I. was too tired, and it was too late, to blog last night, so this is yesterday and today in one.
Yesterday started with the funeral of an old friend who had died very suddenly six weeks ago; the Daughter came, too. It was lovely to see her, even on a sad occasion, and she enjoyed seeing some of her former Sunday-School friends again, most of whom she hadn't seen for many years. When the service was over, she stayed to grab a sandwich before heading off back to work, while the Swan Whisperer and I rushed back to the flat to change and spend final pennies and so on - we had loaded the car earlier. We did stop to quickly eat our sandwiches, and then it was straight to the WoMo's garage, threw everything in it, put the car in the garage and headed round to no 6 to unpack things in it and fill it with water, not to mention having a cup of tea with my mother when we were at it!
We had an uneventful journey to Folkestone - apart, that is, from having to go back because the Swan Whisperer had left his phone in the courtyard! But that didn't delay us too long, and we were able to get on a crossing an hour earlier than we had booked, which was pleasing. We ate our cold supper - pork pie and salad, followed by home-made yoghurt with lemon curd - on the crossing, and then drove straight to the aire at Calais and parked up for the night.
This morning, the Swan Whisperer went to get croissants and a baguette for breakfast, and I did some of the tai chi while he was getting breakfast, but it was really too cold out there so I came in after I'd finished part 2.
Our first port of call was the local Auchan where I did a shopping while the Swan Whisperer got diesel and coffee. We then headed off down the A16 to Paris. Again, and uneventful journey, stopping once for lunch and once for the SW to have coffee again (he says it keeps him awake if he has it in the afternoon, but not if he has it at night!). We arrived at the campsite and they were expecting us. We had a cup of tea, and then took their Shuttle bus to Porte Maillot. Unfortunately it was difficult to find the metro, and I think we walked all round the houses. Then the SW had to buy a Navigo pass - I could put mine on my phone, but his phone doesn't have NFC so he had to buy one - and, of course, the ticket machine had run out of them! Eventually we came out of that exit and into another one where the machine was able to produce cards, and caught Line 1 into Paris.
We got off at Hotel de Ville, and had a lovely walk down across the Seine. The Parvis de Notre Dame was as crowded as we thought it would be, so we didn't even try to cross it, but walked down round the Cathedral and across the bridge at the other end.
After that, it all went rather pear-shaped. I thought it would be a good idea to take Line 10 to Porte d'Auteil and then a bus back to the campsite. So we went to the nearest Line 10 metro station, only to find that there had been a "one-under" and Line 10 was not running. So the Swan Whisperer found we could walk back to Jussieu station, not too far, and get another line, which would take us back to Line 1. By the time we got there, however, Line 10 had reopened, and we went back to Plan A.
Big mistake! The connecting bus wasn't going to be for another 35 minutes, and it was bitterly cold and I was tired and a bit low blood-sugar. We thought of finding a taxi, but didn't know where, but then Citymapper very helpfully suggested Uber! I have had a Uber account for years, but think I've only used it once, so it was great to be able to use it in Paris. Very nice driver, and comfortable car, got us back to the campsite in short order.
I got changed into pyjamas and my lovely warm fleecy top while the Swan Whisperer cooked Saturday sausage and mash, and we are about to eat tarte aux pommes avec sa sauce anglaise for pudding!
Tomorrow we have the whole day in Paris!
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