Farewell to Paris

Notre Dame de Paris was on my bucket list so we set off without breakfast to fit it in prior to the Eurostar ride to England. Lady Worplesdon had the bright idea of going one more stop on the Metro to get closer to the famous cathedral. Unfortunately, while it deposited us on the Ile de Cite it put us on the wrong end - but of course we didn't know that. We arrived at the Palais de Justice - not a bad shack, Paris style. Tricolour fluttering in the breeze all  over the place and a lovely sunny morning. Breakfast was partaken at the gates of the Palais de Justice so a great view. We had two eggs, toast and coffee and refreshed set off for Quasimodo's lair. Her ladyship fired up the Tom Tom. It immediately blew a fuse, we now realise, prompted by the fact that we were walking but it was set up for driving. Ile de Cite is basically a one- way system so while we could merrily walk any way we liked the TomTom wanted us to go in the opposite direction.  We walked the entire island!

Readers, I regret Lady Worplesdon complained somewhat. Starting off with low mutterings and building to language many of the local sailors blushed at, we finally arrived at the cathedral. Her ladyship needed a comfort stop and fortunately there was outdoor ablutions. Unfortunately there was also a long queue. The hour was saved by my intrepid actions in finding a welcoming cafe (complete with rest rooms). While I settled down to a coffee her ladyship navigated a spiral staircase to the basement. Puffing gently she appeared some time later demanding 50 c for admission to the "pissour". Fearing for the health of the locals I prevailed on the barman to provide some coins. Civilisation being restored we passed through the km long queues for the tower and entered the cathedral.

The first impression is of darkness. Some of the cathedral was built in 1240 so 800 years of prayer and worship. Quite a magnificent place. Lady W said the sense of history was quite palpable and I agree. Despite the multitudes chatting, laughing and taking photos Notre Dame is in the true sense, awesome. I even got to hear the organ - 5 keyboards, 14,000 pipes and 130 stops. I have to confess this was by listening to a CD, however I now know that after Vespers on sunday night, each week ,there is a free organ recital. Next time!

Leaving the cathedral, we headed for the Metro but were diverted by signs to the underground Crypt on the square in front of Notre Dame. Under the square are archeological diggings from a time before Paris was called, well, Paris! This was the time of the Romans and of the Gauls (and Asterix). Some 17 centuries of life in that place. Walls, wells, cobbled streets, wharves and arched walkways. We were touched by many of the simple things - a seat next to a bathing area for example. In one area the Romans had designed under floor heating for a building, with running water. How many of us have underfloor heating?

Finally, the taxi ride to Gare du Nord. It didn't take long and the taxi driver was less than impressed with my 100 Euro note, in fact he refused it. Settling the issue with a Visa card we hauled our bags into Gare du Nord.  Its an interesting fact that in the Northern Hemisphere luggage increases in weight despite Newton',s first law. Lady W's bag(s) for example have mysteriously expanded and now require three sessions at the gym in order to lift them. Will have to speak to Stephen Hawking about the physics involved.

The Eurostar is situated upstairs. It requires dragging personal possessions up an escalator, proceeding through two sets of customs (France and UK) and then,when called to the train, dragging them down a travellator and onto the train. Eurostar is great with a small carry on bag, somewhat more challenging with multiple bags. However we did it, and after a short tiff between Lady W and a number of Chinese people finally got to our seats. It should take about 2 hours to Kent from Paris. In our case we stopped in Northern France for a while. The pursor explained the train was lacking electricity - seems reasonable. Under the English channel took 20 min and suddenly you are in England. Ashford International is quite a friendly place. Customs officials chattered, asked where Wanganui was and wanted to know about the Earthquake. Proceeding to the arrival area we couldn't find Avis or any other rental car desk. Finally I spotted a young man in a red Avis jacket. There is no desk, they just turn up in the car and hang around waiting for the customer to find them. When I approached him he very deliberately looked at his watch and explained he was about to leave. He had that particular insolence you find in the UK and this rather fired me up. We had a rather testy few minutes in conversation before Lady W came over, pulling on her gloves. Not for long though as she had abandoned our bags and this worried the security people somewhat. Finally we drove off towards Surrey, passing the turnoff to Canterbury, Leeds Castle, Maidstone, Gatwick, Heathrow, arriving on the outskirts of Guildford. The Tomtom then took us in a number of concentric circles, up and down the A3 before we finally arrived at the Holiday Inn. In a breathtaking example of sheer ineptitude, it took 45 minutes to check in. The computers don't seem to work, the Visa thing printed off the days receipts instead of just one and the staff spent long minutes staring at screens in a puzzled way. Lady W went to sleep on a sofa. We arrived though and after a week of wonderful French food had a beer, fish and chips (Lady W) and steak pie and peas (self).

Wedding at Petworth today.

Hon Threepwood.