Travel Day – Dijon to Paris

Today we head to Paris, our train doesn’t leave until 1:30 pm so we have time to visit the markets which are open every Friday in Dijon. This was the busiest we have seen the place, not only were all the streets lined with vendors selling their wares but there seemed to be people everywhere.  As we were sitting in a local cafe people watching, we noticed that most of the people there were over 65 dragging little shopping carts behind them so we fit right in. Obviously Friday was a big shopping day.

There were a lot of stalls selling antiques as well as all variety of food it made for a colourful sight. I can’t believe that Di couldn’t find anything to buy so we headed back to our accomodation and wait for our taxi to the train station.

I had forgotten we had booked a first class ticket so it was a nice surprise when we boarded. Not much difference really other than the seats were larger and more comfortable, only three seats across the carriage instead of four seats. Traveling through the French countryside is much like traveling through the Italian countryside, dotted with quaint little villages. A quick trip too, I added the trip from Dijon to Paris by car into Google Maps it was 3 hours and 5 minutes, it took us by train 1 and three quarter hours by train.

This was a video inside one of the trains I took a few days ago, it gives you an idea of what they are like. These aren’t the first class cabins though.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7jFt0oegn0[/embedyt]

What an adventure when we arrived at Paris Gare de Lyon train station. We then had to use the Paris Metro (Underground) to get to our final destination at St Michel train station on the banks of the river Seine right in front of Notre Dame. People going everywhere at a hectic pace. They all seemed to know exactly where they were going, we must have looked a sight standing there like stunned mullets, with far too much baggage. So much so that one kind Frenchman offered to help us up the last stairs onto street level with our bags. Escalators all the way up from the underground except for the last flight of stares, I don’t know why. It’s as if they are saying thats enough, you can walk the rest now.

Our accomodation was only 50 metres from where you come out of the train station. We were familiar with the area because it was the same area we stayed at last time so we found our hotel easily.

The street we are staying on is like a smaller version of Bangalore Road in Phuket. Those of you that have been there will know what I mean. No where near as big as Phuket but just as noisy at night time, the street is lined with cafe’s restaurants and night clubs and clogged with humanity. Fortunately our windows are double glazed so if you shut them and put on the air-conditioning it’s not too noisey to sleep at night.

We had a little time left in the day so we decided to take a walk to the Eiffel tower. It’s quite a walk along the banks of the river so we took our time stopping for a drink at one of the river boat cafes along the way.

It was interesting how the recent terror attacks have affected everyone, the police are everywhere and the have also fenced off access to the tower, you have to go through security screening processes if you want to get anywhere near it. Anyway been there done that on the previous trip so didn’t bother going through the security gates. We took a few photo’s and as we were both feeling a little tired and hungry decided that we would have a little dinner at a local restaurant before trying out the Vélib’ bike system. Take a bike, return it where you like, Vélib’ is a self-service bike system available 24 hours a day, all year round. To access the service, buy a 1-day or a 7-day ticket online or at any Vélib’ station or sign-up for a long-term subscription! I wanted to try this last time we were in Paris but couldn’t work out how to use it. I asked someone who could speak good English and he gave me the rundown. It’s easy when you know how. If you are visiting Paris at any time in the future I highly recommend this way of getting around. It only cost us 1.7 Euro ($2.50 AUD) for a 24 hour pass. There are bike stations all over Paris. We grabbed one from the Eiffel tower and deposited it at a station just around the corner from our hotel. What a great way to get around and see the sights. They have an app that lets you know how many bikes are available and where so it’s easy to grab a new one when you want to move on.

That’s it for today, tomorrow we are going to Montmartre.