Bonjour from Paris!

Bonjour everyone! I, your intrepid DCC blogger am abroad this week, en route to Belgium and spending time in Paris.

Paris is at once a very old and a very modern place. Everywhere I turn I see RFID in use, most notably in the transit system. As a tourist I am forced to fumble through my pockets for stashes of paper tickets with magnetic strips. I must carry large numbers of them, because once they are used, they expire two hours later, and it is very difficult to keep track of when they will expire.

Parisians, however, have RFID devices that allow them to fly from one metro station to another without digging for tickets. They run their pass across the top of the barrier, and voila! They are in. There are special entrances only they can use, assuring they don't have to waste time waiting behind people like me who are digging for tickets among the lint in their pockets.

Best wishes to everyone, and au revior!