Paris Tram T3
Saturday afternoon was just about t-shirt warm in Paris, but you could comfortably look at the sun as it shone dimly behind a grease-proof paper sky. I took a stroll along the Seine out towards the tramline (T3), having never taken the Paris tram before. The T3 line was introduced in 2006, and the trams still look squeaky new; even the grass between the lines was lusciously green. It’s strange how the old has a way of working its way back into the present; the last tram in Paris was decommissioned sixty years ago. When I first boarded, the tram was next to empty, and a large jovial conductor walked on, said a joyful bonjour to the passengers, before seating himself behind the helm. If his previous job had been working subterranean in the metro, his joy was quite understandable – I’ve become almost wary of the jovial Parisian, city’s often have that way of making folk seem a little frosty around the edges.
The tram was smooth and a pleasure to use. Sat right at the front, I had an unobstructed view at the approaching scenery through the driver’s window. The pleasure changed a little to annoyance when a little French boy sat behind me kept banging me with his arm and elbow and talking loudly down my ear (he was also keen to look out of the front window you see) to the indifference of his mother. And then a man stood in front of me, obscuring the panoramic which I wouldn’t have objected to if it hadn’t been for the stench of perspiration. Sandwiched between the brat and the smelly man, the tram ride took on a different ambiance for 3 or 4 stops until I arrived at Cité Universitaire and jumped off to visit Parc Montsouris, which will be the subject of a future Paris City Guide.
Reader Comments
I’m pleased that the ‘end product’ gives satisfaction as the construction of the T3 in the ‘Northern Arc’ is a source of daily frustration and danger for the urban cyclist.