Day 1,2 The Journey

It is amazing that you can get from a house in Eastwood to a hotel in Paris by public transport.

After a short drive in the car to our daughter and son-in-law’s place, it breaks down like this:

* A short walk to Macquarie Uni railway station ( the first time we have actually used this new and efficient line).

* Change at Wynyard to catch the overpriced but convenient train to Sydney’s International Airport.

A short walk to, and a long walk through, the airport brings you to an Qantas A330 bound for Shanghai.

* Eleven hours later we collect our luggage in a rather chilly Shanghai, but alas no Air France counter can be found. (The girl at a rival company’s desk spoke perfect, but unfriendly English, “You find it yourself!” she said). Eventually after a shuttle train adventure we arrive at another huge terminal and pass through the Air France check-in. Almost 5 hours later we board a 777 bound for Paris.

* The second leg of the journey takes us through the night and fortunately includes lots of sleep and we arrive 13.5 hours later at Charles De Gaulle airport, at 5.30am.

* Next we reacquaint ourselves with the Paris metro and catch the RER to Gare de Nord, then change to the Metro Line 6, one more change and we arrive at Bourse ( the Paris stock exchange). In the pitch black of a chilly Paris morning our map reading skills are a little wanting, but eventually we find our way to the delightful little 2 star hotel called Hotel Vivienne at 8.30am – about 36 hours after we’d left Eastwood.

The good news was that the hotel was happy to receive our bags – the bad news was that they were not ready to receive us… for another 4 hours. So what do you do in Paris, in the cold and dark, before the city has woken for the morning – go to McDonalds for a breakfast of croissants and hot chocolate, of course! Amazingly from the first floor, above Blvd Haussmann we sit and watch the city of Paris awake. After wandering around in the rain, experiencing a much more authentic coffee shop and killing some time at Wendy’s favourite shop in the world, Galeries Lafayette we finally enjoy our hotel room and especially a much needed shower. We are then blessed by a traveler’s greatest friend, our lightweight travel kettle, which provided us with a wonderful, reviving cup of tea.