Metro riding in a new city

To get the group oriented in the city, we hopped on the metro and I talked them through the metro map and how the tickets and stations work.  Similar to London, but you don't have to use your pass to get out again.  Unlike London, there is no one standing around at the metro gates to help you if your card is not working.  Fortunately ours worked just fine.  We got a bunch of single ride passes and tossed them out after each ride.  This worked fine until in one station you had to pass through two gates and several members of the group had tossed their tickets in the trash after going through.  Kind of unpredictable and leaves you feeling a bit uncertain on each ride.

We also had a great laugh at one stop where the doors on the metro train openned on both sides.  We randomly picked one side and hopped off, only to realize that the reason they openned on the other side was to connect you to the transfer line where we needed to go.  We waited for the next train to come through so we could walk through it to the other side of the tracks, but the doors only openned on the other side (we figured later this was because the train was about to go out of service and didn't want anyone boarding).  Finally the next train came in and openned both sets of doors and we dashed through, laughing hysterically when we got to the other platform, like we had just performed a dangerous feat!  A local guy just shook his head and laughed at us.

School kids (6-7 years old?) out for a trip in the city.  I'm glad I was guiding 18+ year olds around instead!

Loved this sign and storage spot for umbrellas on the train out to Versailles.