Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Silly Question??

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Silly Question??

Hi! I am traveling to Monaco the end of January. I would like to take trains/buses and visit other nearby villages. I do not understand French. Are the train/bus stations hard to navigate? Do they post signs in English? TIA!

I find the trains a lot easier than the busses. You'd be smart to check with your hotel for exact bus information before venturing out. But the trains are easy. Although signs are rarely posted in English, you are mainly just looking for the names of the staions you are going to, so the language really isn't a problem there. Usually you'll have no problem finding a ticket clerk who speaks English, especially in Monaco. You may want to familiarize yourself with a few basic French words, but with just a trip or two by train, you will have easily figured out the words for platform, arrival, departure, etc. (which are all pretty clear anyway). By the way, I see nothing silly about your question.

Thank-you Patrick! I have found a web-site that speaks to you through real player- learning a few good travel phrases in French! If you don't mind--thanks for saying my question wasn't silly, btw :)-- If you drive there- do you drive on the right or the left in France? TIA!! Kara PS- I am so excited about going to Monaco!! :)

I think the trains could be a little trickier than that if you don't know French and have not used trains much in Europe, even though Monaco would have small station. First, schedules are posted on bulletin board-type displays and you have to look on them for the line you want to find out information such as the schedule, number of train, etc (and sometimes if you are going to a city in the middle of a route, it can be hard to find the correct line, but perhaps a clerk can help if you have trouble). Then, you'll have to make sure you get on the right platform at the right time -- platforms are usually posted on an overhead electronic board about a half hour before departure (or longer for major lines). Those are general schemes for most stations; I haven't been in the Monaco one. Then, you have to make sure you get on the right car/seat if you have a reservation; if not (which you probably won't for short trips), make sure you get on a car with the right class number on it. Monaco is good in that there are good web sites for their bus lines (within city and along the coast) with maps, schedules, etc. YOu probably won't be using the bus much to go to other villages as the bus that services Monaco doesn't go that many places -- just between Nice and Menton, stopping at Monaco in-between. It does stop at Eze, Cap d'Ail and Monte Carlo (and several other town), also. The MOnaco bus service within the city is Compagnie des Autobus de Monaco: http://www.cam.mc That is a nice site with detailed routes and a map. The bus that runs between Menton and Monaco is run by Rapides Cote d'Azur, that is line 100. That site is: http://www.rca.tm.fr/index.html That is a good site, also, for bus lines, and gives detailed routes and schedules. It leaves at place d'Armes (which is right near the rail station) about every 15 minutes during the week and every 20-30 minutes on weekends. Those web sites can help you get used to the lingo and see how well you can figure things out to some extent because they are only in French, it looked to me (the English section isn't up), although I only looked at them a few minutes. You might also want to print out maps and schedules from them.

As usual, Christina's comments are good ones. I say it isn't much of a problem, because I've done trains all over Europe and don't speak any languages. Of course, it gets easy with use, but from the start I had few problems. And it is always easy to find someone to help you -- just look for another American tourist who looks like they know what they're doing. I'm not saying it's ideal, but a whole lot better than staying home because you can't speak the language. And good for you on doing the language program. By the way, driving is the same as in the US, on the right. That is true of all of Europe except for the UK, Ireland, and Malta. Any others?

Not a silly question. Signs are unlikely to be in English but timetables are usually easy to understand. Make sure you learn the words for arrival and departure. If you search the web you should be able to find out some train / bus times before you depart which may make things easier. Also, it would be useful to know the days of the week in French as there are often timetable variations for weekends.

Being totally ignorant my first train ride from Paris, I had unknowingly sat at the head of the train in a first class reserved section and I was holding a second class, unreserved ticket. The poor conductor would frown, shoo me out further down the train each time he came across me. After several "bootings" I was getting rather frustrated. Finally, he opened the door, totally ignoring me, punched everyone else's ticket before nodding his head at me and murmuring, "Mademoiselle". I was so grateful he had not made a big deal out of it! Even the mistakes can be fun. Bon voyage.

Thanks all for the great stories, answers and help guys-and thanks Christina for taking your time to reply to my question with all the web sites and insight! I will definately take the time to try to learn a little french before I go! To all who post here- this has been an awesome site for learning about travel! Have a wondeful Christmas and a very happy holiday season!

Kara: I speak French (well, what seems to pass for French) and my husband doesn't speak any. Yet when we're boarding trains and buses, he's the one who deals with the drivers. Somehow, it works. We used trains, buses and cabs in the Cote d'Azur area for a week with no problems at all. People at the train windows in Nice and at most of the stations speak excellent English. The signs in that area of France aren't generally in English, but just knowing the French words for car, track, seat and exit will be enough to find your way. The bus personel generally don't speak English, but there are always tourists somewhere in line who speak French, and you can use one of them as your translator or information back-up if you need one. As I said above, my husband is able to communicate by asking the driver, "St. Paul de Vence?," waiting for the affirmative or negative, and then going for his wallet with an inquisitive look. It works just as well as my laborious attempts to construct a complicated sentence. You'll have a good time doing daytrips. This is a terrifically easy area to navigate without a car.