After we landed in the airport, we bought a bunch of metro tickets before we headed out. Everyone got through the turn stiles just fine, but I guess I didn’t pay enough attention for me to also do so successfully. I inserted my ticket several times, but the little doors on the other side wouldn’t open for me. Finally, a local that spoke English told me to go through with him at the same time, using his ticket. As we cheated the system together he said quietly so only I could hear, “Welcome to Paris.”
After we got to the main metro station, we watched as possibly hundreds of people did the same thing (only difference was they did it because they didn’t want to pay, not because they couldn’t get their ticket to work). There were a few variations. Kids would just slide through the small doors, agile types would par-core their legs over the top with a great swinging motion, the classic snuggle-up-to-a-stranger-as-they-used-a-ticket trick that I did in the airport. It was kind of shocking to watch it all unfold in front of me. Each time I’d see it happening, I could hear that kid’s voice over and over: “Welcome to Paris.”
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