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The alarm went off at 5am and it was a very quick shower before putting our cases out at 5.30am and being in the foyer soon after to collect a breakfast box. We then boarded the coach for our transfer to Zagreb Airport - Gasper again showing his his great manner by accompanying the 10 of us just to make sure everything went smoothly!
We checked our cases in for the Croatian Airlines flight and then had an hour or so to kill, so we had a coffee and wandered about the very small airport before passing through customs and getting a bottle of Limoncello at the duty free shop to use up our Croatian currency.
Busses took us out to our plane and we got settled into a surprisingly well maintained and clean Airbus. We had been a bit apprehensive of flying with Croatian but our fears were very quickly allayed as we took off on time and had an easy 2 hour trip (getting served snacks and drinks) to Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Way better than a Jetstar flight anytime!
After collecting our cases we passed quickly through the formalities - the EU makes travel just so easy in Europe - and were immediately met by Ardelle our transfer driver, and quickly took the 45 minute drive to our hotel. Ardelle was a mine of information and gave us brochures and maps as well as telling us about the 4 day long weekend that is currently happening in Paris because of Ascension Day! That was news to us, but fortunately only government offices etc were shut and shops, cafes, restaurants and shops remained open. The only hassle to us was the crowds of extra people the holiday provided.
Ardelle weaved his way through the mad Parisian traffic and screeched to a halt in front of the very typically French hotel and triple parked while getting our cases out - people honking wildly at him to which he simply said "pooh they all make such a noise - I take no notice of them!"
The Abbatial St Germain has only 43 rooms and the guy at the front counter told us we had the "best rooms in the house" because we were staying a week! Our rooms weren't quite ready so we put the cases in storage and went for a wander up Boulevard St Germain to find somewhere for lunch - noticing immediately that there were a multitude of cafes along the road and the same in all the little side streets - as well as a couple of grocery shops and some small markets.
We stopped at a little place and had our first Parisian meal - an awesome ham and cheese toastie and a glass of wine! Way to go!
We walked for a while after lunch, getting our bearings and plucking up the courage to go back and see what our rooms for the next 8 nights would be like - expecting a tiny dog box with very few amenities!
Mumsie and I were on the 5th floor and our room was at last ready so we retrieved our cases and got the tiniest lift you have ever seen - 2 people and 2 cases maxed it out - and opened our door to find a really very nice room on the corner of the building looking out over an intersection of roads! 3 doors opened out onto a balcony and it seemed to be very soundproofed and very functional just as Hotels.com had promised! Winner! And it had super fast free WiFi!
So after a couple of hours to unpack and get organised we met up with Den and Suze (who have an identical room on the 2nd floor) and headed to a little bar we found that has a "happy hour" from 4pm to 10pm selling large Hoegaardens for €6 and champagne for €5.5! We all decided that we had made a great choice of hotel and hotel location - and proceeded to have a few before finishing the night with a light meal at a nearby cafe!
So here we are in Paris - right in the thick of the action - and determined to see and do as much as we can!
- comments
george manning Enjoying your commentary to the max Trev. Huge job. Can't wait for the next chapters! g