Heathrow to Paris

Friday May 11, 2012 France

10:16 PM Arizona, 6:16 AM France

I actually see sun attempting to peek through the gray morning sky.  The ship is pulling into Le Havre harbor after a fairly clam English Channel crossing.  However, at times I am amazed at how the sea pitched this large ship about last night.  Want to see if I can connect with Lisa but, cannot connect to the internet aboard the ship will now have to wait until I reach our hotel in Paris.  The ship is about to docked and it is not time to see if my “Connection Angle” is still with me.  The ship is to dock at 8 AM and then I have to get to the train station to catch 9:30 AM train to Paris.  This train will allow me to travel with my bike and get to Paris by noon.  If I miss it I’ll have to wait until 11 AM and will not get to Paris until 3 pm.  If I make it I’ll be in Paris in plenty of time to check into our hotel.  Trying to find my sea legs, but I think that by the time I do the ship will dock.  The sky is still gray and rain is pattering against the front windows of the ship.  It has been raining regularly over a month in England, France and Spain.  The sun is supposed to come out but it is not getting the job done.  I watch a tug turn us around so the ship can back into the berth.  We have arrived at 8:30 AM, time to go downstairs, get my bike, get off the ferry and ride to the train station.

A few wrong turns but I’m at the station and with ticket in hand, I am on the train with 5 minutes to spare, thank you Connection Angel.  I must change trains at Rouen, which is no problem as I have used this station three times before.  This is a three-car train, which is quickly filling up the closer we get to Rouen.  I become anxious that the conductor might ask me to leave the train before I reach my destination.  Nevertheless, all is well as the train pulls into Rouen and it is time to change.  After look around for the lift (elevator), seeing none, I ask the station attendant and he tells me that there is no lift on this platform and I should take the escalator up.  Immediately Mark’s story of his attempting to ride up the escalator in Amsterdam and falling over backwards last year flashes through my head.  With trepidation I head toward the escalator planting my feel as firmly as possible up we go.   Thankfully I arrive at the top with no mishaps and find myself right next to the information boot which I know has a lift to take me down to the platform where I’ll catch my next train.  As the lift doors open the attendant points to a train sitting at the platform and tell me that is my train.   I am on and off to Paris.  At this point, I am beginning to think that there is a force at work here.  MMMMMM! 

The station in Paris, Saint Luzern, is north of the hotel where we will be staying.  Setting off thought the streets of Paris with a fully loaded bike draws quite a lot of gapping mouths.   Not too bad, I think to myself pulling up in front of the Monessen train station where I need to pick up the reserved tickets, which will whisk Lisa and I to St Jean Pied de Port in three days.  At the reservation desk I’m told “Your reservations have been canceled”.  Don’t attack the agent!  After a bit of quiet talking I exit the station with tickets and Sr. Pass in hand.  Now it is time to find our hotel which is a few blocks from the station.  It takes me all of five minutes to get there and check in surprised to find out that Lisa is not there yet.  The lift in the hotel is not working so I have to drag my four panniers up five flights of stairs.  Also, because the lift is broken my bike will stay in the manager’s office, not the garden as planned.  O.K. no big deal I am here and will have time to get a shower.  I am shocked to find, upon entering the room, that the twin beds we requested are right next to each other with no room to separate them.  I am worried about how Lisa will react to seeing them.  It is time for a shower since my last one was two days ago in Arizona.  Just as I am getting wet when there is a knock on the door = Lisa has arrived.  I manage to get the door unlocked and slip back into the shower unseen.  After my shower we talk a bit, she is fine with the bed arrangement, warning me to stay on my bed, and then it is time to fine Lisa’s friends and start enjoying Paris!

After a ride on the Metro, we meet up with Tina and Camille at a corner cafe.  Tina is Lisa’s friend from N.Y. where she owns an architect firm, Camille works in London for a finance firm.  After some drinks and snacks, we wander around Paris until we find a place for dinner.  We enjoy a nice dinner, talk, laugh, and make plans for tomorrow, it is time for Lisa and I to travel the Metro back to the hotel.  Our hotel, Pavillon Losserand Montparnasse, is on a narrow street filled with numerous shops that beckon to us.  The main one is a bakery directly across the street from our front door.  The first thing we do upon opening our eyes is to head downstairs to buy some wonderful treats from the bakery along with fresh brewed coffee.  After which it is time to shower and head out to meet Tina and Camille.  Over the next two days, we become Metro experts.  We visited Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs Elysees, Left bank, Latin Quarter, and The Moulin Rouge.  In addition to walking around doing Paris tourist things, we have eaten wonderful food, drank wonderful wine, laughed until tears came, and shared intimate details of our lives.  The time in Paris flew by and now it is time for us to head to the train station and travel to St Jean Pied de Port.  We are sad at having to leave, but excited to begin the Camino not really fully realizing that we had already started it.

I forgot to mention that while waiting to board the plane in Dallas a fellow asked me if I were going on the Camino.  He could tell because I have the traditional symbol of the Camino, a Scallop seashell, attached to my backpack.  He had done the Camino twice and was thinking about doing it again next year.  Why anyone would do an 800 Km walk more than once is beyond me.

Buen Camino.