St Pancras has just been renovated and when we got there just put my credit card in the Eticket machine and it spat out our London -Paris tickets and Paris -Bordeaux tickets very easy .The trip was very quick .I got Tom tom out (a mistake as it turned out) and we were travelling at 280 kms/hr .You don't feel the the descent under the sea or the rise on the other side. Chatted to an English couple who spent every winter in Oz and they had camper vanned around NZ.
Arrived in Paris and the difference is immediate ,disparately looking for the Metro signs .We bought a carnet a dix (ten tickets for tube and bus).Through looking at lines in different colour worked out where we wanted to go .So headed off .When we emerged from a station clambering up many flights of stairs carrying over 50 kg of luggage we thought we had gone to far and had arrived in central Africa ,very black faces every where. Ha thats OK we thought turn on tom tom ,well tom tom had enough power to fire then immediately died ,flat battery. Oh fuck. I had bought a watch with a compass on it but that didn't like the northern hemisphere and never went up here .I then had bought a compass in London but the map we had didn't show north. Any way we found a street map and headed down the road,Murphy was busy however and when we reached the next Metro stop we saw we had been going in the wrong direction .I could see that this stop would take us to our hotel and I wondered why the guide at the station hadn't said this one. Well because Rue Abbess (our street) is near the Sacre Couer at the top of the hill in Paris and we had to carry those bags for what seemed never ending flights of steps out of the underground ,finally making it up to the top my heart thumping in my ears thanking god that C hadn't bought any thing yet .I can tell you ,even on the Eurostar one bag is enough, but on the Paris metro there is little time to mount the train before the whistle blows.
Once at the top though our hotel was easy to find and we collapsed inside for awhile getting heart rate down out of dangerous level .
It has been fun wondering what the hotels are going to be like .In England I thought it was going to be a dump but it was actually in a very good area and the shared toilet wasn't a problem. Although the room was tiny ,it had been refurbished. In Paris ,we have a garden room which sounds swanky but the room looks abit like the bach ,but it is larger and the garden area is lovely.
After a rest we wandered up the hill stopping on the way for a beer (C found it improbable that I would need a drink after 6 hours with nothing and losing about a liter of sweat carrying the bags.
So much for the French not getting drunk the first one we meet in a bar is absolutely bladdered ,but still very charming and definitely wanting to talk. The lessons not going to well .When we said that we were going to Bordeaux and he couldn't understand us I knew we had a way to go. Again beautiful buildings bent around narrow winding streets. You wouldn't have a good car here every other one had been side swiped ,but they certainly have embraced the scooter. We lucked the Sacre Coeur covered in a beautiful pink light and the view over Paris Stunning.Walked around where all the famous painters have gathered and there are heaps plying their wares .Went back to cafe near our hotel and C had tagine of lapin yes folks thats rabbit and I had duck great food. While we there, a taxi driver stopped his cab partially blocking the road ,came and sat down had a coffee from a cup that looked like it had come from Lisl's barbie tea set ,blow cigarette smoke over us all the while talking very animatedly on his cellphone Eventually driving off ,after maybe 10-15 mins . They have disdain for authority I find appealing