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<p>I'm writing this a day late again, and if this entry has a slightly sour tone it's because of day 30, not day 29!</p> <p>The day started off raining, which we weren't surprised about. After a moderate amount of lounging (to see if the weather would pass), we decided to just get on with it like we did in Belgium all those weeks ago - after all, it was our last outing so it didn't matter what got wet, and it was to go to Paris!</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424211858472626"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWhZ_yPrI/AAAAAAAAAZU/0sX3589yJr4/s144/100_0697.jpg" class="alignleft" /></a>We set off through the campsite (which had turned into quite a mud bath overnight, being a quarry and all) towards the town. The path wasn't quite as... intact, as we had imagined, a single dirt track through a lot of rocks and overgrown bushes was all, and it seemed to emerge into someone's driveway. We continued through St. Leu, which appeared totally deserted since it was a Sunday, to the train station. This too was devoid of life. There was only a notice (amongst graffiti on a urine-soaked wall) telling us to buy our tickets on the train. Great!</p> <p>We made a stop at Persan Beaumont (or something like that) since there were no trains to Paris from St. Leu, and this appeared to be quite a dump too! Lots of drunks, odd people and ethnic minorities. Like Leamington, really, only Frencher. </p> <p>We went and bought tickets, then headed off to the nearby L'eclerc to get some lunch, as it was already 1:30. Again, more odd people and a lot of chavs and many ethnic-types. It seems that the North of France is a lot more like Britain than we knew!</p> <p>Anyway, once we were on the train things got a lot nicer. The station (Gare-du-Nord, or Paris Nord - we couldn't figure out which) was particularly swish, like a more shiny Waterloo. We decided to go to Notre Dame Cathedral first, but didn't feel like walking, so took the metro (for free, somehow!). This too was a lot like London underground, except wider , and without the logo.</p> <p>Once on the island, we were approached by a strange Bosnian beggar, who asked if we speak English. I foolishly replied “yes”, and spent the next minute backing away and explaining how we had no money. Again, this reminded me a lot of London.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424250513178306"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWjp_yPsI/AAAAAAAAAZg/05JfWe0LC5M/s144/100_0704.jpg" class="alignright" /></a>We wandered through the streets past some impressive government buildings (or something), and a bird market, and eventually arrived outside the cathedral. There was a <strong>huge</strong> queue to get in, so we just looked at the interesting carvings on the walls for a bit. Just before we moved on, another beggar asked if we speak English. I replied “nein”, which worked particularly well, then we were off.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424289167883986"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWl5_yPtI/AAAAAAAAAZo/1N5liPwJZCs/s144/100_0716.jpg" class="alignleft" /></a>A caramel crepe and a shirt walk later and we were strolling along the Seine towards the Louvre. The Seine is a lot like the Thames, only... French. It looks a bit cleaner, too. Also, it has some particularly odd shower-like things along some of the walkways, which were rather unwelcome since we were finding it difficult enough to stay dry.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424327822589666"><img src="http://lh4.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWoJ_yPuI/AAAAAAAAAZw/9JzgIPFQ878/s144/100_0721.jpg" class="alignright" /></a>The Louvre was impressive, as usual (he says, sounding like a Paris pro). We wandered outside, took some photos of the pyramid, and left. The queue for that was huge too, and we couldn't really spare the time to look around anyway.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424366477295346"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWqZ_yPvI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/GJB8Fk9SCGs/s144/100_0733.jpg" class="alignleft" /></a>We walked on down the Seine, past the Place du Concorde (with its Cleopatra's Needle, like the ones in London), to the Eiffel Tower.<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424435196772114"><img src="http://lh5.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWuZ_yPxI/AAAAAAAAAaI/ZwK3x-uWQIU/s144/100_0750.jpg" class="alignright" /></a> This doesn't really have a London equivalent - it's huge, and pretty awesome. Due to the awesomeness, the queue was quite ridiculous, so we again pressed on through the pouring rain, towards... the building with naked gold people on it, and an excellent view of the tower.</p> <p><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424409426968322"><img src="http://lh3.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWs5_yPwI/AAAAAAAAAaA/VkpQiLambC4/s144/100_0738.jpg" class="alignleft" /></a>We continued up towards the Arc de Triomphe and Charles de Gaulle roundabout, which was considerably less crazy than usual, as it was now late on Sunday. We stopped for some food In George V on the Champs Elysee, which was interesting as we were both looking rather soggy, dirty and hairy (not Helen), and in a relatively posh café!<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/B.Hymers/EuropeTrip/photo#5152424473851477794"><img src="http://lh6.google.com/B.Hymers/R4EWwp_yPyI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/oPazieZWPYc/s144/100_0771.jpg" class="alignright" /></a> Helen had a delicious Boeuf bourgignon and I had steak and chips.</p> <p>We were getting pretty cold and damp by now (6pm-ish), so we headed down the Champs-Elysee to see if we could get some gifts and the like before we left. It turns out that we were on the wrong street though ;)</p> <p>A short metro journey later and we were back at the station, then a short train journey and we were in Creil (having figured it was a better place to change at). Unfortunately, this is where things stopped going so smoothly! We asked the ticket man if he spoke any English, and he replied “non” in a disgruntled manner, which was nice. We asked how to get back to St. Leu, and he said we couldn't! We asked about buses, and he just made a walking motion with his fingers - great! In the end, we spoke to someone else and got hold of a taxi (the driver of which appeared to be psychic), which took us back to the campsite for a rather extortionate price.</p> <p>We promptly fell asleep, wet and exhausted.</p>
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