April 17, 2023
Day 1 - Travel Day - Calgary to Paris
The Usual Slow Grind
However excited we are to be setting off on a new journey, these travels days are always approached with some trepidation. They’re never fun, at best they are just tiring, at worst … well, we won’t go there.
Happy to report that we are just tired.
All in all this was a very smooth start to the trip. No issues any where along the way. The Calgary airport was pretty quiet, as expected on a Monday evening, and although our check-in took a long time, it was pleasant and uneventful with the only hiccup being that my beautifully constructed bike boxes were about 1 cm too wide to fit in the ‘oversized bins’ for the oversized x-ray machine. As a result, we had to have the boxes manually inspected. The WJ staff were very nice an helpful (for all the staff on duty ours were the first bikes hey had ever checked in)- they didn’t measure them or weigh them, they just asked where we were going and thought it sounded great!.
On the plane we won our standard seat booking lottery as well. When we can, we book a window and aisle seat with an empty seat in between. Even though the flight was nearly full, our empty seat remained that way, a great bonus for a 9 hour flight.
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Arrival at CDG was 15 minutes early and the airport was pretty calm and efficient. Once again we continued to be surprised at the prevalence of Face ID as we did not see or speak to a single customs person. Just scan your passport, stare at a screen, and doors magically open in front of you (or not in some cases 😬).
The good time continued when our panniers rolled off the luggage carousel and even better, when our bike’s appeared a few minutes later in the ‘oversized area’.
Walking out into the public area we were a bit concerned about finding a place to build the bikes, but those concerns we put aside as we quickly found a large and fairly quiet area and go to work.
After a few minutes we were joined by Eric, a young guy from Mexico who had just arrived with his bike. The three of us spent the next hour putting our rides back together and swapping stories. It was then time to ride … or not.
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1 year ago
Yes we zip tie the panniers together ( using 4 zip ties)after removing the rack mounting hardware as we don’t want it damaged and it makes the back smooth. Then I use a strap and cinched them together. Never have had an issue to be counted as one bag.
1 year ago
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Just before we left Calgary we had an e-mail exchange with fellow CB’er Susan Carpenter regarding riding into Paris from CDG. Susan diplomatically offered that yes it could be done, but she would be unlikely to do it. Our thinking was that it was only 32 km, bike routes most of the way, and it would be a good way to start to adjust to the jet lag.
This youthful enthusiasm crashed on the hard rocks of reality at 3 pm CET. Jet lag won a crushing victory on this one as we slowly made our way to the adjacent train station and caught the RER into central Paris. There we a few moments where we were trying to figure out how to get our loaded bikes through the various automated barriers at the station, but there were lots of helpful folks around to assist us. We were soon bound for central Paris on the RER - barely awake!
We did actually cycle a bit; about 3 km from the Norte Dame station to our hotel apartment, but i don’t think it warrants recording in our trip totals
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We checked into the plain but functional Citidiens Apartment / Hotel, had a shower and a much needed nap and then set out to find something to eat. We’re staying just north of Gare de Lyon and it’s surprisingly quiet with a large choice of places to eat. We were still barely alive and the first open place we came to, about 75 m down the street, Brassierie l’Orangeraie, looked inviting, and it was. We shared a salad and then we each had a simple grilled salmon … K with haricots vert and me with frites which we shared. Very good and it appeared to be very local too.
And then we crashed. Tomorrow we’re meeting up with Susan C for dinner. Very much looking forward to that.
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1 year ago
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Song of the day:
Back in Canmore during our preparation, when I was still in ‘K-Tel Greatest Hits’ mode, I was thinking that P!ink’s ‘Get this Party Started’ would be a great way to start off.
Once again reality comes to the fore, and there was no party vibe tonight. We are looking forward to the trip, and we’re happy with today, but a more mellow and rest inducing tune is more appropriate. So let’s cue up “New Dawn Coming” by the Cowboy Junkies. I listened to this on the plane before drifting off for a an hour or so, and that’s what I’m feeling right now;
Hold on honey there's a new dawn coming
And a big bird to sweep you away,
Keep on dreaming, soon there'll be a reason
To see it through one more day
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