I can walk!

Well, so, I'm not rendered unable to walk. This is a good thing, after all of yesterday's walking.

And I managed to wake up in time to pack and get to the airport in plenty of time.

And I got through security with only mild hassle - the key seems to be wear flat shoes and a sweater not a coat. You'll still get groped, but it will be much less hassle for you then taking off your shoes and  a coat and a scarf and all that, and still ending up setting off their alarm for a "random check".

And now I have coffee and a pain au chocolat, and the bakery woman amuses me greatly - she's going on holiday later today and is very clearly looking forward to it. Her colleagues, not so much.

I hate going back to Paris, though, and every time it seems to get worse. However, since miracles and lottery wins are equally unlikely to happen, I'm going to have to find a way to get used to it. Any suggestions?

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Public transport in Nice, France

Or, How to use the tram.

This seems to be something people struggle with, so I thought I'd be brave and explain how it works, in the hopes that more people going on holiday will google holiday in Nice, and then find out all about the public transport system before they get here, rather than as they go.

(Yes, there is some self-interest here. Who'd have thought?)

OK, so, public transport in Nice itself can be boiled down to 3 main types: tram, train and bus.

The tram is the easiest, there are only two lines: one running in one direction, one running in the other. You buy your ticket before you get on the tram - each tram stop has a ticket machine, which takes credit cards and cash. You can buy either a 1 euro solo ticket (one use only, can be used for a transfer within 74 minutes onto the bus, or a later tram, but not a tram heading in the opposite direction, as far as I remember. You should check that at the Ligne d'Azur website though...) or you can buy a 4 euro day pass, valid until the end of the service for that day (or possibly midnight, whatever) rather than for 24 hours. This is valid on buses or trams, in any direction, as many times as you like for that day. You can't buy a ticket on the tram, you must buy it beforehand, and then validate it on the tram, by sticking it into the little box with a slot in. The box will whir and then spit your ticket back out. Remember to pick it up, particularly if it's a day pass.

The bus is more complicated, and I'm assuming if you're getting the bus, you already know where you're going. You can buy a ticket on the bus, the same solo/day pass options exist, and a day pass that you bought earlier for the tram works on the bus too. If you're getting a bus out of town - to Monaco, or the airport, or St Paul de Vence or wherever, the day pass probably won't work, so you'll need to buy another ticket. With the exception of the airport buses, these only cost a euro ish each way anyway, so it's not a major expense. Airport buses are more expensive - but the day pass might work with them, thinking about it. The ticket they sell you on the airport buses is a day pass - check with the driver, but don't be too surprised if you end up having to pay for a new one. Once you have your ticket, remember to validate it in the little box by the driver (don't try and get in at the back door, some drivers are bad tempered and will shout at you for it, thinking you're trying to steal a free ride) - it, too, will whir and spit your ticket back. Pick it up before walking to find a seat.

Train, well, you presumably all know how trains work. Concept is the same the world over. (If you live in the US/other transport deprived country and actually haven't taken a train before, well, let me know and I'll get more specific if need be :P ) Nice station has a lot of ticket machines all over the main concourse, and a manned counter which always has a long queue. I'd use the machines if possible - they usually take both cards and cash, even for small amounts. Once you have your ticket, you need to make sure you stamp it in the small yellow/orange composteur machines. This puts a time and date stamp on it, and without that stamp, it's the same as if you hadn't bothered buying a ticket. You're still liable for penalty fares and things, if your ticket is checked. So do remember to stamp it. They are usually placed near the ticket machines, and more sensible stations (Note: Nice isn't one of them) will have composteurs on the platforms. (In Nice, they're only at the entrance to the platforms. Compost before you run for the train.)

So, yeah, basic run down on public transport. This will hopefully stop you looking as utterly confused as the tourists who wandered through the whole tram looking for somewhere to buy their tickets...

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Paris: Saturday

[NB: All these posts were written on the train on the way back. I'm spacing out the posting to keep you all suitably entertained without overwhelming you with my brilliant prose, and so that Google likes my blog again.]

This morning started way too early, my luggage is too heavy and it has a broken wheel and the train station smelt of wee. This is almost guaranteed to put me in a bad mood, particularly given that I didn’t get coffee until at least an hour after I’d been nominally awake. So, in theory, you will see a slight improvement in tone across the following posts, since I’m now happily installed on the train with headphones and caffeinated. But I guarantee nothing, and anyone complaining moves to the head of the list of people up against the wall come the Revolution.

So, I singularly failed to update you this week on what I’ve been up to. I may or may not tell you why at a later date. Probably not, since this blog is Googleable and I use my real name on it – if you’re really curious, you probably have another way to contact me to ask. It’s not really important or dire or anything, so don’t worry if you never find out...

Anyway, we’d got as far as the weekend, I think, hadn’t we. Saturday, in fact. My darling boyfriend (who is reading this over my shoulder) braved the laundrette while I insisted on staying asleep. When I finally surfaced, the boulangerie provided breakfast in the form of croissant and coffee (2 croissants in fact, since the first was “very small” - apparently my new starvation-inspired look concerns complete strangers now) and then we went for what was going to be the walk in the LP guidebook from several years ago around the Marais. But it started raining, and we got bored of following their directions, so we went for lunch in a very nice cafe on Place des Voges, next to all the art galleries in the covered arches. I promised myself I’d remember its name, but can’t, offhand. When I get internet I might be able to find it again – but it’s not Cafe Hugo, who ignored us for a good 10 minutes til we got bored and walked out. I know Paris has a reputation for crappy waiter service, but that’s genuinely the first time I can remember ever having experienced it. I still think the reputation is generally undeserved.

After a galette, we went for a walk along the Canal St Martin. (Those of you following along closely will notice that my non-wheat, non-dairy diet takes a very heavy battering in this story. This is because I can only concentrate on avoiding one dietary issue at a time when eating out, and nuts are a bigger concern at the moment.) The Canal St Martin is very long, and if I can get Google Maps to work, below you should find a picture showing you how far we walked.

[Google Maps image will go here - my internet time is running out, so it's not going here just yet...]

Along the way, we saw tramps, pigeons showering in the fountains (would that the tramps had thought about doing similarly) and random grafitti telling us that “Paris is slow” - not the usual impression one has of Paris, but there you go. We also pass several locks and bridges, photos of which I may post when I get them up online.

Arriving at Parc de la Vilette, we took the bus – and tram – back to the hotel and a nice hot bath. We went for dinner in Chatelet – escalope de veau, chips and salad – and then went to enjoy a post-dinner concert kindly laid on by the mairie de Paris and FNAC, in front of the Hotel de Ville. My musical knowledge is, well, non-existent, so I’ve no idea if the people playing were famous. I had heard of the last people to play – Nada Surf – but that’s more by accident than design; the others had lovely names though. We were eating dinner while they were playing, but Lonely Drifter Karen and Lily Wood and The Prick have charming names. (And my apologies to the people who came first; not only did we not hear you play, but I can’t even remember your name. You’re probably not reading this anyway, though, so that’s ok.) After that, we followed the crowds into the metro and went home for sweet, sweet sleep.

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Paris: Day 1

These blog posts are obviously being written with a bit of a delay, and on an AZERTY keyboard. Any misplaced a's, q's, z's and w's are due to that. What punctuation you'll get is anyone's guess... Photos will follow when I get access to a computer with a SD card slot and internet. Possibly in September, at this rate.

Alors, I left you at stupid o'clock, waiting for the Eurostar. It duly arrived, with very un-British efficiency, and we got to Paris for mid-morning. Our hotel is near the Parc Montsouris, so after checking in, we went for a walk through there and had a picnic lunch, fending off tame (hungry) ducks as we ate. People feeding the ducks at the park may seem like an innocent hobby, but they grow to expect it. Saying "no" doesn't work well with ducks...

From there, we walked through to Saint Michel and Notre Dame - they've finished cleaning Notre Dame now and all the scaffolding is gone. This is the first time I've ever seen it without some work being done - it's lovely! Then we walked along the banks of the Seine, where Paris has opened "Paris plage", a series of cafes and activities to entertain those left in the capital over summer. We walked up to the Louvre and through its courtyards, then headed back to the hotel.

Dinner was in Montparnasse, in a restaurant we go to at least once whenever we're in town. The food was fabulous, as usual, and we followed dinner with a walk past the Hotel des Invalides to the Eiffel Tower, arriving as the sun was setting. It was a gorgeous sunset, and there are many, many photos living on my camera which tried to catch it.

Time is now running out on my internet ticket, so the rest of my trip will have to wait to be written up for a little while. Highlights so far include Chartres, the Louvre, a free concert outside the Hotel de Ville and the Canal St Martin...

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Packing

Packing continues - we're being temporarily evicted from our flat for August, so the landlady's family can live in it, which means we need to pack everything we own up into suitcases again. (We knew about it before we moved in, it's not some terrible surprise.) We're going back to the UK for a bit, and then to Paris for a week and a half, then spending most of August in a studio in Nice.

Assuming we don't kill each other living in a studio for a month in the middle of 35 degree weather with no internet, we'll be back here at the beginning of September, normalement. I shall try and find internet to check email, at least, and post here on occasion to let you know I'm not dead, but it will be sporadic at best. (Sign up for the RSS feed to be automatically updated when I post.)

I intend to use the month to write my next story with no internet distractions, lie on the beach, do some more cross stitch and read a lot of crappy English books that I'd never normally read from Gibert Jeune. I hope you all have a wonderful summer too!

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