Tuesday, May 31, 2016

A mostly stress-free train journey and bonjour Dijon

Got up nice and early to get ready to leave Rouen – my train wasn't until 9.12 and it was a 10-15 minute walk (with luggage) to the station, but in my hyper-paranoid state I wasn't prepared to take any chances. That said, I was fairly confident about the train and its departure time, since (as I think I mentioned previously) the people in charge of the strike were being decent enough about giving advance notice of exactly which trains would be affected. Which I guess is not only decent but practical – they don't want to put the public too far offside.

However, what I wasn't necessarily confident of was my ability to locate and board that train without having to have at least one conversation. Ergo, I got there early.

It wasn't actually that difficult, since Rouen is a fairly small station there aren't too many trains coming in and out – basically the one that goes to Paris and the one that comes from Paris and maybe one other. I double-checked that, like the ones in Paris, I had to wait for my train's platform number to appear and then go to that platform. There were a lot of people around, but I realised that was because I'd gotten there so early that the previous train to Paris hadn't left – so when the platform number for that one appeared, nearly everyone else there disappeared.

My rush to the station – and residual nervousness – hadn't allowed for breakfast, and I realised I was hungry. I didn't feel like scaling the language barrier to order anything particularly inspiring, so I perused the vending machines. Chocolate bar, chocolate bar, BAG OF MADELEINES! My choice was made for me.



I checked the departure board again I saw my train had been allocated a platform so, back into anxious mode, I found the stairs to my platform and descended. I'd just gotten down and seated myself on a bench when a train rolled in – and I say 'a train' because I wasn't quite sure if it was my train or not; there were no identifying marks on it (destination, line number etc.) and the one sign I could see on the platform wall had 'Le Havre' (another station further along the line from Paris) with an arrow pointing one direction and 'Paris' with an arrow pointing the other direction.

Consternation. Was this my train? I was at the right platform, but I was also ten minutes early. This was not a situation I was familiar with.

Switch to slight panic mode. I didn't know if this was my train or not. If it wasn't, where was mine and how had I misinterpreted something as simple as a platform number to end up here? If I did have to go elsewhere to find my train, how much time did I have? This is how my mind works, by the way. Which isn't usually a problem, but when I'm somewhere it's much more difficult to find answers, things get complicated.

It didn't help that there didn't appear to be any staff around. I guess as a general rule, people know what they're doing and don't have to ask questions. So, I had to try a regular person and ask "Est-ce que ce train va à Paris?" [Does this train go to Paris?]

"Oui."

"Merci, merci." I said. I think the relief was obvious on my face.

"De rien." [It's nothing – the French equivalent of 'no probs'.]

So, I got on the train – well, after a certain amount of wandering up and and down looking for the 1st Class carriage. At the time going in 1st class (there are 2 classes) seemed necessary, but having since experienced both, 2nd isn't that much different. Well, on the trains I've been on at least. I'm yet to take a TGV train (there are several kinds of trains, including Intercities (which is the one to and from Rouen), TGV (which I'd be catching a few of between cities in the days to come) and Navette (I think I'm on one of those at some point).

But I found it – completely empty – and sat down. Before long we started moving, and I could tell based on where we'd come into Rouen on the train on Monday that I was indeed headed back to Paris. Now I could relax again.

After I'd arrived in Paris, I had to get from one station (Gare Lazare) to another (Gare de Lyon), but that was pretty straightforward; just went down from the train level to the metro level and jumped on a number 14 and rode four stops before getting off and doing it all in reverse – though Gare Lyon is a bit bigger than Gare Lazare and has several banks of platforms (called 'halls'), so I had to find a board with my train on it, and when I did it said Hall 2, so I went there and waited. Saw a guy who had three adorable shelties with him (the third one you can't see 'cause it's behind him).



Anyway, stood around doing bugger-all for a while before my train was announced and I got to my seat.

[Stream of consciousness for a while]

Once again the train wasn't far out of Paris before the big buildings disappeared and we were in 'la campagne' [the countryside] – which is not unlike that of England, e.g. mostly flat with the occasional hill, primarily devoted to farmland, and (especially to the eyes of an Australian used to the default colour being brown) very, very green.

The downside to being on the train, of course, is that I can't take pictures. I shall endeavour while I'm in Dijon to get out of the town a bit to see some countryside and take a few shots. I guess I could hire a car and give driving over here a shot – it's not Paris, for starters; that would make things a little less nightmarish.

Further out from Paris and it's a bit more hilly, and there are lots of trees. Whether or not it's technically forest I couldn't say as I'm not qualified to make such a judgement.

Getting much hillier now. Given Dijon is not all that far from the Swiss border, it's probably not unreasonable to assume that it's at a higher elevation than Paris.

Oh, wind turbines. First I've seen this trip.

In a tunnel. It seems like quite a long tunnel. It's quite an odd feeling, given I've not experienced it many times. But I've got a very big one coming up when I go from Paris to London on the Eurostar. That'll be even stranger, since it'll also mean going under the sea, which I've most definitely never done before.

Many of the houses here are very basic, two-storey affairs without balconies or anything - they look like Monopoly hotels.

Dijon

And then we'd arrived in Dijon. After interpreting the tram line map I worked our where I needed to go, bought a ticket and set off in search of my hotel. Which didn't take too long; the nearest stop was only four stops from the train station - and the stops here aren't very far apart. I turned to Google maps to get me the rest of the way, and found the sign.

Turns out it's not a hotel. Well, not the in structural sense at least; it's what the French refer to as chambres d'hotes - essentially a bed and breakfast. And my place looked like this:




I was not prepared for that at all.

Anyway, after chatting to the owner for a bit, I put my stuff down and went for a wander. And you know what that means - pictures.

They have strange, tiny buses here.



Turns out the European cup was here in town as well. Apparently it's on soon, and in France.


























There are stack of eating places in the centre of town, which I was not far from; I picked a place doing fairly traditional French food and ordered a local dish, beef bourguignon and a glass of local (Burgundy) wine.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Another day in Rouen and more train-related angst

Last night, before I went to bed, I'd established that there would be more train strikes before I left France – in fact, there would definitely be some in the next few days; this was a problem for me 'cause the next leg of my journey (Rouen to Dijon, via Paris) was on Wednesday.

It occurred to me that they might already know which lines were going to be disrupted. So, I got onto the website (on my phone; I'm on the fifth floor of an hotel and the wifi isn't strong enough up here most of the time to actually do anything but taunt me by connecting and dropping out soon afterwards) and checked. Yep, the Paris to Dijon train had been cancelled.

Fuckbeans.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Laundry in Paris, train problems and Rouen

Leaving Paris

One of the last things I needed to do on my final night in Paris was laundry. I'd very specifically chosen an apartment that had a washing machine so I didn't have to worry about finding a laundry service or a laundromat/laundrette – though, hilariously, it turns out there was one just around the corner from me; it also looked clean and functioning, unlike any I saw in England. Still, using one also means time and having more than a reasonable number of coins on hand – though this place could have had a change machine for all I knew.

But there was a machine in my apartment – a brand (Brandt) I'd never heard of before – and it was a combination washer/dryer (something else I've never used before, though I have heard of them), but not the ones you see in Australia; it was top-loading, but the drum had a horizontal rather than vertical axis. So, I think the principle is the same as a front loader, but there just isn't a door with a porthole on the front; rather, there's a lid like a normal top loader, but then a two-part hinged door to the drum.

"Why didn't you a take a picture, dumbass?" Because it didn't occur to me at the time, jerk. Fine, I'll get one from the internet.

Saturday, May 28, 2016

Louvre revisited

Went back to the Louvre and saw some of the parts I didn't get to last time - which include more Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Caravaggio, Saraceni, Rembrandt, Goya, Gainsborough, El Greco, Van Dyck, Dürer, Holbein and a great deal more of Eugène Delacroix.

La belle ferronnière by Leonardo da Vinci. Sure, everyone loves the really famous one, but this one's pretty impressive, too. Lady has a stare.


Friday, May 27, 2016

Quasimodo's Place and an Imperial Tomb

Having been past it but not gone in yesterday, today was the day I went into (and up on top of) Notre Dame de Paris. I had to line up for a *long* time. But it was worth it; it's fascinating and the views (as you'll soon see) are amazing.

I took a few pictures along the way there.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Versailles (abridged) and wandering around Paris

Today I met up with a friend from Adelaide (who now lives in Germany) and her partner who came over to Paris so we could catch up. The plan was to go out to the Palace of Versailles, but we had to meet up first; not as easy as it sounds based on where each of us was relative to the right kind of train station (one with RER line C) that we needed to get out there. But after some digging we decided we'd meet up at Javel and go from there.

We got there, albeit after some confusion over the direction we were going in – since it does a kind of weird loop around Paris stations and the first thing was to get some food – I tried my first Croque-monsieur, a famous French dish; it's kind of a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and, as I learned from the Wikipedia article I've linked, there's a Proust connection there as well.

Le Musée du Louvre

Very easy to describe what I did this day: I went to the Louvre.

It is, if you aren't aware, the world's largest museum – a fact my feet are well aware of as I sit and type this – with some of the most famous artworks in existence, such as the Mona Lisa and the Venus di Milo.

So, I knew I had to spend some time there while I was in Paris.

Graves, a church on a hill and more art

It was grey and drizzly in Paris this morning – quite apt given my first destination was Cimetière du Père Lachaise, Paris's largest and most famous cemetery and resting place of some very important people; Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison being the most well-known. But they do have a few actual French people buried here as well – Marcel Proust, Édith Piaf, the playwright Molière and one of the first filmmakers, Georges Méliès.

Everyone had said to start at the top of the hill the site is on rather than the bottom – so, I took the metro from Quatre-Septembre to Gambetta and headed towards it. The downside was that I believe the most obvious places to buy maps are at the bottom, and I didn't see anywhere near the top that looked like they'd sell any – perhaps unsurprisingly, all the open stores I saw were funeral service places and florists (which, after some checking online, I discovered probably had them for sale).

So, I took a photo of the big map at the entrance and made a list of the names I wanted to visit, and flipped back and forth between the two. It's really not the best way to see it; my advice to anyone considering going is to sit down with the map (you can download it), work out whose graves you want to see and then plan an efficient route. It will save you a lot of time and energy. That said, it's a great place to just wander around in.

Monday, May 23, 2016

The JW Club and two Paris landmarks

Okay, now that I'd gotten things together and was starting to enjoy this whole holiday business, I had a few things to sort out. I had to go to Orange (telecommunications company) to get a SIM card – but it didn't open until 10 (like so many things) so I wandered around the Tuileries Garden, a little way up the Champs-Élysées, the Alexandre III Bridge, the Grande Palais, the Petit Palais and the Place de la Concorde first.

Got myself a SIM card and 1GB of data (20€ - France is more expensive for this than the UK, plus they took a photocopy of my passport; in London I just walked into a store and out with a card in my phone) which I'll need to reload in a fortnight (or when the data runs out). Walking back from there I spotted a patisserie, where I hoped to find a madeleine (blame Proust), to no avail; I had to settle for a pain chocolate. Which I thought was okay, but not by any means brilliant.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Paris By Bus

After the unpleasantness of my arrival, I woke up still lacking a real enthusiasm to go out and actually do anything – But I desperately needed food.

The part of Paris I'm in is very quiet in the early mornings, even on weekdays. Things often don't open until 10am, and therefore there aren't many people around. Worse, it was Whit Monday, which is a bank holiday where a lot of shops would be shut, Also, Google didn't have reliable information on what was and wasn't open – as I found when I went to an Orange store to get a SIM card for my phone and found it was shut, since Google had said it'd be open

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Dubai to Paris and then some unpleasantness

Okay, some more stream-of-consciousness rambling that I wrote during the flight. Then there's a description of what happened after landed.

Part 1: flight

It should be illegal to broadcast a wifi network using the word 'free' if that network is not, in fact, free. I don't mind if things *aren't* free – no one is obliged to provide a service for free, after all – but I get very angry when someone claims something is free when it isn't.

Hmm, maybe I didn't get that much sleep during the Adelaide-Dubai flight as I first thought, 'cause I'm feeling pretty wretched right now.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Adelaide to Dubai 2016

The first blog post of my 2016 trip! This was mostly written on my phone on the plane, and is very much stream-of-consciousness. And there aren't any photos.

Here goes:

Well, the flight is under way. I'm feeling a lot calmer this time around; I was really not in that good a place back in 2014 and I spent a great deal of the drive to the airport wondering what the hell I was doing jumping on a plane and flying halfway across the world when, as far as I knew, I didn't even LIKE travelling.

But that was last time. The 2014 trip was so much fun it changed my whole perspective on travel – I hadn't been in London for very long at all before I realised how much I was enjoying it, and that I'd almost certainly not be happy with the amount of time I was on holidays for, and would have to go another trip as soon as it was practical to do so.