After bidding au revoir to Petit Henri at Avignon we boarded the TGV for Paris.
We were excited to be heading "home" & pulled out our baguettes & roast chicken to celebrate. Unsure why but I only buttered one side of my baguette, maybe subconsciously I was trying to be good, but who was I kidding? I quickly spread the other side too. I use the word "spread" loosely as I've learned on this trip that I just tend to plonk & chew. We ate & then promptly fell asleep, missing most of the beautiful countryside. We were in Paris in no time at all.
Admittedly we had shopped a little, OK quite a lot, during our 2 weeks in Provence, however I wouldn't have said we'd added over 6kg to our cases...each! This is without what we'd loaded into our lady bags, plus another bag full of all the essential food items for the train. We're absolutely crazy chicks at times as our essential items included roast chicken, veal, cherry tomatoes, lemons, salt, Earl Grey tea bags (our Liverpudlian Snow Angels would have been impressed), chia seeds, coconut oil, butter, green beans, cheese & a bottle of red. If for whatever reason our train had gone into a lockdown situation we would have been able to adequately feed our carriage for 2 days.
Leaving the train I seemed to lose all motor skills (again) as for the life of me I couldn't haul my case up the stairs at any point in time. OK in fairness to myself I could do a few steps but then the food bag would somehow wedge itself between my armpit, the lady bag & my case & there just wasn't any room to manoeuvre to actually lift the damn thing. Basically I'd just get stuck, not move at all, & hold up the traffic. Fabulous.
Gare de Lyon was OK, but the 50 million steps at Chatelet are a nightmare. Just when you think you're there & daylight is going to appear at any minute you then need to go down the stairs again, turn a corner & then have to climb up again. It's a total tease. All I can say is merci beaucoup to the 3 lovely Frenchies who helped me on 3 separate occasions. Special mention to the 2 young guys who helped me initially & good luck with the physio as I saw one of you nearly rip your arms out of your shoulder joints on the initial lift.
I was over it, not physically as I'd barely done any lifting, but it was more the shame. Rule No 4...you buy it...you carry it.
Thank goodness once I hit the street I was fine & I hauled that bad boy along like he was a 5kg lightweight. We arrived at our apartment in the 4th arondissement in no time at all to meet our "greeter".
Hmmm where was she? All we wanted was some water & a shower & I was praying she would arrive soon. Voila...a woman appeared in front of our eyes, however I thought she was from the tanning salon 2 doors away. She was tall, blonde, tanned (hence the tanning salon comment), had a bit of bling going on & was wearing some killer 3" heels. We smiled at each other awkwardly, said bonjour & she then asked if we were her clients. I didn't think so as after all we'd been in Provence for 2 weeks & I didn't think we looked pale enough to be in need of a fake tan.
Wrong again...this was our "greeter" who I will now refer to as Bling. I'm sure she was a lovely lady but we got off to a bad start. She'd been waiting inside, we were outside...eek we felt like naughty school kids who were about to get detention as she kept repeating that we should have been inside. Seriously Bling get over it & move on...I just want some water & a shower! Apparently easier said than done though as she was like a pit bull & wouldn't let it go.
Finally she moved on from the correct meeting point (apparently she was right / we were wrong)....to the shutters...& the lecture continued. Make sure all shutters are closed when you go out as it's a very old building, the shutters are old, blah, blah, blah. To be honest I couldn't tell you what came next as
my eyes were rolling back in my head by this stage. Just want some water & a shower...not a lot to ask surely.
After some serious talk about not getting the white towels dirty with make-up (maybe a darker colour may have been a better option...just a thought) & to definitely not put our luggage on any furniture
we moved onto the wi-fi login. We were instructed to get our phones, computers, iPads & she would log us on. I raced downstairs to grab my stuff as I didn't want to miss the start of our "lesson" & get put in the naughty corner. I made it back up the stairs in record time so all good.
My cockiness didn't last long as our next test was the front door key i.e. ensuring we could master the double turn (we were both to be tested). On arrival she'd handed us each a key & muttered something about make sure you don't lose it as it's an old building & we'll have to blow the door up - it will cost you E120. I was hoping something had been lost in translation as blowing up a door seemed a little OTT even for Bling.
I've gone to grab my key & broken out in a sweat as from the time it had taken me to go downstairs to get my phone etc for the wi-fi lesson I'd lost it. OMG Bling was going to wring my neck...by now I was seriously sweating bullets. I'm trying to mouth to Aggie across the table, but careful to be out of Bling's line of sight, that I was about to die, or at the very least wet my pants. Bling was one scary individual.
Imagine my relief, as I'm just about to give Aggie the cut throat sign, when I spot the Eiffel Tower key ring on the end of the table. I swooped in like lightning, grabbed it & shoved it in my pocket, possibly shedding a tear as I knew my life was no longer in danger. Phew.
Regaining my confidence I went into the double turn lock test like I was wearing the Rocky Robe from Provence & knew I'd nailed it after the first turn. Bling must have been impressed with us & confident we wouldn't burn the place down as she bid us farewell, saying have a good holiday & I'll
see you Friday. Thank god we'd passed.
It was such a relief once Bling had left the building, as we finally got some water, showered & hit our terrace for some dinner.
Our view made it all worthwhile. C'etait magnifique!
Admittedly we had shopped a little, OK quite a lot, during our 2 weeks in Provence, however I wouldn't have said we'd added over 6kg to our cases...each! This is without what we'd loaded into our lady bags, plus another bag full of all the essential food items for the train. We're absolutely crazy chicks at times as our essential items included roast chicken, veal, cherry tomatoes, lemons, salt, Earl Grey tea bags (our Liverpudlian Snow Angels would have been impressed), chia seeds, coconut oil, butter, green beans, cheese & a bottle of red. If for whatever reason our train had gone into a lockdown situation we would have been able to adequately feed our carriage for 2 days.
Leaving the train I seemed to lose all motor skills (again) as for the life of me I couldn't haul my case up the stairs at any point in time. OK in fairness to myself I could do a few steps but then the food bag would somehow wedge itself between my armpit, the lady bag & my case & there just wasn't any room to manoeuvre to actually lift the damn thing. Basically I'd just get stuck, not move at all, & hold up the traffic. Fabulous.
Gare de Lyon was OK, but the 50 million steps at Chatelet are a nightmare. Just when you think you're there & daylight is going to appear at any minute you then need to go down the stairs again, turn a corner & then have to climb up again. It's a total tease. All I can say is merci beaucoup to the 3 lovely Frenchies who helped me on 3 separate occasions. Special mention to the 2 young guys who helped me initially & good luck with the physio as I saw one of you nearly rip your arms out of your shoulder joints on the initial lift.
I was over it, not physically as I'd barely done any lifting, but it was more the shame. Rule No 4...you buy it...you carry it.
Thank goodness once I hit the street I was fine & I hauled that bad boy along like he was a 5kg lightweight. We arrived at our apartment in the 4th arondissement in no time at all to meet our "greeter".
Hmmm where was she? All we wanted was some water & a shower & I was praying she would arrive soon. Voila...a woman appeared in front of our eyes, however I thought she was from the tanning salon 2 doors away. She was tall, blonde, tanned (hence the tanning salon comment), had a bit of bling going on & was wearing some killer 3" heels. We smiled at each other awkwardly, said bonjour & she then asked if we were her clients. I didn't think so as after all we'd been in Provence for 2 weeks & I didn't think we looked pale enough to be in need of a fake tan.
Wrong again...this was our "greeter" who I will now refer to as Bling. I'm sure she was a lovely lady but we got off to a bad start. She'd been waiting inside, we were outside...eek we felt like naughty school kids who were about to get detention as she kept repeating that we should have been inside. Seriously Bling get over it & move on...I just want some water & a shower! Apparently easier said than done though as she was like a pit bull & wouldn't let it go.
Finally she moved on from the correct meeting point (apparently she was right / we were wrong)....to the shutters...& the lecture continued. Make sure all shutters are closed when you go out as it's a very old building, the shutters are old, blah, blah, blah. To be honest I couldn't tell you what came next as
my eyes were rolling back in my head by this stage. Just want some water & a shower...not a lot to ask surely.
After some serious talk about not getting the white towels dirty with make-up (maybe a darker colour may have been a better option...just a thought) & to definitely not put our luggage on any furniture
we moved onto the wi-fi login. We were instructed to get our phones, computers, iPads & she would log us on. I raced downstairs to grab my stuff as I didn't want to miss the start of our "lesson" & get put in the naughty corner. I made it back up the stairs in record time so all good.
My cockiness didn't last long as our next test was the front door key i.e. ensuring we could master the double turn (we were both to be tested). On arrival she'd handed us each a key & muttered something about make sure you don't lose it as it's an old building & we'll have to blow the door up - it will cost you E120. I was hoping something had been lost in translation as blowing up a door seemed a little OTT even for Bling.
I've gone to grab my key & broken out in a sweat as from the time it had taken me to go downstairs to get my phone etc for the wi-fi lesson I'd lost it. OMG Bling was going to wring my neck...by now I was seriously sweating bullets. I'm trying to mouth to Aggie across the table, but careful to be out of Bling's line of sight, that I was about to die, or at the very least wet my pants. Bling was one scary individual.
Imagine my relief, as I'm just about to give Aggie the cut throat sign, when I spot the Eiffel Tower key ring on the end of the table. I swooped in like lightning, grabbed it & shoved it in my pocket, possibly shedding a tear as I knew my life was no longer in danger. Phew.
Regaining my confidence I went into the double turn lock test like I was wearing the Rocky Robe from Provence & knew I'd nailed it after the first turn. Bling must have been impressed with us & confident we wouldn't burn the place down as she bid us farewell, saying have a good holiday & I'll
see you Friday. Thank god we'd passed.
It was such a relief once Bling had left the building, as we finally got some water, showered & hit our terrace for some dinner.
Our view made it all worthwhile. C'etait magnifique!
Bling you scared the bejesus out of me, but I only have the utmost praise for you in regard to wardrobe. You rocked those 3" heels like a true professional, made all the more impressive considering you do it on cobblestones. Respect madam respect.
Time to call it a day.
Curled up in bed ready for some shut-eye with the Eiffel Tower key-ring tucked safely under my pillow. I wasn't taking any chances. x
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