ATC Topic Class: Secret Stations And Boyhood Love On The Paris Metro : NPR

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Few cities in the world are more identified with their subway systems than Paris. One of the busiest metro systems in the world, it carries more than 4 million riders a day on some 16 lines to 300 stations. To ride it is a visual carnival, a living history, an urban love story about the chemin de fer, or "path of iron."


Standing inside the station, author Mark Ovenden says the style was the creation of "an amazingly young architect" named Hector Guimard. "He had the idea of building things out of this wonderfully laced wrought iron that looks like it’s kind of grown there, almost organically — the way that trees grow or that plants grow. It's a very organic-looking form and quite advanced for its time."It's a story that starts at the Chatelet stop in Place St. Opportune, in the heart of Paris. It was one of the very first stops built for the very first line in 1900. It's also the world's largest metro station, with five metro lines and three commuter lines running through it. One of the original archways keeps the art nouveau metropolitan style that's the hallmark of the Paris Metro.


In the late 1800s, Paris was well behind London and New York in building a metro system. Visitors to the 1889 Grand Exhibition that featured the Eiffel Tower had to ride a horse and buggy to get there — an embarrassment that spurred the completion of the Line 1 in time for the World's Fair in 1900. Built in 20 months, this first line of the Metro connected all the major Paris attractions.Ovenden is co-author of the book Paris Underground: The Maps, Stations and Design of the Metro. He believes the contrast between the Metro's ornate entrances and the formality of the surrounding boulevard gave the city some sense of nature. That might be one reason that Parisians grew fond of their Metro so quickly, he says. "They were also so totally unique."

Today it's a living, breathing, big-city system — and rife with fare jumpers. Ovenden sees one and calls out, "Fancy not paying today?" He suspects there are more fare jumpers in Paris than anywhere in the world — about one in 20, he says.



The Phantom Station

If there is one thing that captures the imagination of Paris Metro aficionados, it's the dozens of abandoned stations — many closed to be used for bomb shelters during World War II. The trains still hurtle past these empty stations without stopping, like the rail equivalent of the Flying Dutchman.

Julian Pepinster, who co-authored the book Paris Underground with Ovenden, leads tours of the Metro. As a member of the Regione Autonome de Transports Parisian's safety department, he also has the keys to one of these "phantom stations" — St. Martin, closed for 60 years.

It's well lit, but the sight of an enormous empty Metro station is still eerie. Graffiti taggers have done their worst here, but some unusual advertising art has survived. Pepinster points out amazing bas-relief enamel posters. They're semi-permanent advertisements dating back to a time when products didn't change very often.

One advertisement is both arresting and disquieting. It's for a product called Eau De Javel, bleach. The image shows the silhouette of a black woman through a white sheet she's holding up. "At this time, France still had its colonies in Africa," Pepinster explains. Ovenden translates the advertisement's message: "Here is a black woman, you can see her hand, but she uses bleach and becomes white." It's an ad that wouldn't happen now, they agree.

"What's really weird about walking down here," Ovenden says, is "when you look around you — apart from the graffiti — you realize that you’re on a normal Paris Metro station platform. Just the other side of this wall, which has been built since the station was closed, the train’s running. And if you look out the window when you’re on a train that comes from Republique to Strasbourg-Saint-Denis, you can see you're going through an old station."

Vocabulary

Wrought Organically Metropolitan Hallmark Phantom Eerie Laced

a ghost or something not real, difficult to see slightly strange and slightly scary the typical and defining style of a place twisted by hand the urban area of a large city, the middle of all the people delicately placed like thin strings like nature might do something

Rife with – full of

Arresting – capturing one’s attention

Disquieting – making one feel uncomfortable mentally

Capture the imagination – causing one to imagine something interesting or amazing

Grew fond of – to have grown to like over a period of time

Art nouveau – a style that feels organic and light

Discussion
How do you feel about Seoul’s subway system?
Have you ever visited another country’s metro system?
Have you ever visited a place that captures your imagination?
What about an old place evoked some strange feelings?
What are some eerie places you know, and do you like to visit them?