6/8 Sleeper train

Monday 6^th Overnight train to Hamburg

We started off in pursuit of our train ticket. As it turned out there was no drama – the girl agreed the machine should have taken our mastercard (from which they had already drawn the money) and she handed over a ticket.

That left us free to enjoy the day. We wandered round the Seine, through the narrow streets of the Latin Quarter and the  gardens of the Louvre, watched the screaming girls on the Paris Eye and the one that rolled them upside down hiiigh in the air.

This is so funny.  No real beaches, so create your own on the banks of the river.  so cold they all have jumpers on

The narrowest 'house' in the Latin Quarter.

The tightest car park squeeze we saw.  We also saw plenty of parking by braille and then began noticing all the bumps and scrapes on the bumpers of a lot of the vehicles.  If it's in your way - just gently bump it out of your way.

Beautiful, delicate window, St Severan's in the Latin Quarter.  A lovely, unexpected surprise.

The train left the Gare de l’Est at 8pm. We got in ahead of the 4 Danish boys we were sharing with. The beds were already made up so there was nowhere to sit. We stood outside and watched the French countryside go past and the people trying to master the electronic intricacies of the lock on the disabled toilet.

We had noticed from the plane that Paris ends quite abruptly and the countryside starts in a rush. In fact there is an extremely pretty little village absolutely right under the main runway where the planes are barely 200’ off the ground. They must all be deaf.

We moved inside and pretty soon just fell asleep. The boys were very quiet and we slept well. (J has censored all references to snoring, and sleeping with the 3 Brazilian waiters and the 4 Danish students).