SETTLING IN - CultureShock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette - page 168

stations, by telephone or on the Internet. Tickets may be
picked up at the train station at least one-and-a-half hours
before departure (toll call info/reservations tel: 3635;
website: http://www.sncf.com). Transilien is the SNCF train
network that services the Ile-de-France.
Some trips are discounted, depending on the passenger's
age or how much in advance the reservation is made.
Considerably less expensive, discounted tickets are generally
non-refundable and non-changeable. Before boarding the
train, make sure to punch your ticket in one of the orange
machines located at the head of the quais , or risk a fine. The
SNCF stations and the directions they serve:

8 e : Gare Saint-Lazare; 13 rue d'Amsterdam. Northeast.

10 e : Gare de l'Est; place du 11 Novembre 1918. East.

10 e : Gare du Nord; 18 rue de Dunkerque. North, including
the Eurostar to London.

12 e : Gare de Lyon; place Louis-Armand. Southeast/South.

13 e : Gare d'Austerlitz; 7 boulevard de l'Hôpital.
Southwest.

15 e : Gare Montparnasse; 17 boulevard de Vaugirard. West/
Southwest. International trains.

The high-speed Eurostar train travels between central Paris
(Gare du Nord) and central London (St. Pancras Station) in
under three hours (tel: [phone]; website:http://www.
eurostar.com).
The Thalys is a high-speed train that travels between
Paris (Gare du Nord), Amsterdam, Brussels and Cologne.
Reservations are made through SNCF (tel: 3635; website:
http://www.thalys.com).

Taxis
There are some 15,000 taxis in Paris and almost 500 taxi
stands, but this does not mean that a taxi is easy to find on a
rainy day or at rush hour. The best bet is to wait at taxi stands,
which are in every arrondissement and have blue and white
signs marked 'taxis'. Taxis can be engaged directly from the
stand or by telephone. See Taxis in either phone book; in the
Yellow Pages , they are listed by arrondissement .