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Other entries in Paris

Sleazyjet to Paris

Easyjet's flight was delayed by about three hours, so I arrived around midnight in Charles De Gaule. The plane had been packed with rowdy drunk Irishmen on their way to support Ireland in the game against France on Saturday night. I remembered too late that easyJet lets you sit anywhere and ended up in the midst of them. Lucky I always travel with earplugs...

I had decided to take up the Parishuttle from the airport to the centre at a discounted eJ rate of €16 (intead of €25). Unfortunately, they didn't take their own lateness into account, and I waited for about 20 minutes in the rain while my shuttle didn't show up. Nice. I felt placated though, because despite the fact that they had my number for the booking and didn't call to mention this fact, they did email me the next day to point it, out - about 12 hours late. If your flight isn't late, Parishuttle looks quite convenient though.

The RER into Châtelet-Les Halles stops around midnight too, so a bunch of other irritated Easyjet customers waited around the smelly RER station for the night bus. One bus came and went - packed full of people - and about around 1AM we finally made our way into the city, the bus driver's yelling away in Arabic between each other and playing 70's disco tunes.

Dave and Gina had invited me to stay with them at the Cité Internationale des Arts in the Latin Quarter near Pont Marie. Gina is an artist and the Cité provides comfortable accommodation for artists from around the world - from painters through to harp players and writers. Various levels and floors are sponsored by different cities, galleries and arts councils from Finland to Japan. In typical French style, they have an internal phone system which lets you dial the other rooms, but one reception to handle incoming calls and connect them to the rooms.

So the guy at reception was pretty grumpy when I woke him up to be connected to Dave. Dave was far more nonchalant about my lateness than the receptionist.

At Châtelet, it was still raining and dozens of taxis streamed past, none of them free. A huge queue of people returning from bars and Irish fans waited at the taxi stand, so I worked out which direction it was and decided to walk. I had tried a few times to call Dave in between, but the receptionist phone was ringing without answer. I wondered if he had decided to unplug the phone and take an eight-hour snooze. I hoped not, as all the hotels I passed on the way were 'Complet' (booked out) probably because of the game. Luckily after about half an hour at our agreed meeting point, the receptionist answered, and I sheepishly told Dave where I was. He sounded all bouncy and full of beans so once I had dropped off my bag we headed to a cute little bar in the Latin Quarter and I sated the thirst built up over a long trip with a few overpriced (€3.80 for a small bottle) Kronenbourg beers and watched the people at the bar get so drunk they literally fell over.

The next day the weather was still awful, so we did some shopping - which was just awesome - and I soaked up the atmosphere. I took lots of photos of cafes and street scenes which were the rain and bad light which made a lot of them blurry and washed out.

I've been to Paris dozens of times in the past - Tom used to live here and I would pass through on my way to other places, or just hang out in summer for a couple of weeks rollerblading and drinking wine. Somehow back then it struck me as a more backward place, less up the clichés of romantic surroundings, stylish people and good food. Breakfast was definitely more the way I remembered it (average) but everything else was much better - despite the rain. I took some photos of shops and buildings we passed and had to hold myself back in the clothes shops from buying everything. I got some new shoes, a jersey, a scarf, some boxers...

We met up with Gina's friend Angus, had a delicious Falafel in the Rue St. Andé Des Arts, and later went out to meet up with some other artists from the Cité (Mireille, Marisa, Jim) and some French guys (Christophe and some of his friends, Adrian etc for a drink at a Mexican/Latin bar La Perla. It wasn't too bad, although the staff were definitely not Mexican or Spanish (but rather Indian). They had a good Nachos Pacifico and the wine wasn't too expensive.

flight detail below:
Friday 08 October, flight Easyjet 7045
departs Liverpool at 19:15, arrives Paris Charles de Gaulle (Terminal 3) at 21:45

E35CT18

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