Join Us in France Travel Podcast · Annie Sargent

Modern Paris: Cleaner Air, Friendlier Locals, and a Changing City

·58 min·3 clips

Brian says he was “profoundly disappointed by the Louvre” after planning to spend days there.

1. Join Us in France Travel Podcast episode 567 focuses on Brian Revelle’s recent trip through Paris and Strasbourg, with practical travel observations. 2. Annie Sargent hosts the conversation, and Brian Revelle brings a transit professional’s perspective from Vancouver that matters to the episode’s advice. 3. The episode asks how Paris has changed for visitors, especially around transit, crowds, museums, neighborhoods, and the city’s overall feel. 4. Brian explains that he works nights for the Vancouver transit system and that Paris fits his schedule because he lands in the morning after a long flight. 5. He says he likes Paris for its metro, bus network, and transit organization, and he wants to visit the RATP control center near the 20th arrondissement. 6. Brian recommends using smartphone apps because they show ticketing, route planning, and live disturbance alerts. 7. He distinguishes between the Hello RATP app and the STIF app, and he says the Navigo pass is bought through STIF. 8. He warns that a weekly Navigo pass for the following week cannot be bought until Friday Paris time. 9. He compares transit apps to owning a phone that gives instant updates, best-route guidance, and multimodal choices between bus, train, and tram. 10. He also advises people renting cars in France to take photos before and after pickup because staff still inspect scratches and new damage. 11. Brian says Paris’s air no longer has the diesel smell he remembers from earlier trips, and he connects that change to cleaner transport. 12. He notes that electric-vehicle charging is appearing around Paris, including Belib charging points on city streets. 13. He describes Paris as feeling happier now, with more helpful people and less shouting than he recalls from past visits. 14. At Gare du Nord, he says volunteers in red vests and hats were easy to find and helped an older woman with luggage. 15. Brian and his cousin walked from the Canal Saint-Martin area into Pantin, and he says the first 100 meters outside Paris looked like a different world. 16. He describes homelessness, tents, and illicit activity under the périphérique, and he says the area did not feel like the Paris he came to visit. 17. The Eiffel Tower visit became a long queue experience, with a 45-minute wait for tickets and advice to choose the shortest security line. 18. Brian says the Louvre was crowded and confusing for him, with the Mona Lisa room packed and the Napoleon apartments closed that day. 19. The conversation is conversational, practical, and reflective, with Annie prompting details and Brian answering in a calm, experience-based style. 20. Listeners who want Paris transport, neighborhood, and museum tips will like it, while travelers seeking a tightly edited attraction guide may skip it.

As heard by us

Paris is treated less like a postcard here and more like a place best learned through movement and small, practical details.

Paris comes through here as a city to be learned by moving through it, not by admiring it from a distance. Annie Sargent and Brian shift from the letdown of a Louvre visit that felt both overwhelming and underwhelming to advice that is plain, practical, and easy to use.

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Why you'd press play

You want Paris advice that is practical, museum-aware, and useful before you book.

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