Wheee - we have rented an apartment for our stay in Paris. Our landlady, who will meet us there when we arrive, directs us as follows: "To come to the apparment you can take the RER and stop at Gare du Nord" and then we have a 5-minute walk. But what does this mean?

We rented an apartment in Montmartre a couple of years ago. I believe the taxi cost around 40-45 Euro. It was well worth it to me considering trying to overcome jetlag from an overnight flight and wrestling with luggage with public transportation.

RER is the commuter rail from the suburbs into center city Paris. From CDG, take a shuttle bus to the train station, buy a one-way ticket for 8,10E and take just about any train "Direction Paris" Gare de Nord is a major stop and most, if not, all trains from CDG stop there. Make sure you have directions when you exit the station, including which exit to use, because there are numerous ways to get out.

RER is the commuter rail from the suburbs into center city Paris. From CDG, take a shuttle bus to the train station, buy a one-way ticket for 8,10E and take just about any train "Direction Paris" Gare de Nord is a major stop and most, if not, all trains from CDG stop there. Make sure you have directions when you exit the station, including which exit to use, because there are numerous ways to get out. Also be sure to keep your ticket to exit the station - put it in the turnstile - very important!

Getting off a plane and on a train is something travelers do routinely. Don't be daunted by threats of "wrestling with luggage with public transportation." It's just not that big a deal.

<i>But what does this mean?</i>

If you've been to Paris before are Europe savvy and know the &quot;ropes,&quot; then take the RER. If this is your first time, take a taxi.

Yes, take a cab. You will pay the fare on the meter and 1&euro; per bag. Have the address written down to show to the driver.

Wrestle luggage on the RER? BS! Capital B, capital S.

I don't take a lot compared with other people I see claiming baggage at the airport in Atlanta by any means, yet I have about 50 pounds of it for a 3 to 4 week stay in Europe. (Granted I have my hiking equipment in there too, but those boots are not much heavier than an extra pair of shoes.)

Fighting that much &quot;stuff&quot; on the RER and the Metro is for the birds. How good are you at climbing steps lugging 40 pounds upward with you? You might handle it fine is you go the gym every other day and use the stair climber for 20 minutes or so.

I can remember when I was 23 and bumming around Europe. Back then, I had become a savvy traveler with more brawn than brains and more brains than money by several orders of magnitude. In my relatively impecunious state, I carried my luggage on the Paris Metro.

Today, the brawn is much less, the brain about the same (No senile dementia or Alzheimers yet), and the income is considerably more. Therefore I take the line of least resistance: cab or an easy bus.

In Paris, you could take the Air France bus, but then you would still need a cab to get to the apartment. I say take a cab all the way. The marginal cost between the two methods of transportation is slight if you view it as a percentage of the total trip expense.

Get your your visit off on the right foot without fatigue, frustration, and turmoil. Recoup your expense by riding the bus and/or the Metro all the while you are in Paris, eschewing the ease of a taxi.

Once there and settled, you will not be acting in the role of beast of burden.

PS. Gare du Nord to Montmartre in 5 minutes? I love those estimates.
A person who knows the shortest way and walks at 7 kph might do it in 5 minutes. (That's walking at 4+ mph. Not many people can do it toting or pulling 40 to 50 pounds of luggage along a city street.) I frankly don't think your &quot;apparment&quot; landlady can walk it that fast unless she is an athlete and navigating unencumbered wearing her best pair of running shoes.

From the middle of Gare du Nord to the intersection of Rue de Dunkirk with Boulevsard Rochechoart is about 1,000 meters or 3,300 feet or more than 6 tenths of a mile. I know I could not walk that far in 5 minutes with 40 to 50 pounds of luggage even if most of it was on wheels.

If you have an exact address, I can give you a better estimate by measuring centimeters on my detailed map. Rue de Dunkirk is the street immediately on the south side of Gare du Nord and runs slightly north of due west to the intersection I named. It is a very direct route. I have a hunch that the walk to your abode is going to be a little less straight-forward!
That puts you in Montmartre I would say, not far from Pigalle with is definitely Montmartre!!

But without an address, or at least a street name, I cannot be more precise.

bob_brown, wil will be going to 3 boulevard de Rochechouart. Does that give you an idea of the distance?

Yes. I estimate the distance to be about 800 meters, something like half a mile. Assuming you exit Gare du Nord onto Rue de Dunkirk, turn to your right along that street. Walk to Place de Rubaix, which is where Rue de Dunkirk intersects with Boulevard de Magenta. Turn to your right on the far side of the Boulevard relative to your westerly direction.

Walk northwest along Magenta until you come to Boulevard de Rochechouart which is the next major cross boulevard.

From the intersection of Rue de Dunkirk and B. de Magenta to B de Rochechouart is about 400 meters, or 440 yards, or a quarter of a mile.

#3 is just about on the corner.

The street level of #3 is a hair dressers, or a cosmetic center. There are about 6 floors of apartments above the street level shops. You are very very close to the Barbes Rochechouart Metro station.

Metro line #4 goes from Gare du Nord to that stop. I do not know how hard it is to get from the RER train platform to the Metro platform. Also, most Paris Metro stations are lots of steps and tunnels. Hoisting luggage up the steps is a real chore unless you are very fit.

In other words, a walk on the sidewalk along a level surface would be less stressfull to me than trying to hoist my luggage up 20 to 30 steps.

I think your landlady might walk that distance in 5 minutes is she was carrying nothing more than a handbag.

Paris residents who walk a lot tend to more faster than I do.

You could take a cab, but the driver might grumble about the short trip.

I think it depends on how well you can be the motive power for your luggage, how well you can find your way along city streets, and how fit your are to tackle the excursion.

Given the distance of about half a mile, I am not sure what I would do today at age 74. At age 54, I would not have hesitated!!

Make that MOVE faster than I do. I walk as hard as I can and those skinny European ladies go by me like I was a lamp post.

How many of you are traveling, what time are you arriving, and how much luggage do you have? With 3 people or if you packed for a 3 week stay, a cab is worth it, esp if you're not traveling during rush hour.

If there's only two of you and you can carry your stuff, I'd just take the RER and a cab from Gare du Nord. I find the train quite effortless although I travel with a 22&quot; roller and a shoulder bag for my laptop.

If you were to Go to Gare du Nord, then take the 54 bus.

Enter the address here:

http://www35.ratp.info/Proxi/proxi.php?

Walk out of the front of the station,
go left to the corner. Note that the bus stop by your apartment is shared with the 30, which goes to the Trocadero.

Routes here:

http://www.ratp.info/picts/plans/gif/bus_paris/54.gif

The M&eacute;tro station at Barb&egrave;s Rochechouart is about 30 feet above street level - and no escalator. But I'd take the bus.

What great information! We are a middle-aged couple packed for a three-week stay, and after careful reading, we've decided that a cab is probably the way to go. But we'll use everything else everyone has mentioned during out two weeks in Paris (we're going on to Glasgow too!).

Thanks again.

The Gare du Nord RER station has an exit at the back of the train coming from CDG to La Chapelle metro station on line 2.