Monday 18 July 2011

Well Nanny it's not often I get told off for not saying anything - so well done for whatever you wanted me to say you did well with whoever you did it to or were the recipient of! I don't think I did the blog the day in question anyway. WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH! (J) It was good to finally catch up with you Nanny - we are looking forward to seeing you in September.

Hi Stuey lovely to hear from you its good that you are keeping tracks on us. I have to admit the map is a bit random and very dependent on the operater to put the mark in the right place! Are you feeling better yet?

We went down to St Pancras Station about 9.30am and slapped our printed out in NZ tickets on the card reader and we were through to passport control. Got a stamp in our passports and went through to the lounge and sat for about 15min before being told to go up to platform 5. Up the travellator we went along with hundreds of other passengers and onto the platform to board the Eurostar. We were looking for carriage 15 and we carried our bags on board and stacked them in the racks between carriages and went to find our seats. No sooner had we sat down than the train started - very smooth. Our seats were comfortable and we settled down to read. Looking out the window the near fences and countryside blurred past and made the eyelids droop a bit. I missed the tunnel under the English Channel altogether but Jannie said that it only took about 25 minutes.

The train seemed to be going faster in France but we didn't get the feeling of extreme speed until we passed a train going in the opposite direction. There was just a woosh and it was gone. Jannie sent me to the buffet car to get her a vin et sandwich au jambon et fromage et pour moi salade et poulet et un bier blonde. Of course. No sooner had we finished our lunch than we got the call that the train was about to arrive at Gare de Lyon. Then we all got out and onto the platform. There were 17 carriages on the train and 90 seats in each carriage. Eurostar must have hurt the airlines and its quicker overall. We had a bit of a hassle getting tickets for the Metro as the queues were huge. We were going to get a Carte Orange, which was like an Oyster Card that we used in London but Paris Metro no longer has them.

We rang Vincente, the owner of the apartment and organised to meet him at the apartment. We had to get 2 tube trains and with our bags, packed carriages and loads of steps we eventually made it to 17 Rue St. Joseph and got there before Vincente. Gare de Lyon to Sentier was to say the least a little stressful and we were not even able to get on one train as the doors opened and closed so quickly that we missed it. I got one of my cases stuck it the automatic gates to enter the station and the guy behind helped out here.

The apartment looks like a warehouse from the street. There are these huge double wooden doors and there is a keypad for entry. Once inside it looked a bit like a builders yard with rubble and builders mix. Through another locked door into the lobby - ah a lift as we are on the fifth floor. I opened the door of the lift and the floor area is about .600x.600. Two suitcases, one on top of the other and the third small bag on top and me with the backpack holding it altogether and that was it. Jannie said she would walk up!! Press the 5th floor button and the automatic bi-fold doors slide closed thus probably locking the swing door on the floor. Jannie almost got up there at the same time as I did. Into the apartment and Vincente explained all. The apartment is on 3 levels - lounge, kitchen and toilet on the first floor - bedroom 1, shower and basin and the laundry on the second floor and up another flight is the Bedroom 2 and shower and vanity.

We went out for a walk to see where we could buy breakfast things and to see where we could had dinner tonight. Lots of eateries but with sore feet we headed back to the apartment with 4 bags of food including wine, milk (huge bottle) - we think that we got crackers as everything seemed to be sweet but we'll see. Found an English speaking channel on the television but it's mostly news and about the phone hacking scandal in Britain which is all we have heard these past few weeks. Tomorrow we meet up with Glorieux for a guided walk around part of the City. We have to get to Commerce Station which will be a bit of a trial but no doubt we will manage.