Carte Orange
 

We will be in Paris for 9 days and was wondering if a Carte Orange will work best. We arrive on Wed and depart the following Friday. Also will be travelling to Versailles and Giverny. Can we use the Carte from and to CDG?

<i>Carte Orange</i> has a valid period of 7 days, always from Monday through Sunday.

If you think you will need to ride the M&eacute;tro or board a bus more than 14 times from Wednesday through Sunday, then a <i>Carte Orange</i> is your best bet. Similarly, if you will need 14 rides from Monday through Friday, a second <i>Carte</i> would be economical. <b>Buy yours as soon as you arrive on Wednesday</b>, because that's the last day they're sold for the week. You can't buy a ticket for the second week until Friday. Present a 1x1&quot; snapshot of yourself when you buy the first one.

To use them for your airport transfers, they would have to be a 5-zone cards, but a 2-zone plus single tickets each way would be much cheaper. You only have to pay for the leg from CDG to La Plaine (6,65&euro;), because your 2-zone passes will cover the rest of the trip.

Versailles is in Zone 4, but a supplemental ticket from Issy would only add 1,45&euro; each way. Giverny (Vernon station) is not reachable by Paris Transport trains - it's on the national rail network.

From CDG, which metro should I take to 4 rue mornay in Paris 4 and which metro station do I get off?

RER B to Ch&acirc;telet-les-Halles

M&eacute;tro Ligne 7 (Direction Mairie d'Ivry) to Sully-Morland

Enter this in Google and press &quot;Maps&quot;: <b>rue mornay paris 75004</b>

Since the carte orange requires a passport photo, I read in a tour book that we can print our own photo and cut to size. Is this correct? Does it need to be a close up or just a photo of ourself?

A head shot, like a passport but not as rigidly defined. Anything that looks like you (including home-printed digital) is okay. Like this:

http://www.ratp.info/informer/grand_public.php

yes, it needs to be a closeup as it's an identity card. Don't use a photo of you standing by a tree, for example.

The closest metro stops to 4 rue Mornay are Sully Morland (line 7) or Bastille (lines 1,5,8). There is also the Quai de la Rapee stop (line 5) nearby. We stayed in the next block of rue Mornay and found that while Sully Morland was a bit closer, the multiple lines at Bastille made it very convenient. At the Bastille stop, follow the exit signs for Boulevard Bourdon, which goes along the canal to rue Mornay just at the pedestrian bridge across the canal.
Chatelet - Les Halles is a nasty place to connect if you are tired and toting luggage, or even if you are not - lots of walking, steps and turnstiles. You are actually arriving at the RER station (Chatelet Les Halles) and walking over to the Metro stations (Chatelet). You might want to hop off RER B at Gare du Nord and connect to Metro line 5, direction Place d'Italie and get off at Bastille or Quai de la Rapee. You will still have to do a bit of walking but less than at Chatelet Les Halles.
Another option would be to take the Air France bus (line 4) CDG to Gare de Lyon and from there hop on Metro Line 1 (direction La Defense) and exit at Bastille. If you were up for stretching your legs (about a 10 minute walk) you could even walk from Gare de Lyon, going right down rue de Bercy to the canal and across the bridge (rue Mornay is just on the other side). Depending on the number in your party, though, it may cost not much more to just hop in a taxi, surely the easiest way to make the trip.