France

My five awesome things to do in Paris, that may involve getting drunk, being solicited and breaking traffic laws. Amongst other things.

Up and gone by ten – plenty of time to jump on the metro and RER train to the airport, check in and relax before our flight at 12.30, right? Wrong. So, so wrong. The trip on the metro wasn’t so bad – figured out which station we needed to get to for the RER and got there fine. The fun began when trying to buy a couple of RER tickets – was the ticket machine interested in taking any of our credit cards? Hell no. Was the ticket booth open? Nope. Would the ticket machine take notes? Not a chance. Would the shopkeepers give change for 10 Euro? I think you know the answer…

No photos from today unfortunately, due to a minor miscalculation (ie, leaving my memory card in my laptop. Duh.) Not that there would have been too much to take photos of, but more on that in a second.

So we were up and out of the apartment by nine – Tim and Greer had a plane to catch in the early afternoon and we wanted to get to the catacombs first. It was an absolutely perfect day – warm and sunny, the best so far. Bec was off to try her luck at the Musee d’Orsay again so we bid her farewell and grabbed some bikes again (can I just mention one more time what a fantastic idea they are?) and we headed off down the road in Monday morning peak hour. Ahh the serenity. It’s such fun though, you really just forget that you’re not wearing a helmet (nobody does on bikes over here, maybe they don’t want to spoil the coiffure or something…) and that the rest of the road users are trying to kill you, and just get into the swing of things.

Given the late night, an early morning wasn’t expected – or likely. And so it proved, with the first bleary eyes being opened around 11. At least it was prior to lunchtime, I guess. I did the morning coffee & croissant run – had some minor amusement with trying to get lids for 4 coffees (nope) or a tray (non) or a carry bag (nyet). My look of bemusement must have sparked something in the cafe owner because with a flash of inspiration he disappeared out the door and off down the road.

A bit of a grey old day today, but not enough to dampen the mood of these intrepid explorers. Or something. Today was Moulin Rouge day, but the show didn’t start until 11pm so there was plenty to do in the meantime. Tim & I were pretty keen to see the Catacombs while Bec checked out a medieval museum, so we went our separate ways and after a while of wandering and chatting found ourselves outside the entrance – along with half of the rest of Paris. Seriously, the queue was around the block.