Heathrow to Paris

Terminal 5 at Heathrow was much better than expected. The building is a triumph of modern engineering design and I particularly like the internal skeleton of steel. processing of passenger was a breeze. The biggest shock was a fantastic Italian resuraunt ... sadly we only had time for an excellent coffee (hey, this is England where the coffee is usually like acrid dish water). The BA flight was a simple up-down job but, they still served "refreshements" ... what a waste of time.

CDG was quiet and the walk to the RER trains gave us a good excuse for a coffee. This was served by a woman who had obviously been to the Paris School for Advanced Arrogant Indifference and Anti-Social Interaction. But, wait I was forgetting, we're in Frog Ville where the locals confuse snooty bad manners for "chic".

My terrible French proved to be sufficient to get the tickets to Paris ... with a smile from the RER person ... OMG! The Train from CDG to the Gare du Nord got to be a sardine can full of snotty sardines but, that was to be expected. Then, we entered the laborinth. After several attenpts we eventually got to Level 3 of what I assume to be a game called "The Tomb of the Lost in the Gare du Nord". Lifts and escallators that didn't work, dead ends, hords of the Wandering Zombies of  Paris and seemingly endless ticket barriers labled "Sortie". That's where the secret of the Key To The Exit revealed itself - our tickets worked every time. Now I know why the RER ticket person smiled; he knew the secret!

We got a taxi to the Hotel; there was no way we were going to battle the hordes on the metro. Booking in was simple and the room up two flights of winding, narrow stairs - no lift its an old building. The room looks like it should be part of a brothel. It's clean and tidy with en suite but, its the wall paper that gives that impression. Carmine Red almost velvet fabric ... different, yes, appealing no.

Duly nested we walk around the corner to Monoprix and shopped for dinner. This sounds a bit mundane but, if you could see the huge choice of googies on offer, you'd understand why we shop and don't just eat at cafes and resturaunts. We get what we like, fresh and un-mauled by would-be chefs. A bit of this a taste of that ...

Back at the hotel the TV news was full of Aunty E's Do at St Paul's ... it's seems that even the Sons of the Revolution find the event of interest.

That's a days events and the reason why we love to travel.