Goodbye to our little room in Mayfair and off to Kings Cross St Pancras station for international rail travel……passports checked, bags scanned but no restrictions on transporting liquids so our Liquor was safe! Michele got the pat down instead of Teresa for once ( it was the most action she has had in a long time)!
We found our seats which happened to be the ones without a direct window. Thank goodness for the catering cart where we were able to buy French wine, olives and snacks while standing at a table and watching the countryside unfold.
Nord train station is a very busy place and can be confusing and overwhelming for someone who doesn’t read or speak French. Trying to buy tickets on the Paris metro is not clear and we were nearly scammed by some young boy who offered to help us (since when do 12 year olds go out of their way to help anyone?)
Finally we worked it out and dragged our luggage onto two train changes and easily found our airBnB apartment just down from bir-Hakeim station (the Eiffel Tower station). Our host, Betty, was very helpful with information to make our stay a pleasurable and comfortable one. The apartment is very small (about the same as London) but with a much better view…….pity about the giant antenna in the way!
We have absolutely been blessed with the weather (in London above average temps) and now in Paris it was 23 degrees in Autumn.
Since we are only an eight minute walk to the giant antenna, we took ourselves down to become part of a sea of people as far as the eye could see…….everyone from the world was there! It was like an ant farm….people up the tower, people below, people on the green parks, people on the monument in the distance……so NO……..not today, let’s try tomorrow and find somewhere for a bite! We realised then, that we were absolutely exhausted…..with the dragging of bags, avoiding scams, travel and everything else that we decided to lie low until tomorrow.
After a Japanese meal (restaurant down the road) we retired for a great night’s sleep!