C'est beau!

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Going to Paris
Terminal hectic, busy
Aboard Eurostar!

I’m off to Paris today! Not only that but I’m aboard Eurostar and it is really, really nice! I left with plenty of time to spare and good thing I did too since it was so hectic at the station. I guess with the “new” security measures in place things were a bit more crazy than normal. But in my opinion and this is just a guess I’m thinking that it is this crazy ALL the time. First I wasn’t sure if my coupon was an actual ticket or it if had to be exchanged so I went to the inquiry window to double check. Thank goodness I was the first in line because it didn’t look like the inquiry window workers were moving at lightening speed. Then I’m directed to go at queue #3 which of course was the longest queue ever! It was moving really slowly and it didn’t help that the Eurostar guy kept moving people into my line ahead of me. So it was as if we weren’t moving at all. Frustrating! At one point there are two lines forming when there is actually only one line and a lady and her three friends say to me that I need to get behind them. 1) The Euostar dude told me to be where I was currently standing and 2) same dude pushed you in front of me 5 minutes ago! But I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers so I said she and her party could go ahead of me. In the end she let me go ahead of them. 😊 I eventually made it to the window and all the guy does is key in my ticket number, stamp it and onto the next queue. Wait a sec. It only took about 15 seconds for this process…what’s the big hold up??

Step 2: Security screening, the x-raying of all the baggage, jackets and stuff. Now at this stage three lines are merging into one so as you can probably figure out…not really moving! Once again, for me going through this process is a piece of cake. Put your bag on the conveyor belt along with your jacket and the stuff in your pockets go into a tray and then you walk through the metal detector. That shouldn’t take more than 1 minute (I’m being generous!) should it? I don’t know about some people. It’s like they’ve never ever been through this process before. One of the biggest culprits is not emptying the pockets out and then setting off the metal detector. The next biggest culprit is not taking off their jacket and putting it into a tray. I guess the ten signs leading up to the x-ray giving you this warning is just not sufficient.

Step 3: Immigration. First someone checks your passport and some of them get scanned, some don’t. I noticed all of the Americans in front of me had theirs scanned but mine, he just looked at my picture and then looked at me and said thanks. Then you had to walk up to one more window. One more check of your passport and then it is stamped. Finally! I can head to the waiting area since I have 5 minutes to spare before boarding commences.

Once the announcement comes on that train 9018 is now ready for boarding, everyone rushes the gate. I hold back a bit since we have at least 30 minutes before the train takes off and why be in the “mad panic” rush for the door when waiting just 5 minutes you get to go up the escalator in an orderly and calm manner.

My seat was in coach 15 so I had a little bit of a walk but was still the third one in the coach. In the end I’d say the coach was only about ½ full. The ride was pretty uneventful since the girl by me slept the whole way - so there was no one to talk to. Instead I just put on some tunes and chilled out while doing some speed reading of the Lonely Planet’s Paris Guide.

My hostel is actually in a very central location and I’ll be able to walk to sights such as the Bastille, Notre Dame, L’Ouvre, Champs Elysses and the Eiffel Tower (but that is a bit of a longer trek). When I got to Gare du Nord (North Train Station), it was a bit confusing trying to figure out the ticket machine for the metro since it was in French. Go figure. Lol But after a bit I realized I could change the language to English. Lol I only had to take two trains to get to the stop near my hostel so it was pretty easy even with the extensive walk at the interchange…I might as well just have walked from the station to my hostel. Haha But seriously it was at least 10 minutes of walking through a maze of corridors to get to the correct platform. Thank goodness for moving escalators. Lol

It was relatively easy to find my hostel even though the building itself seemed quite hidden and not obvious that it was there! All the shops and stuff seemed closed. I guess I’m used to seeing placards and awnings and posters etc. announcing what is in the building. Thank goodness I had my Lonely Planet handy to find the exact address. Aha, here we go, #12. Two steps away from me is the “MIJE” sign (about ½ the size of a sheet of A4 paper.) The door was shut so I had to ring the bell to gain access. Check in is easy and thank goodness I was able to get some €’s before setting off from the station because the hostel only takes cash! Yikes that could have potentially been an embarrassing situation. Lol

I settled into my four bed dorm and was the first into the room. It was quite clean with a shower in our room. But the “toilette” is outside in the hallway. Hmm, it is only about 4PM. I’ll go out for a walk to start exploring the streets of Paris since I’m only here until Friday. I’ve gotta make the most of my time here in Paris.

It was a really lovely walk along the Seine. The sidewalk by the river is lined with stalls selling what appear to be pictures, books and other souvenirs. I’m across the street where the shops and cafes and restaurants are situated. There certainly was a lot of people watching going on. I also noticed that for a few blocks there are quite a few pet stores and plant shops. Interesting.

I walked all the way down to the L’Ouvre just to see how far away it is and it’s actually not very far away at all. I then proceeded to walk along the Champs Elysses but only to the L’Arche du Triomphe Caroussel Statue before turning back to towards the hostel since I was really on a mission to find a “supermarché” and get some food to pack for lunch/snacking purposes.

I didn’t walk straight back since that would have been boring. I made a few turns here and there and saw lots of stores worthy of coming back to, namely Sephora! Peeking in the store it looked absolutely huge…comparable to an Old Navy outlet! Okay, maybe not quite that big but bigger than your average store. I’m sort of afraid to go in for fear of what I’ll come out with. Lol

Then just when I was about to give up looking for a “supermarché” what do I see on the corner but a “supermarché!” Whoo hoo! Mind you it seemed more like a glorified corner store to me but that’s okay because it had what I was looking for…FOOD! I like dealing with the € much better than the £ since the conversion doesn’t seem as harsh. Actually it’s just a reminder to me what the Canadian $ is to the US $ was like at one of its lowest points.

What other noteworthy things on my little walkabout Paris on my first day can I talk about? Oh yes, I stopped by one of the cafes to get a takeaway panini for my dinner. Since it had to be heated I was there for a few minutes and chatted with the cute little French guy. He asked me if I was Korean or Japanese. And I answered “chinois”. Wow, I hope I said the correct word. 😊 He then asked me if I spoke French and I answered “Un peu” which I think means a little and also motioned with my forefinger and thumb, “a little.” He laughed at me. He asked me if I’ve been in Paris a long time and I told him “aujourd’hui” hoping that means today. He asked me if I liked Paris and I said “C’est beau.” And said some stuff in English as well. So it was an interesting 3 minute conversation with his broken English and my next to nil French! My panini was soon heated and I was on my way back to the hostel but not before saying “merci beaucoup et bon soir.”

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet since I was feeling tired and I had the entire room all to myself. Excellent! A room all to myself!

I’ve been trying to get a hold of Anita on the phone for quite a while now. It’s really tough with the 5 or 6 hour time difference. The hostel that I’m staying at has a payphone that accepts incoming calls so I left Anita a message to let her know the number and to text me before she calls so I can be by the phone when it rings. I thought it sounded like the perfect plan except for the fact that someone was on the phone already. Doh! I think I must have waited for at least 45 minutes to an hour for the guy to get off the frigging phone. Guess I need to work on my evil and annoyed look. Lol But it was well worth the wait to be able to chat with Anita…sure has been a while and it’s always nice hearing a familiar voice. We talked some crazy talk there for a bit too…for example traveling to Thailand. I guess I should finish this trip before thinking about the next big trip. LOL

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