I've been a busy little bee over the last three or so weeks. Just before Easter I headed to Gay Paree with my mate Sue for 3 days. We had a bloody fantastic time away and a few mini adventures along the way too.
We left on Tuesday the 11th and met at Waterloo station - 1/2 an hour before our train was due to leave as stated we should on our tickets. Once there stood outside the check in point for Eurostar we noticed that there was a sign saying all trains had been cancelled due to a gas leak in the Bromley area and that passengers were advised to get a refund and book to travel the following day unless it was an emergency. Sue and I looked at each other and at the same time said 'Well it is a bloody emergency! I need this holiday!!' So we waited in line, and waited, and waited. Hoping for another announcement allowing us on the train, or simply to know what the hell was going on. After about an hour a voice came over the tanoy saying pretty much the same thing as the sign did, so we continued to wait, wait and wait some more. After about another hour they started to let people through onto the only train that was going to run that day, Just as we were close to the barrier and about to go through, the lines stopped and people started shoving, swearing and getting a bit raucous. Knowing how good the French are at rioting Sue and I got a little teeny bit worried and hung onto each other as the press of the crowd pulled us towards the barriers that were being reinforced by the London transport police.
After a while people began to calm down a touch and although the press of people remained the swearing and angry atmosphere slightly dissipated. After waiting another half hour an announcement came across the tanoy again, first in French (pacify the wild ones first)and then in English sating that they would let more people on, but it would be standing room only for the whole of the 2 and a half hour trip. We didn't care if they were gonna strap us to the top of the train, as long as we got to Paris that night and could have our holiday uninterrupted!
So we were bustled through the barriers eventually with all the rest of the anxious travelers and finally got through passport control and onto the platform. We made our way to the bar carriage, plonked our things down, bought a few beers and settled in for our trip - now about 2 hours behind schedule.
We waited supping our drinks, ducked out for a quick fag, got back on the train and were onto our second beer and still the train hadn't pulled out of the station in London! Then another announcement was made, advising that there were too many people on the train for it to leave and asking anyone who didn't have to travel that night to get off so the rest of the passengers could go. Feeling a little bad for being so selfish we continued to sup our beers as we watch several people walk back along the platform and into Waterloo train station - sacrificing their travel so we could go. What selfless and nice people, glad that not everyone in the world was as selfish as we were!
Finally at about 1/2 10 we pulled out of Waterloo and were on our way to Gay Paree! The travel passed almost in the blink of an eye and before we knew it we'd gotten through about 3 pints each and were wobbling our way down the platform in Paris Nord at 2 in the morning (time difference - France is an hour ahead of the UK, as is the rest of Europe) It was then that Sue chose to remind me that she had forgotten to bring with her the address of where we were staying. Not to worry said I, there's sure to be an internet cafe around here somewhere. So we walked out of the station, and not seeing anything open in the vicinity other than a few bars, we walked back into the station to see if there were internet facilities available there. Everything in the station was also closed, so we headed to a bar to see if we could get something to eat and think about what to do next. With our cloudy heads it wasn't as easy as it sounded and we stumbled into the first bar we found. I headed up to the bar while Sue sorted our bags out and sat down to go through the options of how to find out where we were staying. After finding out they had stopped serving food I ordered the next best thing - 2 pints so we could continue supping whilst we solved our dilemma.
By this time Sue realised that she could get internet connection on her mobile phone (the effectiveness of modern technology!!) and proceeded to try and access her hotmail account - with no luck. That option and the internet cafe option not struck from the list there was nothing further we could do than call some mates in England and hope they wouldn't be too pissed off at being woken at 3 in the morning to check Sue's email account and give us our directions. So Sue proceeded to call, we finished our pints and while she was still trying to raise someone at home hailed a cab and jumped in telling the driver that we didn't have the exact address but we were headed towards Epinay. Ahh what fun and games, neither of us speak much French and he spoke even less English. Still we managed to be understood with elaborate hand signals, a word here and there and then eventually the address written down on a scrap of paper. The last thing we had to do was stop at a hole in the wall for some cash and then straight to the hotel to crash out.
The cabby stopped at the ATM and I jumped out to get some cash while Sue stayed to hold the cab, when I jumped back ion, she jumped out to get her cash and the cab sped off up the street with me in the back frantically trying to get the driver to notice Sue was missing and to turn around. After a slight panic on my part that I was being kidnapped the cab understood the mistake did a u-turn and picked up a bewildered Sue.
Within moments of the last hiccough we were at the hotel and checking in (after giving the cabby a fine tip for his efforts with us two pissed up Aussie girls),the cabby followed us in after a few moments just to make sure we'd got the right place and were ok. How sweet he was!
Within moments of getting to our room we were in bed and I was fast asleep - dead to the world.
Next morning Sue let me know that her adventures had continued into the night as she slept walked out of the room. The door automatically locked behind her and she found herself in the hotel hallway, busting for the loo in her pajamas. Although her banging on the door woke the people in the room next to ours, I didn't stir and she had to head down stairs and have reception let her back in.
After all the shenanigans of the getting to Paris, we were looking forward to a pretty chilled day checking out the Rodin museum and Per LeChaise (the huge grave yard where Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison and other famous dead people are buried) The Rodin Museum was amazing. I had no idea he had such a huge and impressive body of work from his life. The flow, texture and feeling in all of his pieces was amazing and along with all that there was a room stuffed with antiques and art that he'd collected himself from all parts of the world. A truly magnificent sculptor....
Per Lechaise was like, or is, a little city of or for the dead. The tombs line wide boulevards, little streets and alley ways and hide behind the tree lined streets. You can buy a map on the way in and all the different graves are marked clearly showing you their street name and district. It's quite beautiful and peaceful there and some of the graves date back to the 1700's, all of them are for the rich and it would take a mint to afford a grave site there, no matter how simple it was. Aside from the three dead guys mentioned earlier, Cartier and a load of other famous designers, families and historically amazing people were laid to rest in the grounds.
After the excitement of our first day we grabbed a few things for dinner from the delis about the place, some wine and headed back to the train station for our train to Epinay Villetanuese, feeling rather proud that we had made our way around the city without any mishaps, managed to converse a little with the Parisians and seen all we had planned to that day.
Once back on the platform at Paris Nord, I congratulated ourselves before stepping onto the train back to our hotel. We slumped into our seats looking forward to getting back to our room, putting our tired feet up and drinking some wine whilst making fun of French telly. The train sped towards our destination and right past it, then past the next station and out into the countryside! Realising there was bugger all we could do about it we happily stared out the window at the passing woods, quaint little villages, streams and fields, wondering if we would ever make it back to our hotel before midnight!
Fortunately for us we were able to get off at the next stop (about 1/2 an hour out on the train) and cross the platform straight onto another train taking us back to Paris Nord so we could begin again. We eventually made it back to the hotel, hooked into the baguettes and fromage we'd bought, plenty of red wine to wash it all down with and had a good laugh at the fun we'd had - both planned and mistakenly. We stayed up late gettin drunk and having girly chats until the wee hours of the morning.
The next day we headed out to The Pompidou Centre, Notre Dame and the Eiffel tower, but before getting too stuck into our further touring of the city we sat down at the first pub we found and had two bloody marys each, hair of the dog and all that from the night before. Although we didn't have headaches the bloody marys went down a treat and we were ready to begin again. Paris would have to be the most beautiful city I have been to so far, although I am told Venice far surpasses it. The architecture is amazing, the tree lined streets, tiny cafes that seem to be waiting for you alone to discover them and the street art all make for such an inspiring and beautiful place to visit.
The Pompidou centre (or 'inside out building')
Notre Dame
The Eiffel tower
Being our 2nd day in Paris of walking here there and everywhere, we we back to our room by about 9pm and completely shagged. Got some Japanese take away of the way back and relaxed with our sushi, rice and red wine. Both of us were asleep pretty early that night.
Friday was our final day there and we'd seen pretty much everything on our 'have to see list' so spent the day wandering in and out of cafes, shops, the musee D'Orsay, the Louvre and other Parisian landmarks. Being Good Friday the queues were huge snaking things and we declined to wait for hours on end. One day I will definitely go back and it will still be there waiting for me rather than me waiting for it!
So back on the Eurostar finished off the rest of the wine we bought....and home again, home again, jiggity-jig!
