Some Important Information for the Paris Gare du Nord Station and French Taxis

Unfortunately, my final day in Koln came, and we started to head back to Paris on the Thalys. We boarded to Thalys on our way to Paris, on the two hour trip back. However, I was pretty contended on the way. When we reached Paris, France, we hurriedly tried to hail a taxi. Yet, going through this now, I warn you. There are phonies in the market, even the taxi market. If you exit directly out of the Gare du Nord, you will find that there are a bunch of people lined up right at your front. The line up is about an hour line up- you will wait around and hour to get on the taxi. Also, the people there offer at very high prices. If the money is that high for all of the rides, I am not certain. However, from the Gare du Nord to the Novotel montparnasse, they asked for around 130Є. That's a lot of money! Therefore, across the street and a few lengths down, you will see a smaller line. If you line up there, It will take you much less time to hail a taxi, not to mention that it will certainly be a lot cheaper for you! Here, the taxi drivers will charge you by the time, or the meter, but at the other line up, I do believe that they have a fixed rate for you! However, I have to say that if you have a large family, or a large amount of suitcases, it is slightly hard for you to find a large taxi, so as my family and I did, we spit up into two taxis.

A slight note about taxis- the certain taxi that I rode is was a rather fast driver, and I do think that we were over the speed limit around...... all the time. We nearly had collisions with three pedestrians, two cars, one bus, one lamppost, and heard our driver cursing at a car that hadn't stopped at red light, when half the time, we didn't either. A rather enjoyable car trip, wouldn't it have been? However, we made it to our hotel in one piece, and even under 30Є! It was worth the jostling, I would think. The driver even took liberties to point famous things out. Personally, I wouldn't have minded him not pointing the things out because his eyes kept straying from the road..... Constantly! Personally, I found it a miracle he even got his driver's license. But I shouldn't be complaining. I'm not dead yet!

All in all, it was an *cough* enjoyable taxi ride and I *cough* had fun! I hope you get to experience the heart-stopping sight of nearly crashing into three people, two cars, one bus, and one lamppost in a matter of ten minutes...... And survive! Anyone going to Paris? Have fun! (I may have made it seem like Paris is horrible and that the drivers are bonkers, but it's not like that!....... Well, to some extent. Paris is lovely!!!!! The drivers are bonkers (not all, most), but Paris is lovely!!!!!)