Travelling day

April 18, 2023

Crème Brûlée, here I come!

Cherie dropped me at the Canberra bus station at 1.30 on Monday to catch the bus direct to the international terminal at Mascot. My flight wasn’t until 9pm which left me about 3 hours by the time I wrangled my bike box around the snakey lines into check in at Qatar Airlines. As I negotiated one of the hairpin bends semi-trailer style an enterprising Eastern European couple overtook me on the inside inching themselves into 168th spot in the queue. I then proceeded to ram there ankles for the next 20 minutes with my trolley as it’s really hard to see over the top of the bike box.

The time passed pretty quickly thanks to the mesmerising art installations in Sydney airport.

The first leg to Doha was a killer 15 hours and the flight was chockers. It’s my first time on an airbus and it was pretty comfortable even in cattle class. I managed some sleep in between watching the screen in the row in front of me playing The real housewives of Saltlake City for the entirety of the trip.

I think I got the gist of the plot without requiring any audio

After a 3 hour layover in Doha it was a mere 61/2 hours into Charles De Gaulle. It took 2 hours to get past the undermanned passport control and another hour to put my bike together. I figured that was easier than trying to carry an unwieldy box.

Then another hour of getting a train ticket, getting the the pannier stuck in the automatic gate, arguing with the disinterested attendant and getting a new ticket as the first one didn’t work I finally made the journey across Paris to the nice quiet suburb of Sceaux. Just a lazy 40 hours door to door.

I thought Doha was encouraging cycling, but turns out Velo is a brand of snuff. And doesn’t he look like he’s enjoying giving himself cancer.

I crashed into bed after dinner at a local bistro with the first of many crème brûlées helping the 40 hour slog fade blissfully into past.

No one seems to understand my French accent. I think this might have something to do with Mrs McLachlin, my French teacher at high school who I’m sure has put the Scottish inflection in my pronunciation.

Turns out not to be my air bnb. I was next door in a far less impressive house.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesWelcome to Europe. Don't worry about no one understanding your French accent, Parisians are known for a lack of tolerance for less than perfectly spoken French. Hope you are taking some time to decompress and explore Paris, one of our favourite cities!
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1 year ago

Dennis LangleyTo Steve Miller/GrampiesI love Paris we’ve been here many times and coming back with my wife sans bikes in September
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1 year ago

Kirsten KaarsooMaybe we will cross paths. We are in Paris at the moment too. Enjoy the croissants 🥐
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1 year ago