Le French Trip

It was Linda's birthday surprise a trip on Eurostar to Paris. She didn't know anything about it and was very surprised, especially as she thought I had forgotten her birthday. The only problem was she had to be up at 0300 to get to Ebbsfleet and that is because she insisted she needed an hour to get ready. I had told her that we were leaving at 8am and then old woke her up at 0300. She didn't know where we were going, she initially thought that we were going to fly from Gatwick or through the tunnel but that went wrong when we turned onto the A2.


We arrive at Ebbsfleet at 0500 and it was very cold. There was time for a coffee at cafe Nero before the train left and soon she was fast asleep and so was I. We awoke in France and arrived at Paris Gare du Nord at 0900. She now knew she was going to Paris for the day. we caught a metro into the centre and went to the Arc d'Triumph and then wandered around. It was very very cold although there was no rain or snow. We stopped for breakfast at a cafe and I had a sandwich and Linda a cake. We then visited the Christmas markets which Linda wanted to do. Having visited the markets in several con tries they all seem the same to me -sell the same crap at extortionate price but Linda likes the atmosphere.


We then walked down past the concord monument to the Louvre and had a look round the outside I did offer to take Linda inside but she did not want to go in with a philistine. Evidently the Mona Lisa has some numbers in her eyes so whoever painted her did it by numbers. Well I suppose de Vinci being a painter and decorator would have won the X factor these days and not been a successful painter!


We did stop for another coffee as it was very cold and I was getting tired walking, we had been walking for miles, and whilst Linda may do it everyday I don't. We then walked back along the Seine (or the Rhine as Linda called it) and saw the Eiffel Tower and a few old buildings and churches. We then did the other half of the market with Linda finding the chocolate shop.


We decided to walk and do some shopping and then I saw it, the light of the sun rested over a building, it was a sign It was Starbucks. It time for coffee so we sat there and rested our feet enjoying a latte. We then decided to walk back to the station, that was a mistake it was a very long way! We did look in some shops before we got there and I offered to buy Linda some clothes but she turned me down.


We had a sandwich before we queued for the Eurostar, don't know why we bothered as it was delayed, some technical fault. Then we finally boarded and waited, and waited, and then informed there was a security alert so we could not leave, and then when this was completed we were told the driver could not drive the train as he would exceed his hours - who runs this firm Micky Mouse?


So they had to find a driver and then we finally left and Linda went to sleep.