METRO-EXPO-RESTO #15

Metro-expo-resto

Break out of the mould of “métro, boulot, dodo” (a French expression that, translated literally, means “Métro, work, sleep”) and get ready for “Métro, expo, resto”, as Babylangues introduces you to a new way of exploring the Paris Métro system. Join us in our quest to discover the various stations dotted across the city. How did they get their names? What are the surrounding neighbourhoods like? What can be found nearby? So many questions, and Babylangues has all the answers!

Gare De Lyon

After Gare du Nord and Saint-Lazare, Gare de Lyon is the busiest metro station on the Paris network, welcoming 34,895,701 passengers in 2013. The station has quite a unique, futuristic feel, as both of the lines which run through it, the Ligne 1 and the Ligne 14, are now automatic. Therefore, when travelling to this stop, you can sit up the very front of the train, and watch the tunnel unfurl in front of you as if you were on a rollercoaster. Also, on the Ligne 14, the platform has been filled with a display of exotic plants, creating the feel of a rainforest captured within the urban space of the centre of Paris.

What Is There To See & Do Nearby?

The station- which sits above our metro stop is one of the most important rail links in Europe, providing connections to Besançon, Lyon, Grenoble, Avignon, Annecy, Dijon, Geneva, Lausanne and Barcelona, to name but a few cities. There are a wide range of shops and eateries in the station, including the famous restaurant Le Train Bleu, whose opulent, classically French decoration, menu and service make it a great place to eat if you are visiting Paris for the first time.

The Seine- Gare de Lyon is located just north of the Seine, and is very close to a lot of the popular bars and nightclubs that line the water’s edge, including Concrete and the Communion, Café Oz and Wanderlust complex.

Le Jardin des plantes- This botanical garden is so large and varied that you can easily spend an afternoon wandering through the plant borders and greenhouses. The park boasts a collection of different perspectives, from the perspective à la française, a wide lawn decorated with neat symmetrical borders, to the perspective à l’anglaise, or ‘le jardin écologique’, which has a wilder, less uniform feel. It is possible to visit greenhouses containing collections of plants from tropical rainforests and arid deserts, cacti from Mexican planes, and exhibitions tracing the history of different botanical species. Finally, in the heart of the jardin, the botanical becomes the zoological in the park zoo. Established in 1793, this menagerie has a rather gruesome history, as during the period of the Commune de Paris in 1871, many of the animals were eaten by besieged Parisians!