Walkabout In The UK

Rail Miles: 246; Walk Miles: 7.52;

An early morning wander around Strasbourg, via a circular route back to the station. 

Part of my planning assumed an afternoon evening explore, followed by a morning sightseeing. In practice its turned out that I cover most of what I want to see on arrival day leaving me hanging around waiting for my departure time to come around - something to consider planning a future trip.

The Interrail pass is a wonderful device for flexible European travel, save where seat reservations are required. This means pre booking far in advance to ensure the key link is in place, which then fixes the need to book accommodation etc etc. That takes away much of the Pass flexibility in practice.

Its a balance of travel cheap, flexible and slow(ish) or move fast, but become tied down to specific date/time events. I tried both. I prefer the flexible as even the no-reservation-required inter city services far exceed the UK version. But sometimes I had far to go, and just wanted to get there. 

As in life, its a balance dependant on mood and requirements.

Today is a test of the famed TGV rail service, which has to be seat reserved, so clearly I should have booked for an earlier departure time.

Lesson learnt. At least it meant a different poke around Strasbourg to explore the back streets, so a pleasure, not a chore.

I eventually find myself sitting in a boulangerie opposite the station to kill some time (a wonderful French initiative, a pity we nothing similar in the UK)

The station concourse is full of people waiting for .... well whatever it is, it's clearly not here yet. 

For some reason there is an 4 man army unit patrolling the station with semi-automatic rifles. I check news sources on my phone, but nothing obviously worrying happening in France.

And then the departure board lights up with the Strasbourg TGV platform details, and I follow the crowd as the majority of the waiting crowd all stream in the same direction.

The TGV is a delight clocking 175mph+ to cover the 246 miles to Paris in 1hr 45 min. 

Now this is train travel. 

The European train network is extremely well put together, and despite the German network's limited ability to arrive on time, its a seamless mass transit system that can cover huge distances effortlessly.

I'm spat out of Paris's Gare d'Est station into a cacophony of people, traffic and police sirens.

And its raining. Hard.

My plan was to take a Parisienne tour by foot, but part of travel is adaptability, so I take a taxi to the Eiffel Tower.

10 minutes to cover 2 miles in central Paris, before we actually start towards the tower. Paris traffic has to be experienced to be believed. Cars, coaches, motorbikes and cycles coming from all directions. Horns honking and a steady sound of police/ambulance sirens. The soundtrack of Paris. 

La belle France anyone?

The tower is, well the tower, so I move onto the long (oh so very long) walk looking down on the Seine towards the Louvre. Pass numbers of bridges, monuments, huge buildings etc etc. Paris seems to have thrown up something enormous after every historic event. Impressive at first but becomes a little repetitive after the first hour.

Still it rains. Stops. Rains. Stops.

I'd decided beforehand that I wasn't going to visit the The Louvre museum, just take a look at the building and its distinctive glass pyramids. Entry to the Louvre is ridiculously expensive, and it turned out to be a good decision based on the large amount of school parties and coaches around the entry area.

Still its an enormous set of buildings and clearly needs a long day and an early start to justify a proper visit.

Onwards, stopping for a crepe and coffee en-route to Notre Dame.

Veering away from the river Seine I wander some back streets indicating nearby construction work. Looks like the well publicised reconstruction of ND is in fact still underway.

Entrance is via the airport style up/down barriers. 

It continues to rain. 

Hard.

Most of us pedestrians walk in an orderly queue, but as I meet and remeet the parallel queue there are increasingly wide gaps. Courtesy of the tour guide parties. What a surprise. 

Notre Dame-aka work in progress

Finally I reach the entrance, only to find a security X-Ray machine.

Which I set off.

As I'm carrying my home on my back for a week it includes a mini leatherman tool, which has happily passed through security checks around the world (except for one day trip at Southampton airport many years ago)

And no, I cannot take it out to leave at security (No such problem entering Cologne cathedral).

Rather than seek (and pay for) a luggage locker "elsewhere" (thanks for that help Monsieur Securite) I decide enough is enough with the rain, and head off towards my hostel for the night.

Swinging back towards central Paris I slog down busy streets admiring the graffiti, avoiding wild cyclists.

The non descript entry to the hostel (The People - Paris Nation) belies 6 floors of dormitories all accessible via key card (No link; No recommendation)

I booked a 4 male room. Over my stay there was nil engagement/response from any of the other occupants. One remained behind their bed privacy curtain, with the light on during the day, which was off at night. That was the only way I knew that there was an occupant in situ.

Not exactly an interchange of travellers, tips and cultures.

A sterile place. No way to make a coffee. Plenty of movement & noise, but no soul.

After a long walk I decided to explore the area, and then feed myself. 

Walking city streets is far more difficult than walking in the countryside. There is a constant stop/start as you reach road junctions, with continual assessment of avoiding People In A Rush.

Happily, after 20 minutes, I stopped for a beer predictably just a few doors down from the hostel, and liked the place so much that I stayed for a celebratory meal.

French cuisine really is amongst the best I have ever eaten.

I sat and watched the madness that is the Parisienne traffic & evening commute milling around the Place de la Nation  and soaked up the street life scenes.

Finally back to the hostel for an early night of rest.

30 minutes after lights out the final occupant turned up. There then followed 30 mins of the sounds of luggage zipping, unzipping, zipping etc etc all to the wavering light of a mobile phone torch wandering the room's walls. I got up for a break, and when I returned I could finally hit the sack and sleep, sirens wafting me to sleep.