Pugsworth in Paris

Taking the Eurostar train to Paris was not as exciting as most of the locals thought it would be, it´s just another train. Finding my way through the freezing dark maze of Paris´ one way streets got the adrenalin pumping though. I made it without too much trouble to my hosts place where I enjoyed a warm meal.

I ended up having two days in Paris. After one I decided it was too cold and that I´d be better to come and see it in the spring time when I could enjoy it. In that time though I did manage to see the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomph, rode down the Champs de Ellysee, Notre Dame, the latin and old quarters and best of all, the Louvre. The Louvre was actually my last stop, I´d left my hosts that morning expecting to get pretty much on a train to Barcelona but the only train there was a sleeper leaving at 10:30pm, so I filled in the day seeing a few more of the sights with a view to doing the Louvre late in the day when it was coldest. I even went and sat in the foyer of one of the other museums to avoid a light snow fall and fell asleep. I really felt like the homeless bum that I am, waiting for someone to kick me out.

arrived at the Louvre at 5:30 to find that admission was free for under 25s after 6pm on Friday, and today was Friday. After all the bloody expensive museums in the UK I could not believe I was going to get into the Louvre for free! More amazing things were still to come though. I spent three hours there and would stayed longer it was so exhilarating. The art work was great but the building itself was the best bit for me. I spent most of my time walking around with my mouth open staring at ceiling. I hadn´t realised before that the Louvre is not just a Museum, its a palace of the old Monarchy preserved and turned over to the people for a museum. It even has a several rooms preserved in the way Napoleon used them (well supposedly anyway). So the building was very ornate, the ceilings were unbelievable, at one point my eyes were so glued to them I tripped over a marble seat placed across the middle of the room. I quickly got up and moved on pretending nothing had happened and hoping no one had noticed but a girl came in from the next room laughing ´I saw that´ she said imitating me. It was a great experience, just the feeling of wandering around inside one of the world´s greatest buildings was exhilarating – and for free!

From there I rode to the station and went to get on the train but had some difficulty with my bike. I´d anticipated this and arrived early but it was still an anxious moment as I went back and forth between the guard and the ticket seller who told me different things, (luckily with some English). I finally got them to talk to each other with the result that I had to buy a more expensive cabin ticket instead of just a seat. This came with the bonus though of a six person cabin to myself and a place to lie down. I slept like a log and woke up near the Spanish border to enjoy the early morning ride along the beautiful scenery of the French and Spanish coast. I had to change trains (and interestingly still have my passport checked, but not stamped) at the border. This meant waiting a couple of hours because bikes are not allowed on the fast train I was booked on and I had to catch the slower regional train. Thankfully, the early Spanish morning was not too cold, much warmer than midday Paris or London, that´s for sure and best of all, I was in Spain!