Barbara and I will be traveling from Denver to Paris. We arrive at CDG at 6:55 on Wednesday April 29. We plan on taking the RER to Paris because the Rosey bus or private vans will most likely get stuck in traffic. We have purchased train tickets on SNCF from Nice to Milano for May 16. The plan is to pick up these tickets and several carnets at the Gare du Nord. After these purchases we will return to the RER B and transfer at St Michel Notre Dame to RER C. At Point L’Alma we will take a taxi to our hotel in the 7th near Ecole Militare. This is our first trip to Paris.

We don’t want to pick up our pre purchased train tickets in Nice. What alternatives are there in Paris for getting these train tickets? Do we have to return to a train station to pick them up? Can we purchase carnets at CDG? Is the correspondence, transfer, from RER B to C at St. Michel easy? Thank you for your advice and help.

Barbara and Jim

You have several things that you are asking and some are not clear.

Don't understand "private vans will get stuck in traffic". I take a private service all the time, and will be doing so on April 14th. They will be outside security exit door with my name on a sign and we will be off. It is a fee for service, so no meter running. If you are talking about Carnets for area metro, you can get those at any metro station. If you have purchased SNCF tickets online and have your receipt you can go to any of the SNCF Boutique locations in Paris to pick up the ticket. You must have the same cc that you used online. Do check the open hours for the boutique that you will be using. They are not all the same. I have sometickets purchased online for a short trip to Provence while in Paris for a month. I will pick up my tickets at a Boutique around the corner from me, in the 7th.

Hope this helps a bit...

Joan

You should be able to do everything you want to do at CDG. You can buy the carnets there and pick up the SNCF tickets.

Hi Joan:

Thanks for your thoughts. It seemed to me that the Paris rush hour would be between 7:00 and 9:00. The private service might get caught in the traffic jam. Since I spend a lot of time in the car in Denver traffic I wanted to avoid this on my first morning in Paris. We considered using your service. Thank you for your past directions on using it.

Your suggestion for using the boutique is a good one. I will try to find their Paris locations on line. I really don't want to explore Gare du Nord after many hours on the airplane.

We plan on eating several meals at the Constant restaurants.
Maybe we wll see you at one of them.

Have a safe trip on the 14th.

Thank you for all of your helpful postings.

James

Yes, you can buy carnets at CDG to use for trips within central Paris; but you'll need to buy single tickets to get from CDG to Paris. And you can pick up your Nice-Milano tickets at any SNCF station or ticket boutique in France. That includes the TGV station at CDG that is below Terminal 2.

I suggest that you buy single tickets (€8.40) at CDG and take the RER B directly to St-Michel Notre-Dame. Transfer there to the RER C and take it to Invalides. Transfer there to metro line 8 and take it to Ecole Militaire. No need for a taxi and you go all the way on one ticket.

You can buy carnets at any metro or RER station.

One more thing. If you will be arriving at Terminal 2, you will take the RER B from the CDG 2 TGV station so it will be simple to pick up your Nice-Milano tickets there.

I use a SNCF Boutique as the first choice. They (were) well staffed, had short lines, spoke English, and more customer oriented than the ticket clerks at SNCF stations.

Regarding carnet at metro stations, I found it getting harder to buy them as a traveler from U.S. At the stations I used, when there are machines, the ticket clerks would not sell me tickets but told me to use the machine. I think there are at least two types of machines, one that takes cash and others don't. Why is cash needed? It is because the RATP vending machines, at least the ones I used, need credit cards with "chips," so my CC from the U.S. was useless.

You can find the SNCF offices at:
voyages-sncf.com/guide/…indexGuide.html
- - go to the foot of the page, choose France, then one of the Paris areas, and a list of addresses will pop up.

Hello Greg, Tim:

Thanks for your advice. We will arrive in Terminal 1. I have detailed instructions on how to get from there to the RER B station by terminal 2. I also have instructions on how to use the "blue" ticket machines. They will give me the tickets to Paris if I have Euro coins.

Can the "blue" ticket machines sell me Carnets?

If we do not buy our pre purchased Nice Milano tickets at Terminal 2 there is a Botique store at 80 rue Dominique in the 7th.

Another issue. We like boats. The plan is to use the Batobus on the Scine at lot. Have any of you used this frequently in Paris? I know this is not a tour boat. We also do not want to spend money on dinner boats. Rather have expenvise dinners at other places.

Thank you for your comments and help.

James

mtjames,

The SNCF Boutique on St. Dominique is the one that I will be using. I arrive on the 15th. I will get settled, go to Les Cocottes for lunch and then on down to the Boutique and pick up my tickets. Get that out of the way. You have there hours? 8:30 to 19:30 Mon-Friday. a bientot..Joan

P.S. Have a small group of 4 Parisians, an RN from Philly area and I will be at Cafe Constant on 4/24. I made reservations with Catherine for 9:00. All will probably come by my apt. first to meet and share a coupe de Champagne and walk down..only a couple blocks. If you would care to join us let me know...Joan

James,

Since you will be arriving at Terminal 1, you should take the CDGVAL driverless shuttle train from the terminal to the CDG 1 RER station which is located next to Terminal 3. You do not need to go the CDG 2 TGV RER station at Terminal 2. See this site: www.parisbytrain.com.

According to the description on that site, I don't think you can buy carnets from the blue ticket machines. If you click on "Tickets" on the left-hand side of the home page, you'll see photos of a different kind of ticket machine which you'll find at metro stations and which will dispense carnets.

Hi Grace:

Thank you for your kind offer. If we were in Paris on the 24th we would love to meet you and have dinner. Unfortunately, we arrive on Wednesday April 29.

Here are our dining plans:
Wednesday April 29, Early Lunch, Violon d Ingress or Café Constant, no reservations yet for V
This is our first day. We are usually tired and we may not be at our best.

Thursday April 30, Dinner, Dominique Bouchet, have reservations

Friday Holiday, Dinner, L’Ami Jean, have reservations

Saturday May 2, going to Versailles for fountain day.
Dinner, the Rick Steves tour begins with dinner.

Perhaps you would care to join us for dinner on Thursday or Friday? It would be our pleasure to meet you and to hear about your adventures in Paris and France.

Thanks again for being kind to fellow travelers.

Barbara and James

Barbara and James,

I should have caught the arrival date!

My arrival day I usually go to a simple place as early as possible, have a quiet dinner, some wine and to bed early! Next morning I am on Paris time. My arrival day I am going to a simple Italian restaurant across the Seine between George V and Montaigne on Tremoille. About a 15 min. walk.

Did you mean Friday the 1st at l'Ami Jean? If so, I wonder how difficult to add to your reservation?

Where are you staying in Paris? You must be in the 7th?

Here is my home email address: [email protected]

Joan

Hi Joan:

I was pleased to make reservations at l'Ami Jean for Friday May 1. After all, this is a major holiday.

Please see my e mail to you.

Thank you

James