Day 22: Paris

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It was with great excitement that we woke the next morning refreshed and raring to see “Paris-the city of love” We chatted to the very helpful staff at the camp ground reception and while limited in English and us limited in French we got directions for the bus to catch, we thought to town, the 244 to Metro we were told and only a 15 minute trip. In broken English we were also told that after we got off the bus we could then catch the train or walk to the city, hmm sounds great eh. Little did we know what was in store for us, it turns out that you HAVE to catch the train cos its bloody miles to the city, then a short walk to catch the “hop on hop off bus that we had planned on using to get around town, so here we are dropped off in some bloody little suburb not the faintest idea where we were or how to get anywhere. None of the street signs made sense as the map we had did not cover the area we were in and Pam had no cell phone so we could not dial up the GPS. After talking to the florist, a cool old guy we figured out with sign language and pointing to the map he directed us to the train station then thank god the information guy at the train station spoke a little English and we got tickets to town on the trail, cost so far 5.50 e for the bus and 7.60e for the train, one way mind you. Anyway we eventually found what we hoped was the right train and hopped aboard, praying it was going in the right direction, yahoo it was and we found our way to the correct stop, the Charles de Gaulle — Étoile, whatever the hell that is, we still don’t know. The next challenge was to find our way out, we had no idea how far underground we were or where to go, we did figure that sortie meant exit so we went that away. Up one escalator then on to another one, I looked up to see day light and coming in to view as I was half way up was the Arc De Triomphe with a bright Paris sky back dropping it, it was a sight I will never forget and quite literally the second most amazing feeling I have had on this trip so far, I will get to the best one a little later. Coming to the top we were confronted with what was mayhem any way you look at it, there were thousands of people and cars and bikes and buses and sound. The Arc is in the center of and surrounded by this huge roundabout around 60m wide and is completely uncontrolled by road signs lanes, lights or any other form of traffic management that I could find, there were cars and buses and bikes just careening around this huge roundabout. You have to see it to understand, we have some pics but without the sounds of blaring horns shouting and whistles, photos are lacking in reality somewhat. The Arc is quite massive and there is a fire burning in the memorial under the Arc that is re-light every night much the same as at the RSA back home. It is spectacular but there is more to come. Finding the bus was easy and as we boarded, 60e for the three of us for two days, it really hit home we were in Paris. The next stop on the bus was the Trocadéro, a huge building and museum, when I say huge I mean it, some 400m wide and curved with huge steps and gardens to the front. As soon as the bus pulled up we were met with hundreds on guys trying to sell you stuff souvenirs mostly and they pester you big time, the best way I found to get rid of them was to hold up your hand, not say a word and keep walking, speaking to them seems to give them the idea that you might be interested. Bree did buy a couple but we resisted. Walking down the steps the Eiffel Tower comes into view in all of its glory and again seeing it in pictures does not give the real story, it truly is a beautiful structure. Standing there gob smacked I started to get tears in my eyes, I had promised Pam to take her to Paris and now it was finally happening, the combination of seeing the tower and the feelings it invoked were very powerful. Anyway we walked on down to the tower and under it and around it and were again amazed at the number of people around, thousands and thousands and it is still not the high tourist season here. We took many photos as you do and moved on to see the rest of the tour, passing the fantastic buildings and palaces and museums we came to the Louvre our next get of the bus stop. The Louvre looks very plain on the exterior and I was not impressed, although immense in size it was, well boring, that is until you go through the gates, then it hits you, the size and the amazing stonework to the exterior facade of the perimeter building is spectacular. The Louvre museum itself is underground and extends up into the exterior buildings at times, it is very hard to get a feeling of direction there. Again this was a walk past and while we spent some time there we still had to get a phone and data stick for Pam. That is a mission in itself, try explaining what you need for a phone and laptop stick to a guy who doesn’t speak English and that is after trying to find a shop that actually deals in iPhones, they say the net is so good in Europe, not so believe me it is nowhere near as prevalent or straightforward as you might think. All in all it took 2 hours and some stress and after getting the guy at the campground to translate the phone call we had to make to activate the data stick wall is well. Cost 75e for 60 hours including the stick so not cheap. From there it was off for a walk past the Notre Dame and then on to the train and then back to the camper.

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