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BradnDad2014
We have settled into our little digs in Brooklyn surprisingly well. The apartment we have been living in for the last 9 days is small by anyone's standards. George, our AirBnB host is a friendly guy, even getting Brad a birthday present, but the accommodation is very basic. A curious combination of miss-matched furniture and fittings, along with the basic necessities. The sort of place you would expect your 18 yr old to be living when they first moved out of home,( well we moved out at 18 when I was a boy..) Most items scavenged or donated by caring relatives, that sort of thing…
But now it is time to go.
Our bags are getting heavier by the day. Picking up little nic-nacs as we go adds up when you’re squeezing it all in. Feeling a little like pack mules (I’ll get a photo next time we’re on the move), we headed off to the corner bus stop.
We could have easily grabbed a cab to take us to the airport, but I enjoy making our way around the cities we’ve visited. It adds a little to the adventure and gives a better feel for the locals.
A bus, 3 train changes (Ooops, missed the station.. again. Brad's favorite saying at the moment is "Darn It!"), another bus, a sky train and we’re at JFK terminal. I hate running late for aeroplanes, so we had a couple of hours to kill before boarding around 6.30pm.
New York to London is about 7 hours, but with changing time zones, we landed at Heathrow at 7.30am Wednesday morning. From there it was an Underground train (mostly above ground) to Kings Cross / St Pancras station, eventually boarding the Euro Star around 12.00.
Weary from the travel, we both slept for most of the crossing between London and Paris.
Arriving at Gare Du Nord in Paris was a bit of a shock for Brad. An exceptionally busy station, signs in another language, different currency etc etc, all combined to put a stunned look on his dial…
I love this part of travelling with the Boys. Deliberately involving them in solutions to our challenges will hopefully make them confident travellers in the future.
As with Dean, Brad is more than capable of working through the Subway / Tube maps and getting us where we need to be…
Using AirBnB, I have booked an apartment in Paris. Following were the instructions provided by our host:
"The best way to get to the apartment from the GARE DU NORD is :
Take the subway RER B (direction of SAINT-REMY LES CHEVREUSE) and at the station of SAINT MICHEL NOTRE DAME you get the RER C (direction of PONTOISE) and then you stop at the station of BOULAINVILLIERS which is right at the corner of the bottom of the building.
>> be careful : at the change of SAINT MICHEL NOTRE DAME just make sure that the train you will jump in do stop at the station of BOULAINVILLIERS because the RER trains have different names and they do not stop to all the same stations."
Bearing in mind, this is a very busy Subway system, without English translations, we did well…
Arriving at the apartment around 5.00pm, we were met by Tonio, a friendly Frenchman that doesn’t speak a word of English... The ensuing conversation involved much head nodding and blank looks, but we got through it.
Realising we were running out of charge on all of the “I” stuff (phone, pod, pad etc) we have been lugging around, our first task was to find power adaptors. It dawned on me how very reliant we have become on these devices. I didn’t have a hard copy of anything. Flight details, the EuroStar tickets, accommodation bookings, contact phone numbers etc, let alone access to finances, it was all on the “I” stuff.. Hmmmm… makes you ponder…
The apartment is in a 9 story building in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. This is a very affluent and desirable location in Paris. We are being spoilt with beautiful views of the Eiffel (I lay in bed last night and watched the lights twinkle before dozing off), clean streets and many local restaurants and patisserie’s… (O’oh, we have a patisserie at the base of our building!)
Heading out to dinner last night, Brad and I had a comical engagement where I had left my glasses at home and he battled to translate a French menu (absolutely no English). We guessed at meals that had similar sounding words to “Bolognese” and “Bistecca”, ending up with a great meals and a slightly sweet (for my palate) white wine.
Pretty well shattered, we were home by 9.30 and off to bed…
Ps, I don't have any photo's from today, but thought I would put a video of my wonderful Son, trying to sleep on the train from Long Island to New York... Click on the photo for the video... He'll love me for sharing... ;)
But now it is time to go.
Our bags are getting heavier by the day. Picking up little nic-nacs as we go adds up when you’re squeezing it all in. Feeling a little like pack mules (I’ll get a photo next time we’re on the move), we headed off to the corner bus stop.
We could have easily grabbed a cab to take us to the airport, but I enjoy making our way around the cities we’ve visited. It adds a little to the adventure and gives a better feel for the locals.
A bus, 3 train changes (Ooops, missed the station.. again. Brad's favorite saying at the moment is "Darn It!"), another bus, a sky train and we’re at JFK terminal. I hate running late for aeroplanes, so we had a couple of hours to kill before boarding around 6.30pm.
New York to London is about 7 hours, but with changing time zones, we landed at Heathrow at 7.30am Wednesday morning. From there it was an Underground train (mostly above ground) to Kings Cross / St Pancras station, eventually boarding the Euro Star around 12.00.
Weary from the travel, we both slept for most of the crossing between London and Paris.
Arriving at Gare Du Nord in Paris was a bit of a shock for Brad. An exceptionally busy station, signs in another language, different currency etc etc, all combined to put a stunned look on his dial…
I love this part of travelling with the Boys. Deliberately involving them in solutions to our challenges will hopefully make them confident travellers in the future.
As with Dean, Brad is more than capable of working through the Subway / Tube maps and getting us where we need to be…
Using AirBnB, I have booked an apartment in Paris. Following were the instructions provided by our host:
"The best way to get to the apartment from the GARE DU NORD is :
Take the subway RER B (direction of SAINT-REMY LES CHEVREUSE) and at the station of SAINT MICHEL NOTRE DAME you get the RER C (direction of PONTOISE) and then you stop at the station of BOULAINVILLIERS which is right at the corner of the bottom of the building.
>> be careful : at the change of SAINT MICHEL NOTRE DAME just make sure that the train you will jump in do stop at the station of BOULAINVILLIERS because the RER trains have different names and they do not stop to all the same stations."
Bearing in mind, this is a very busy Subway system, without English translations, we did well…
Arriving at the apartment around 5.00pm, we were met by Tonio, a friendly Frenchman that doesn’t speak a word of English... The ensuing conversation involved much head nodding and blank looks, but we got through it.
Realising we were running out of charge on all of the “I” stuff (phone, pod, pad etc) we have been lugging around, our first task was to find power adaptors. It dawned on me how very reliant we have become on these devices. I didn’t have a hard copy of anything. Flight details, the EuroStar tickets, accommodation bookings, contact phone numbers etc, let alone access to finances, it was all on the “I” stuff.. Hmmmm… makes you ponder…
The apartment is in a 9 story building in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. This is a very affluent and desirable location in Paris. We are being spoilt with beautiful views of the Eiffel (I lay in bed last night and watched the lights twinkle before dozing off), clean streets and many local restaurants and patisserie’s… (O’oh, we have a patisserie at the base of our building!)
Heading out to dinner last night, Brad and I had a comical engagement where I had left my glasses at home and he battled to translate a French menu (absolutely no English). We guessed at meals that had similar sounding words to “Bolognese” and “Bistecca”, ending up with a great meals and a slightly sweet (for my palate) white wine.
Pretty well shattered, we were home by 9.30 and off to bed…
Ps, I don't have any photo's from today, but thought I would put a video of my wonderful Son, trying to sleep on the train from Long Island to New York... Click on the photo for the video... He'll love me for sharing... ;)
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