Or anywhere else in Paris.We entered Metro from RER from CDG, obviously looked like confused tourists,
Congenial 40ish French chap [ nice face, grey wool coat, plaster cast on foot, very polite ] approached us %26amp; suggested he would show us how to use the ticket machine. From info gathered from TA we knew we could obtain a Carnet of tickets from Metro machines. This man insisted that the carnet was now invalid %26amp; the new system involved total travel between RER, Metro, RCSN, plus les car rouge 24 hour travel which raised our suspicions as we knew these systems were independant.Due to this we declined to use our CC in his presence %26amp; he actually put his own card in the machine which displayed 67 E. From TA we knew this was OTT so moved on.
Only ask requirements from badged staff personel, we did but although TA advisors say that English is the 2nd language in Paris, RUBBISH, we found communication very difficult.
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thanks for posting. I%26#39;ve read and passed on advice to decline offers with %26#39;help buying tickets%26#39; from total strangers at Gare du Nord. Everything you need is signposted if you slow down and look around. You were armed with information (reasonable prices, basic facts about the ticket validity..) and thus protected yourselves.
Most ticket window agents can understand English - remember you get more cooperation in this regard if you open your requests with a %26#39;bonjour, Mdm, parlais vous anglais%26quot; than %26#39;Can you help me?%26quot;.
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TA advice that English was the 2nd language in Paris never said, I think, that the locals spoke English fluently! I honestly believe that both the average unilingual English speaking tourists AND French speaking tourists have been spoiled rotten by locals in OTHER European countries who speak passable, and often good, English or French or both. You may have trouble having French people speaking English to you, I likely would have trouble finding average Londoners fluent in French. On the other hand I spent 2 summers in Finland, several years in Germany, have visited quite often Milan, Venice, Barcelona etc. and everywhere I ran into people who spoke great French or /and English. To be fair to US posters I have also found quite a few Americans who could hold a conversation in French.
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I am utterly unclear on how this guy was scamming anyone. Perhaps he was trying to get your card and your PIN?
The Moral of the Story - Don%26#39;t talk to strangers! That%26#39;s it guys. If a person you do not know comes up to you to start a conversation... move on.
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The basic ticket scam is the %26#39;helper%26#39; supposedly gets metro ticket from the machine then you pay him for it, HOWEVER it is a used ticket and you probably paid an excessive amount to get it. It%26#39;s a %26#39;sleight-of-hand%26#39; type con.
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Thanks for the info eveyone. We%26#39;ll be going in May to Gare de Nord via Eurostar so good to know.
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;TA advisors say that English is the 2nd language in Paris, RUBBISH, we found communication very difficult%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
I%26#39;m not sure that the observations offered here (and other places) that %26#39;..English is the most frequent 2nd language in Paris..%26#39; is the same thing as literally interpreting it as a flat %26quot;..English is the 2nd language in Paris..%26quot;. While a great many Parisians understand and speak some English, many are not %26#39;fluent%26#39;...and even among those who do enjoy some degree of fluency...sometimes they%26#39;re just too busy with the demands of their own everyday lives to stop and become %26#39;tour guides%26#39;.
My favorite language experience was with a Parisian taxi driver. I needed to find an item at a pharmacy, late on a Sunday afternoon. I found a waiting taxi at a neighborhood rank and asked the driver in a combination of horrible-tourist French and Engish to take me to the nearest pharmacy and wait for me. The driver, sensing my concern and the need for a pharmacy, headed off. Along the way he told me that he spoke some English, but not much. He also noted that while I spoke some French; it was not enough....but that he would teach me to speak French. So during the whirlwind taxi tour around Paris, from pharmacy-to-pharmacy, he gave me basic French lessons...with pop quizzes. He also scared the bejeesus outta%26#39; me as he wove through and around Parisian traffic...like a Formula One driver trying to break through into the lead...all the while casually conducting his French %26#39;lessons%26#39; over his shoulder. He was a supportive teacher. When he made a U-turn on a busy Champs Élysées I said %26#39;..Merde..%26#39; as oncoming traffic raced by. He took both hands off of the wheel and clapped, %26quot;..Bon...trés bon...%26quot;...and continued the %26#39;lessons%26#39;.
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KDSail--your English lesson story just made my day!!!
Merci!!
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A similar scam is run in Toronto where street parking is controlled by an automated solar powered ticket machines that accepts cash and credit cards.
Friendly local situates himself by the machine with a stolen credit card. Since the card can only be verified when the machine is being cashed in, the card is accepted even though it may have been cancelled. The gentleman asks for cash and uses the bad card which produces a legitimate receipt for window display.
The ticket man with a credit card at Gare du Nord may be running something similar.
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