Bravo for daring to stay in the suburbs. The commute will always be a slight annoyance, but staying far away from the tourist crush will always enrich the authenticity of the experience of French life.

You will have learned things that casual tourists will never experience.

Like make sure you know the local bakeries hours.. many open super early.. but close for a few hours at lunch.. something we discovered the hard way.. one cannot have a proper French lunch without fresh baguette!

So glad you decided to go for it kovsie. Thanks for getting back to us and can't wait
To read your new thread.

Hope you're settling in and enjoying your stay. Hope you're figuring out how to get around with all the transportation disruptions. In case you haven't found it, the RATP website has a good planning tool on this page:

http://www.ratp.fr/itineraires/en/ra...herche-avancee

And when I'm in Paris, I use this interactive map every day:

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk

Note: There is a warning that the interactive map does not currently take into account all the disruptions at the moment. They suggest using the Journey Planning tool.

Looking forward to hearing more about your visit.