Paris, in transit 2013

Travel Dates 18th June and 16-18th July 2013

I love Paris, it is one of my favourite cities. This was my fourth visit, but a very fleeting one.  Despite that I enjoyed the brief visit.

I mentioned earlier the trip from home to Paris via Kuala Lumpur. I flew back to Paris on Aegean Air to connect to my Malaysian Air return flights. It is so sad to see the MH370 and MH17 disasters the airline has had since then, but I had no problems on those flights. I decided to stay a couple of nights and spend the day between wandering the city with no particular goal, just a pleasant day taking pictures like any other tourist.

The RAAF bases I worked at usually had an old fighter or bomber on a post at the front gates, but none were quite this large. It is such a pity the Concorde never really became commercially viable; if it had there would be fleets of supersonic successors by now and Australia would not be such a long, long journey from everywhere.

Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport is huge. After disembarking we spent a long time travelling along an underground moving walk-way before emerging into this multilevel transfer area. It was like being in a space station.

After collecting my bag I used the excellent internal train to reach the correct terminal to catch my Les Cars bus to La Place de Etoile.

The Les Cars service was very convenient. I had won a deep-discount room for two nights in the Hyatt Regency Etoile using Priceline's bidding system and the bus stopped just around the corner. Once again it was a hot day and the bus took longer than expected in the traffic, but it was still much more convenient than the RER and Metro for the journey.

 

 

I spent the afternoon exploring the district surrounding the hotel. When the evening arrived I didn't feel like a big meal. I had a pleasant cheap dinner at a kebab shop nearby; not as good as the Cretan gyros, but not bad.

 

The next day I took the metro to the nearest station on that line to the Eiffel Tower, Bir-Hakeim. The station is an extension of the Bir-Hakeim bridge, named after a 1942 defensive battle by out-numbered Free French forces against Rommel's Afrika Korps. 

Paris is a city of a million statues. This one is on the bridge; I forget which hero it commemorates but I liked the style.

 

I was surprised to see how many inhabited barges were moored in the Seine in the heart of the city.

 

 

  

I enjoyed a stroll until lunch-time around the Eiffel Tower district, remembering my first visit when we stayed nearby in an apartment in Rue Surcouf.

 

 

After a light lunch I decided to give my feet a respite and spend an hour or two on one of the sight-seeing river boats. 

 

The next set of pictures were all taken from the boat. Despite the crowd on board it was a pleasant cruise. Seeing the city from the river was a different and interesting interlude.

Several Parisian bridges are now developing infestations of padlocks. Unfortunately love is becoming a weighty problem on some bridges as this report shows. I think the practice is likely to be banned soon.

I noticed something in an upper window and decided to experiment with my 20x optical zoom and stabilisation on the Fuji F770EXR.

 

The result is excellent for a handheld extreme zoom from a moving boat.  I hope this young bloke stayed safe.

I stopped for a glass of wine at a tavern near the Assemblee Nationale. There was a protest occurring over the road; the speakers had very loud megaphones. I'm not sure what the protest was about but the police out-numbered them and the locals pretended nothing was happening.

The perfect car for single-person city commuting.

After a pleasant day I returned to the hotel to re-pack for the long journey home via Kuala Lumpur.

Cheers Alan

From Home to Hondarribia via Kuala Lumpur and Paris

On my way again. This is the most I pack on a trip. The carry-on is the backpack, with all my vital 'cannot lose' items in it including my net-book, travel bookings, chargers, medications and similar items. The other bag, which I check when I must, is mainly clothes and not a disaster if it gets lost.

Travel Date 16th-19th June 2013.
Click on any picture to see a larger version.

This post is all about 'getting there'. It includes some tips on what to do in preparation, and some hints on what not to do from my mistakes. If that part of travel bores you, skip to the next post :)

I initially wrote my trip reports of my visit to Europe and Morocco in 2013 on Facebook. Now that I have finally posted all my China trip reports I have decided to post the Europe trip here; that also lets me add more pictures. I wrote some first thoughts, exhausted because sleep escaped me, on the TGV train en-route from Paris to Hendaye. Which, I found when no-one at the Montparnasse information centre understood my fractured French, is pronounced On-day. 

The transport plan was:

• Home to Tweed Heads bus (1hr)
• Tweed heads to Varsity Lakes bus (1hr)
• Varsity Lakes to Brisbane Airport train (1:45)
• Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur air overnight (8 hours)
• Transit KL 17 hours 6am-11pm  
• KL to Paris CDG air overnight 12 hours
• Transit Paris and bus to Montparnasse 6 hours
• Montparnasse to Hendaye six hours.
• Cab to Hondarribia.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, an experiment to save time and money. But I won't do this again. Next time I will do as I have in the past and plan overnight stays in transit cities. There are so many advantages to that practice, not the least being adequate sleep and reducing jet-lag.

I started the journey as I walked out the door to catch the 14:02 bus from the stop just five minutes' walk down the road in Pottsville. The intention was to connect with the 14:55 from Tweed Heads to Varsity Lakes rail station, connecting there to the Brisbane Airport train. The bus arrived ten minutes late. As a seasoned traveller I allow for things like that. Just as well, because the knock-on effect led to every connection being missed, but I still made the flight comfortably after two hour-long bus rides and just under two hours in the train. The flight departed on time at 11:20 pm.

Oh, to be wealthy and fly in business or first class. Only a dream. Instead I was back again in cattle class hoping for at least an empty seat beside me. Forlorn hope. Apparently I was not the only one taking advantage of Malaysia Airlines discounts to KL and Europe. There was not an empty seat on the long flight in the A330. Economy seat pitch is similar to most airlines – squashed for a six-footer – but at least the recline was better than Air Asia and full service was included, including beer, wines and spirits. The meal was nothing to write home about, effectively a pastry similar to a sausage roll filled with chicken and vegetables. Breakfast was more carbohydrates than anyone should eat at any time of day, but among the excess was a small sausage, some mushrooms and something that looked like scrambled eggs but lost any resemblance at that point. Still, better than no non-starchy choices at all.

I arrived in KLIA a little after 6 am. I passed swiftly through immigration, which was impressively well-staffed with no more than one or two people waiting at any one time. That was a dramatic improvement on my previous experiences in KL at both sides of the runway (KLIA and LCCT) and nice to see.

 
On the flight from Brisbane to KL I tried, but failed, to sleep. I felt grotty and jet-lagged; my main desire on arrival was a shower. The only option at KLIA was to spend $20 at the airport hotel for the privilege of using the bathroom. Pre-trip research on the web indicated better possibilities at KL Sentral, the main rail and bus terminus in town. There are cheaper options from the airport to the centre, 9MYR ($3) each way by bus, but the train is well worth the price of 35 MYR ($12) each way. Inside the KL Sentral complex I eventually found the showers. Look for the little blue 'Bilik Mandi' sign on the wall:

For 7MYR I was given a towel and the keys to a changing room. As the place is unisex I wore the towel from the room to the toilets (squat) and the showers.

 

 

If I appear to have a fixation with showers, believe me that can be priority one after a long, sleepless night and jet-lag. The facilities were basic, but well worth the visit. There is nothing like the feeling of refreshment from a shower after a long flight. Despite the lack of sleep I eventually felt capable of wandering Kuala Lumpur.

I spent a leisurely day re-visiting some places I had been before, especially the area around Bukit Bintang for its shops, cafes and restaurants. To fill in some time I bought a ticket on the KTM to Petaling to wander a locality away from tourists, have a snack in a street cafe, and get a feel for the area.

Finally I was back at the airport for dinner before departure on time at 11:40 pm. I had hoped for an empty seat beside me on the massive A380, but once again I was disappointed. Malaysian Air's marketing campaign was certainly filling the seats. I saw very few vacant seats and none near me. The midnight dinner was more generous than the previous flight. I chose braised beef which could have spent a little longer being cooked.

Sleep escaped me again. It didn't help that the Chinese lady immediately behind me appeared to have a sinus condition which required the loudest catarrhal clearing of the passages I've ever heard, without warning at hourly intervals. As I had the seat laid back and she leaned forward it was a startling experience each time.

The flight had a few small rough spots but was generally smooth, as was the touch-down. I would fly Malaysian again, but I may blow the budget on business class next time. Note that as I add this to my blog MH370 is still missing but I would happily fly Malaysian despite that.

We arrived in Paris CDG Terminal 1 about 6:30 am local time. By the time I had cleared immigration (quick) and waited for my bag at the carousel (slow) it was 7:30. Why is my bag always in the last bunch to arrive on the carousel? Another of life's great mysteries. 

My earlier web research helped me to quickly catch the internal train to terminal 2, grab some Euros from an ATM and connect with the LesCars bus to Montparnasse at 8:11. It was advertised as a 50 minute trip. That did not allow for Paris peak hour traffic. Two hours and twenty minutes later we arrived. I bought the TGV ticket on the web some months earlier when a discount of €40 appeared for a short time, probably an error but it was honoured. When I bought the ticket I deliberately chose the 12:27 departure to allow for late flights or similar contingencies. A wise move. I spent the waiting time consuming an all-liquid early lunch in a café opposite the terminal: coffee followed by a glass of pleasant house red, a French onion soup and a beer. Despite my weariness it was a very pleasant interlude, including a chat over lunch with a couple travelling home from Venice to Rennes.

First class was pleasant. The train was comfortable but not as fast as my previous experiences of European high speed trains and also suffered from a delay for unspecified reasons.

 

 

I arrived in Hendaye at 7pm in pouring rain. The cab driver charged a set off-meter fare of €20 for the short 'international' trip to Hondarribia in Spain and then deposited me in the rain at the Paradores Hotel back door instead of the Palacete. Eventually, damp and weary (thank goodness I included a folding umbrella in the side pocket of my backpack) I found the Hotel Palacete. After re-discovering the bliss of true Spanish Tapas at the local restaurant I fell into bed weary but happy at 10 pm, a little over 2 1/2 days in real time after I left home. Miraculously the next morning I had no jet-lag, so I spent the day on a relaxed tour of Hondarribia.

Cheers, Alan

Paris, 2011

Travel Dates 18th-21st May 2011.
Click on any picture to see a larger version.

I am now at the Club Quarters Hotel near Trafalgar Square in London and finally have access to a reliable free high speed wi-fi service. I will take the opportunity to post a few entries on some of the places I have visited on this trip. I will start with Paris, although that is slightly out of sequence.

I loved the Eurostar way of travel. I alighted at the Gare du Nord two and a half hours after leaving London's St Pancras fresh, relaxed and without the stresses of an airport arrival.

I bought a three day ticket for the metro/RER. Possibly it may have been cheaper to buy individual tickets for my travel, but it made it so easy to just get on a metro or bus whenever I wished to. However, I was a bit annoyed to find on my departure morning at 6am that the ticket expired at 5:30 regardless of the time of purchase. Later, I found that varied from city to city. Some, like Zagreb, sell daily tickets valid for a full 24 hours; others, like Paris and Sarajevo (midnight) expire at a set time.

The second picture is taken through the front window of the car at the front of the train on that metro line. Notice something - or somebody - missing? If you are interested here is more on the driverless Line 14 of the Paris Metro.

I used the metro to travel to the Pullman Paris Bercy. I found that web-site with directions instructions since then; at the time I wasn't sure of which station to use. I got out at Cour Saint-Émilion and wandered in progressively widening circles, with luggage, until I eventually discovered the hotel was east, not west, of that station. The Pullman is a fairly good 4* standard and usually charges much more than the price I bid on Priceline.co.uk for my three days. When I won the bid I was a little worried when I found that it is on the outskirts near La Peripherique. I need not have worried; it was only two stops to Gare de Lyon from Cour Saint-Émilion and not many more to the centre of Paris.

The Bercy district of the Seine appears to be an area used in the past for wharves and warehouses for goods delivered by boat, and still is to a lesser degree. The Bercy “village” of cafés and restaurants reminded me of several other places where old docks have been converted for those purposes such as Sydney and New York.

I found the Parisians friendlier and more accommodating to my broken Franglish this time around. Maybe my French is improving (I doubt it ) or they are becoming more tolerant of tourists (just as doubtful) or maybe I just smile more and look more confused now that I'm a sexagenarian.

I managed the 284 steps to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, but each time I do something like that these days I am reminded that my brain may think I am still 25 but my body disagrees, and disagrees more strongly with each passing year. But I got there and the view was worth it.

This market was a couple of blocks from the Arc de Triomphe.

I checked out the Gare de Lyon long-distance section the day before I needed to use it to depart on the TGV Lyria to Lausanne. I was glad I did. The place is enormous. The SNCF/TGV trains depart from two major (blue and yellow) terminals upstairs from the also enormous metro/RER sections. I found I would be departing from the Yellow (Jaune) terminal which is a bit chaotic as it is under major reconstruction.

When I left the next day, I found that the platform number is only announced twenty minutes before departure. As there are about 20 platforms in each blue and yellow section it is important to keep watching the screens. There are no warnings of departure, no “all aboard” in French, the train just glides slowly and smoothly away from the platform. Don't be late.




I used the metro a lot over the next couple of days to wander Paris, re-visiting places I had been such as Boulevarde St Germaine and wandering through districts such as Opera, Bastille, the Latin Quarter and others.

I did the same things I love to do in all the places I visit in Europe. After ticking off the “must see” tourist traps such as the Arc de Triomphe that I had missed on previous trips I spent a lot of time sitting in kerbside cafés slowly sipping café au lait or vin rouge and watching the Parisians pass by. Yeah, I know, boring, but I love it.

I'm glad I wasn't driving this time and looking for a parking place. The police tow-truck was a common sight.

I took the first photo because of the patterns of light and shade as I stepped on to this bridge, then stayed a while to listen to the musicians.

As I left the bridge I noticed hundreds of padlocks on the balustrades. I found an article on them here: Love Locked on a Paris Bridge



Incidentally, while I was walking past the Hotel de Ville this little bit of excitement occurred. The police stopped us at a barrier; after a while we saw this bomb-disposal robot appear in the distance by the Seine wall. At the same time lots of additional gendarmes and army types turned up in a variety of vehicles following their sirens. But nothing blew up, so everyone eventually wandered off to the nearest café to chat about it.

This "Australian" café menu included two things to watch for in Europe. The "Drink wherever you want" statement is related to the common practice in Italy and some parts of France of charging different prices depending on whether you drink at the bar or at a table or outside at the street tables. The "minimum €15" is also a trap for the unwary; a similar note to watch for is the "cover" charge added to many bills all over Europe. It is wise to look for the words for "minimum" and "cover" on the menu in fine print in the local language or you will get some unpleasant surprises when you read your bill.

Cheers, Alan