You may be familiar with the métro - the Paris subway system. As a tourist you might have bought a week's unlimited pass. This gives you unfettered access to Paris by bus, métro or RER. The different lines cover most of Paris , and by making strategic changements , you can go virtually anywhere within the city. Those areas not fully served by the métro are usually covered by the bus. The RER, the suburban network with stops in the city, adds more possibilities, including the ability to travel out to the Parisian suburbs.

I usually buy a monthly pass. Armed with this, I ride the métro every day. Lately my daily routine has been taking me to La Défense. My trip starts at the Javel stop, on line 10. I take the train in the direction Gare d'Austerlitz and change at Le Motte-Picquet for line 6. I leave around 8:30 in the morning. I can usually get a seat on line 10. I like to get on at the end of the train, so I am closer to the stairs going to line 6 when the train stops at the Le Motte-Picquet exit. One advantage of taking the métro is that not only do you get to where you are going, but you get some exercise in the process. Most correspondences – changes to another line - require climbing up or down several flights of stairs – an escalator if you are lucky – and then walking down long corridors to get to the line that you are changing to.

I take line 6 in the direction of Charles DeGaulle – Étoile. This requires me to climb a flight of stairs, walk down a long corridor, ride up an escalator, and then scale another flight of stairs, all to get to the elevated platform where the train stops. Everyone seems to be in a hurry, so there is no dawdling. Rather, you get into the stream and flow along with the other working stiffs at the agreed upon pace. One of the strangest things I have heard has been while walking down the long corridor to line 6 in lock step with the other commuters. Because of the acoustics in the corridor, the stomp, stomp, stomp of everyone's footsteps are amplified. It sounds like an army marching off to war. The economic war, if you will.

I mount the platform and wait for line 6. This line is more crowded, and I can't always find a seat in the morning. Sometimes I have to stand all the way to Charles DeGaulle, which is the end of the line. My strategy is to watch for a door where it looks like a lot of people are getting off. Le Motte-Picquet is a major correspondence , so a lot of people get off at this stop. If possible, I like to sit in the permanent seats between the doors, not the fold-down seats in the doorway. The reason for this is that the fold-down seats fold for a reason – when the train is crowded you need to stand to let more passengers in. The seats fold up to accommodate this. The permanent seats are – well, permanent - unless of course you give someone your seat. An elderly person, for example.

I board line 6, and with luck I'll have a seat all the way to Charles De Gaulle. If not, people get off at other stops along the way, so the chance of a seat comes up with every stop. With a seat, I am free to read in comfort. I have made an informal survey of what people do on the métro. I would say that about 80% read. This could be a newspaper or book, or possibly some work-related material. About 10% talk on their cell phones. Another 5% have the headphones on. The rest stare into space, or spend the time watching everyone else. For me, the métro is 45 minutes of reading time in both the morning and the evening. Once you learn to tune out the noise of the crowd and the people talking next to you, you can read just about anything.

Now the métro pulls into Charles De Gaulle-Étoile, and it is time to make the tricky change to Line 1, direction La Défense. This seems to me to be the most crowded line in the system. I follow the crowd pouring out of the line 6 cars. Up a flight of stairs, down a long hall, and then down another flight of stairs. I keep to the inside, and pass where I can, much like a race horse jockeying for position. We reach the line 1 platform. The train is already there, and people are piling in. I get in a line, and make it up to the open doors. I look inside. If I am going to get on this train, I am going to have to back in, fall backward, and hope that everyone who is already in the car gives way for me. I decide to skip this train. I am in the front of the line now. I will have much better position for the next train. I pull out my book and read while waiting,

The next train pulls in. There is pressure behind me as everyone starts moving into position. The train stops and the doors open. Politeness (and common sense) dictates that you let the exiting passengers off before boarding yourself. The passengers struggle off the train. A woman finesses me and moves on to the train before I can get past the last exiting passenger. I jump on the train. It is standing room only. I move to the back by the door. Here, I can lean against the door for balance, and read, if there is enough room between my book and the person next to me. More people crowd onto the train. It's getting packed. Just as it seems that no more people will fit, two young women turn back to the rest of the passengers in the doorway and use the falling backward technique. This pushes everyone together as tight as sardines. The two women are in. The alarm sounds, the doors close. The train moves off, slowly at first, since the platform is still packed with people. Once into the tunnel the driver hits the accelerator and everyone lurches backward in unison, stays there for a minute, and then lurches forward as the speed of the train levels off.

There is no reading for me on this train. I have no room to open a book. There is one guy holding the center pole that has folded his newspaper into a long thin strip and is reading it while holding it inches from his nose. The rest of the passengers stand packed together and immobile. No one gets off, so we ride this way all the way to La Défence. The train stops, everyone pours out of the train, and then it is more stairs and corridors until we all reach the light of day. My trip in the evening is much better. I usually get a seat on all three trains.