Train to Paris Lou and Riccardo took me to Joigny this morning, driving me around its old town before dropping me off at the railway station.  It had been a somewhat sudden meet-up but very enjoyable. I took the 1109 train to Paris Bercy station where I’d have a two night (one full day) stay.  […]

Above:  Unfortunately, I hadn’t seen any of the local wildlife such as foxes or wild boars. It was relaxing day again, giving Lou a massage and checking the travel requirements for my next country Istanbul.  Fortunately, Turkey’s relatively easy entry conditions hadn’t changed and I did my arrival declaration to obtained “HES” health code. I […]

Above:  Lovely home of my hosts. As we’re now further west in the time zone compared to Italy, the sun rises later around 0800.  It sets around the same time as where I had come from in Italy around 1700 with shorter daylight hours due to the more northerly location. After the constant walking and […]

Today I join Lou and Riccardo for their drive back to their home about 2h south of Paris.  After an earlier breakfast than yesterday, at 0800, we departed at 0845. After a little detour, we got on the motorway where the GPS indicated that we would be on the motorway to Geneva for about 220km.  […]

Above:  View from Belle Ville Park shows the Paris skyline including the Eiffel Tower. I thought revisit Sacre Coeur today but Marie took me for another “real Paris” outing.  We took the bus to Belle Ville park in the northeast and walked back down.  The walk back down was a mix of African, Asian and […]

This morning Marie took me to the northern part of Paris around Gare du Nord (the northern railway station).  The area is a hotchpotch of people from Africa, Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent living in more rundown conditions than the Paris we know and love. The markets were incredible and far cheaper than in […]

Above:  Lacy undies?  No, the Eiffel Tower. As Paris isn’t entirely new to me, there was any pressure to do the touristy things.  Instead it is quite nice to do the day-to-day activities … very soon the familiar become strange! In this case it is swimming … Paris seems to be well-equipped with council swimming […]

One thing I haven’t done in my previous visits to Paris is the Pere Lachaise cemetery which is home to the remains of many famous people. From a quick googling, I found that it was best to approach from the rear entrance if one is interested in finding Oscar Wilde’s grave … not totally unexpected […]