Day 1 - Paris

Distance walked: somewhere between 12km and 15km (estimated from time spent walking),Alcohol consumed: 250ml house red

The flight was uneventful, which is how I like them.  Although I did watch the last 4 episodes of last year's Great British Bake Off.  I hadn't bothered watching it at the time, since it had moved to a commercial channel.  It wasn't as bad as I had expected and I'm now inspired to start baking again.  Perhaps not a good choice of inflight entertainment.

While the flight may have been harmless, arriving in Paris - not so much.  We arrived at Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle airport.  It felt like we had landed at some regional airport that wasn't set up for handling large numbers of passengers, rather than an international airport.  The lines for passport control were more of a mob than distinct lines.   Harried staff kept trying to get us to stand in the right place so the EU and non-EU folk wouldn't get mixed up.

Once through passport control I went looking for my suitcase.  I waited and waited but there was no sign of it on the carousel.  I was beginning to panic but decided to go for a walk around the whole thing before heading off to report my bag as missing.  I discovered that it had been "helpfully" taken off the carousel already and stacked up to one side while I was still queuing at passport control.  All the priority tagged luggage had been handled this way.  It would have been nice to know beforehand.

Next I headed for the automatic train that shuttles people between terminals as the train to downtown Paris leaves from Terminal 3.  There was one train at the station and it was crammed full of people.  The rest of us just milled around on the platform.  After half an hour the train left.  There had been a "minor incident" somewhere else apparently.  After another 10 minutes another train showed up and those of us with heavy feet and sharp elbows piled on.  We left most of the passengers behind and the poor folk at the intermediate stops didn't stand a chance of getting on.

Once at Terminal 3, half the ticket machines for the train were out of order so there were big queues (are you sensing a theme yet?).  However, a train arrived fairly promptly and we all piled on.  However, there had been an incident (another?) and planned works on the line so there were crowds of people waiting to get on at the next stops.  They could see gaps between the people already on the train but didn't realise that was where people's suitcases were stacked.  They kept trying to force their way onto the train.  It was so packed, even a Japanese person would have found it crowded.  I couldn't stand upright but was bent awkwardly over my suitcase.  I was surprised it didn't turn violent.  I was getting sorely tempted to thump someone, if only I could have moved my arms.

I finally got to the station in Montparnasse near my hotel.  After getting off the train and starting to walk to my hotel I discovered one of the wheels on my suitcase was half torn off.  I got to my hotel (Hotel Delambre) 3 1/2 hours after we landed.  It was before check in time but my room was (almost) ready so I was given a key straight away.  On getting to my room I saw that the chambermaid wasn't finished making it up yet.  She still needed to make the bed.  I found her in another room on the same floor.  She spoke no English but I was able to understand that she would come and finish it up.  My French was sufficiently good that I was able to ask her if she was going to do it soon because I wanted to take a shower.  However, it wasn't good enough to understand her answer.  The desk clerk had to translate for us.

After cleaning up I headed out to buy a new suitcase at a little shop near the hotel.  My hotel is in the 14th arrondissement, so not the inner ring of districts but the next set outside.   Still within 2 metro stops (or about a 20 minute) walk from the main tourist sites (and handy for Orly airport) but not as touristy.  Plenty of cafes and bistros and cheaper hotels but also shops and apartment buildings full of locals.  The suitcase shop was run by a little Asian (Vietnamese?) lady.  She spoke no English but I was able to manage there because I could just speak in phrases - "trop grand", "trop petit", "autre couleurs?" and "parfait", so my shopping expedition was a success.

After dropping off my  new suitcase I headed out for lunch.  Even though I had had 4 meals on the plane I was still hungry.  I randomly chose a classic looking French bistro called Brasserie Mont on the Boulevard Raspail.  I had the menu du jour.  For entree this was a salad topped with fried chicken livers.  The chicken livers were very good, nicely brown and tasty on the outside but not over-cooked so they were still creamy on the the inside.  The salad was just lettuce with a totally tasteless dressing.  Main was a fillet of veal in a mushroom sauce with potatoes daupinoise and more salad with tasteless dressing.  With the exception of the salad, this was very good.  I just drank water with the meal (too tired to risk wine) but finished with a decent espresso.

After lunch I just went wandering around.  I had planned on visiting the Catacombs as these were nearby.  However, they were closed for renovations.  Exactly how you renovate 2000 year old catacombs is not clear.  Stack the bones more tidily perhaps?  I wandered down to the Seine and along the banks for a bit before heading back to Montparnasse.  I visited the Montparnasse Cemetery.   All sorts of famous people are buried here (List of burials at Montparnasse Cemetery) but I'm a philistine and only visited Poincare's grave.  Although from looking at that Wikipedia list there were more mathematicians and scientists there than were mentioned on the sign at the cemetery.

When I headed out to dinner, my first thought was totry Pizza Odessa because Ukrainian pizza sounds interesting.  However, I then realised it was called that just because it was on Odessa street, so not so interesting.  Instead, I chose at random one of the five creperies on Odessa Street - the Manoir Breton.  I had the Galette du Manoir, which was filled with goat's cheese, bacon, spinach and fresh tomato.  The galette was thin and crispy and the filling was tasty, but not evenly spread over the galette.  I also had 250ml of the house red in a little jug.  The jug was cute, the wine forgettable.

Now I'm back at the hotel desperately trying to stay awake for another hour.  I hate arriving in the morning.  Forcing yourself to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime is just so unpleasant.