Paris

June 6 - 9

Well here we are in Europe. It was a long long flight, 24 hours long in fact, but it was pretty smooth. We didn't score an A 380, so had to put up with something much further down the Etihad roll of honour. Finally landed in Paris, pretty exhausted, picked up the train via Gare du Nord and popped up out of the Metro at Belleville. This is a much seedier part of Paris, plenty of dirt and down and outs but after a couple of false starts we found our apartment and met Natasha our hostess. A basic apartment, but a spectacular view. 

Natasha showed us how to access the wrap around balcony. A step ladder and a clamber out the bathroom window...poor Michele has to work hard for her fags. Natasha is lovely.

We explored the local area on our first night. It is a crowded lively bohemian area. Le Canal St Martin is the local hang out, the canal lined with picnicking Parisians till the sun goes down at 10:30 pm. It is crossed by a series of arched bridges, a really great spot off the tourist track. We ate a nice meal al fresco, then walked back. 

Slept like two corpses, we didn't get much sleep on the plane. Natasha's brekky was enjoyable with her asking if we didn't mind her joining us...she likes to practice her English. She is very good, so I wont get to try out my Year 10 French on her, more's the pity.

Our second day was Metro a go go. It's a brilliant system, so fast and efficient, but no time for errors, no smiling and no dawdling. I got snapped by the doors of the train, the first of many closings on our good persons over our stay. We also walked ourselves into oblivion, through the Butte Chaumont Park

 and all the way to the fascinating Pere Lachaise Cemetery. This place is amazing. A million "residents" underground, including Jim Morrison, Chopin, Georges Seurat, Sarah Bernhardt, Rossini, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde the list goes on. Really interesting place. 

 

Then we jumped back on the metro and over to the Latin Quarter via Notre Dame and a Jambon et Fromage baguette, an eclair you would kill for and a pistache cookie.

 Visited The Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens with the best chair system ever designed and a coffee alongside the Seine.

 Tried to visit the Pompidou, but too hard, so we went back to our favourite place from 2013, in The Marais for a lovely meal.

Metro home. Tired but content. Paris is a pretty good place.

I am writing this on the flight to Lisbon.

What did we do today?

Well it was mainly about trying to get out of Paris and it wasn't all that smooth, but we did it. We visited the Arc de Triomph and walked down the Champs Elysees figuring if we were going to visit something on our last morning lets make it a biggie. But mainly, we got caught in the sorties, the exit turnstiles all through the Metro, with our bags. In one particularly frantic entanglement Michele was heard to yell "and there's no one here to help!" very loudly. In another incident an old woman snuck through a narrow turnstile with me, my suitcase and satchel calling out "vite, vite" as the doors snapped on us.Then we misread the train display at Gare du Nord and climbed onto a train bound for God knows where. At the last minute a concerned French man said to us "No Aeroport" whilst the warning beeps were sounding. We had to fly. When these doors shut it is the guillotine all over again. I have never seen Michele move so fast. Thank god he said something and we are now safely on this flight. 

Paris was manic, but magnificent. I love this city.

A little postscript. Our hostess, Natasha works in film and TV, dubbing English into French. She was the French voice of Ally McBeal and is one of the French chipmunks in  Alby and The Chipmunks. No wonder she had such a good handle on English.