouble (surprise) and a beautiful young woman in line behind us, she turned out to be Australian, offered to help. We bought 4 tickets, two for the route there and two for the return, and went on our merry way. We got on the RER and then arrived at Ruel-Malmaison station. We got off the train, could see the town below us and wondered which exit to take. YAY, we took the correct one the first time.
We entered the station and consulted the map for a while. Hmm, which direction should we leave the station? Was Malmaison close enough to walk to? It looked a little remote on the map. We approached the ticket window and asked the nice young woman there for help. After consulting many books and maps and speaking with her co-worker, she finally gave us the directions. I then asked if she could write them down, and she did, cheerfully
We proceeded out the door to the bus stop. Our new directions stated we should get on bus 247!? (the one now running to Ruel-Malmaison), take it for two stops and then get on bus 258! (the original bus number from my notes on how to get there). I spoke briefly with a girl who appeared to be a high school aged student. I asked if the buses offered transfers, she said they did not. So, the money wasn’t a lot, but now I was paying for two additional bus fares. Bus #247 (remember, I’m guessing here, but it matched the number at La Defense) arrived, I got on and spoke to the driver. I understood him very well, but I guess my Southwestern Ontario version of a Canadian French accent was just too “off” for him. He explained, more than once, that his bus was going out of service now, and that we were to take then next one, coming soon. We disembarked. He then called the student into his bus and explained the same to her, so that she could translate it for us. Once again, a very nice person to our rescue (although I’d understood everything). The young girl kept an eye on us on the bus and indicated when we had reached our stop. (how sweet of her).
Bus # 258 came along, and we got on it and away we go!!!. Annette, I had your extra little direction which read, “When you get off the bus, cross the street and backtrack about ½ block and you will come to the road Malmaison is down”. YAY, these directions were perfect! Such a sense of relief, we enjoyed our surprisingly long (to us) walk to Malmaison. Was it worth it? To us….YES! On this day, other than the people who work there, there was only ONE other woman in the place. I felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. We took our time. We enjoyed. We discussed, took pictures and videos. (there is a great description on the home page blog of this site) It finally came time for us to leave. We walked back down the road, taking note of the brass bee inlays set into the sidewalk. Back at the main road, it occurred to me that in my quest to get there, I hadn’t given any thought on how to get back! Lol. I made the assumption that we could find another bus stop on this side of the main road that would take us back SOMEWHERE. It wasn’t as close as I would have thought, but yes, we found a bus stop. It had a route, clearly marked on it, that bus #258 would take us right back to La Defense! YAY. We got on the bus and made it back. I was so happy and intent on getting to the metro, that I didn’t pay any attention to the door we used to get back into the station, or from what direction. So, if I return to Malmaison in the future, I still don’t know where the bus stop is! Really, I’m not usually ditzy!