Paris and now on our way to Barcelona

I have had every good intention of writing but somehow my mind is so full of thoughts and impressions, it is hard to keep up with it. Right now, at 1:15 pm on Thursday May 2nd, we are on a train to Barcelona. We left Paris at 10:00 am, and have just stopped at Nimes. In a few more minutes, we will be at Montpelier. The train journey has been very good, the train travels at 286 km/h so trying to get photographs is difficult. Not to say that I haven’t tried :)

Our trip from Dover to Paris yesterday went really well, especially considering that we missed our intended ferry and so had to get the one an hour later. Which made catching our train at the Calais Frethun station—which is actually a good 20-minute drive outside of Calais—hair raising. We arrived with five minutes to spare. Ironic that we could arrive at the train station five minutes before the train departed and get on while in Dover we arrived 45 minutes before the ferry departed and they wouldn’t let us. They are very strict on how one gets to the ferry from the passenger terminal. Only by bus and that bus ONLY leaves the passenger terminal an hour before, not a minute after. But never mind, we got to where we wanted to go and I think it was probably more important to catch the train, where the tickets are NOT transferable, than the ferry, where they were. Although we ended up paying E40-00 for the taxi!

We arrived in Paris at 3:30 and walked about a mile to our hotel, which was on a small street, rue Saulnier, quite near the Cadet Metro Station. Because we were wheeling/dragging three suitcases, we hadn’t wanted to take the Metro. Stairs are very difficult with the largest one. The staff in the hotel were beyond gracious and welcoming. They were very complimentary/charming about my fractured Franglais. The room was small but very modern and comfortable. Richard’s back was hurting so he stayed in the room for an hour while I wandered the streets of Montmartre and walked up the hill to where I could see Sacre Coeur. I took several wrong turns as there are so many streets—like a spider’s web—but eventually I was at a point where I could see it. But it was now almost 5:30 and we were going out to dinner at 6:00. Plus there were SO many people! It was good enough, for me, to be able to see it again after so many years.

I will post separately about dinner.

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