Bus Ride

After waking up really late Wednesday morning (jet lag is a killer), we wanted to venture out to see the surrounding area. It was raining and chilly for most of the day, so we were trying to wait and see if it would clear up. By late afternoon we decided to just tough it out and go, so we bundled ourselves up and walked the short distance to the public bus stop at the entrance to the Marriott property. We were cold and wet while we waited 10 minutes for our bus, and when it came we realized that we were waiting on the wrong side of the street. So, after another 10 minutes on the other side of the street, the correct bus arrived. As it approached we broke down the stroller and our umbrellas and helped the girls onto the bus. Jeff asked the driver if it was headed to Val d’Europe (a Mall that I have been excited to check out because it is the self proclaimed "largest mall in Europe"). Jeff then held out his money to pay the driver and he waived for us to sit down as though he was in a hurry. Thinking ok, we’ll get situated and then pay, we did just that. Not more than two minutes had passed when we were at the next stop and four public transportation police entered the bus and asked us for our tickets. Curious how they came directly to us. They almost seemed to be tipped off by the driver. Of course, we didn’t have a ticket because we hadn’t paid yet. The next 10 minutes Jeff was negotiating with these police trying to understand why they were charging us a fine. Jeff said afterwards that he felt like he was getting the shake down from the French mafia. They basically said "we'll give you a deal since you are new to France. Give us 30 euros and we'll call it even." Jeff got off the bus so frustrated. Since then we've learned that they were actually legit. What did I learn on this very expensive bus ride?

1. Buy your bus ticket or pass before you get on the bus.
2. Don’t lose your ticket while on the bus because they will do random checks and you will get a hefty fine from the bus police.
3. You do not need to break down your stroller on the public transit. Keep the baby in the stroller and they have handicap spots for you to park.
4. Apparently you can’t take pictures on the bus. Who knew? Not me. Be careful, because taking pictures could result in another fine.

Let’s just say that we went home and studied the maps and bus system. We also bought our monthly bus passes with our scary mug shot pictures and now we feel a little more prepared.

Here's Jeff's ticket...