Leaving Paris

After the disaster with our bikes yesterday we put together a plan and hope it comes off today.

We walked Paris yesterday and ended up in the Marias district were we cafe hopped sitting facing the street watching the world go by. So Parisienne.

Because daylight saving has kicked in it doesn’t get dark until about 9.30 at night so you sort of lose track of time. By the time we had wandered, found a gorgeous cafe for dinner and decided to walk home it was just starting to get dark.

We had our maps.me app to guide us but half way home we both ran out of battery so out came the real map (from my last trip to Paris) and had to stand under street lights to read it.

Well that was an adventure! We are staying in the Marias district and it took us over an hour to get home as we turned the wrong way down streets and couldn’t find the right street. It was quite funny and of course passed quaint little restaurants and the streets were full of people. Did not at any time feel unsafe.

We eventually found our way home and just collapsed into bed but the jet lag kicked in last night so I have been awake since 4am.

The sun is up now and another lovely day in Paris

Our plan today is to go to the train station and get a refund on our ticket and go to the bike shop and hopefully get our bikes in time to get the 2.56 train straight to Dinan and meet the group there.

We have decided to book this man at the bike shop to pack our bikes when we come back then we don’t have to worry.

So we are now sitting in our little air Bnb waiting for Paris to wake up and we are off.

It is now midday and we are sitting at Montparnasse station with our bikes in the body bag and we are having a huge vodka and tonic and boy do we deserve it!!!

What a morning. At 7.30 we were all packed dressed and ready to go so decided to make a move. We headed down to our metro station and went straight to Montparnasse station and stood in a queue for half an hour when we were served by a lovely Parisienne lady who spoke great English. We were able to transfer our tickets that we had for the 9.56 train and replace it with 2 tickets on the 2.56 train this afternoon straight to Dinan where we will be for our first night.

That took an hour and a half from the time we left home. We asked if we could get a locker to store our bags for the day and were told that because of security and bombings this was no longer possible. The security here is amazing. We asked our lovely lady that was helping us what we should do and she wrote down instructions as to where to go in the station to leave your bags. Found it but was submitted to security check. Put the bags in the locker and headed out then realised I had left my body bag in my panniers and we would need them to pack our bike so went back to the security to get it out and more security. My fault!!!

Eventually got out of the station and headed to a cafe for breakfast. We don’t even bother to ask for coffee here as it is undrinkable. But we had a wonderful french breakfast of orange juice croissant baguette jam and a cup of tea. We were laughing as to the absurdity of our experience in Paris.

We then set off on the metro to Sentier where our bikes were to see if we could get them any earlier than the 4pm as promised. Got to the shop and they were ready. Thank goodness. We booked them in on our return to be boxed up for plane travel and then we asked if he would mind taking the front wheel off and putting the bikes in our bike bag!!!! Mon dieu. He actually told us that he hated us! I laughingly said oh don’t be ridiculous you love us and he replied no he hated us. Oh the arrogance of the french!

He then told us that he wouldn’t pack them and that we should ride the bikes to the station which was on the other side of the city!!! No way in hell.

We had to get out of the shop so we pushed the bikes around the corner and called a van taxi who was there in almost 5 minutes loaded the bikes in the back and took us to the train station. By this time it was midday. So we left home at 7.30 and as I said we are at the station. We have put our bikes in the bags ourselves and now relaxing after a bit of a crazy morning.

Have had a few WhatsApp from our fellow cyclist who missed the connection in Rennes. Apparently they had 10 mins to get from one train to another and missed it so they are in a worse situation than us as they have to get to St Malo and cycle to Dinan. Anyway this is all part of the adventure and we are the adventurous ones.

We are sitting here on the street in Paris having a wonderful time and laughing at it all saying ‘lessons learnt’.

No photos today as we have been running around Paris like mad things but the sun is shining and we are happy and having a ball.

So au revoir mes amie until next time.

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