5/8 Drizzling in Paris

Sunday 5^th Paris

No buffet, no gym and no Hannah.

It seems that we haven’t booked our hostel for the week on Waikiki beach yet. They say yes they have space for us but what does that mean? We had a wander round our new neighbourhood. We are a bit further out than usual and it is a very nice residential area with a very serene little village atmosphere surrounded by multi storey buildings.

We wandered through a street market then found food in a market that was just closing. We retired to a small park to feed, being much impressed by a mesmerising tromp de l’oeil painting that covered a 3 storey wall. Looks for all the world as though there is a wing jutting out towards you but in fact it is dead flat.

We headed towards the Musee d’Orsay yet AGAIN – determined to get inside this time. We had ignored the darkening skies and by the time we emerged from the underground it was spotting with rain. In no time it settled into a light but persistent drizzle that was soaking into our light shirts. It let up a bit just as we reached the museum but we were confronted by an immense queue that looped round like a snake. Seems Sunday might be the free day L There was at least an hour wait.

We were looking for a ticket machine at the nearby station and realised that we would have to go to one of the main line stations. The rain picked up again and we headed for the adjacent museum of the Legion of Honour. This was open and free and the queue was only about a dozen people. There was plenty of room inside but the little asshole at the door kept us all out in the rain. We eventually got inside and spent an interesting hour looking at the medals and awards and uniforms and robes.

It was pretty much like the English Orders of the Bath, Garter etc. Seems to have been awarded to Generals and politicians rather than soldiers. There was an interesting collection of the major honours awarded by most of the world’s countries.

We crossed the Seine over the bridge which is festooned by love locks. You engrave your names on the side and fasten the lock to the bridge then toss the key into the river. A few enterprising peddlers were selling locks. We decided to catch a train from the Place de la Concorde (home of the guillotine), collect our ticket from one of the major stations and go home for dinner and ponchos then head out again for evening views of the Eiffel Tower etc.

We had bought tickets on the overnight sleeper Paris-Hamburg before we left home. We had to collect the ticket from a machine at the mainline station, using a reference code they emailed us and the credit card which we paid with. (A strange requirement that some of the carriers have specified although we were only asked to produce the card once.) We eventually found a machine, entered the code, fed the card in and waited expectantly for tickets . . only to be told that they don’t accept Mastercard. Mindless French bastardry!! Now we have to go there again tomorrow and argue with their office. Just bloody lucky we are not travelling tonight.

We located an internet outlet very close to our hotel & printed off some future boarding passes and accommodation info.

Having got home and eaten our coleslaw and baguette J piked out and didn’t want to go out again. I put up a token resistance but was secretly glad to slack off. So the blog is almost up to date.