stranded, squatting and saved in Paris

What a way to begin this year, entering France during a general strike...parfait :L ! The strike meant we still had to use our eurostar, but then couldn’t (easily) get any further, and trust me with the bags I had ease was high on my list of essentials. And so it was time to look for a hostel...amazingly a friend of mine, come life saver, promptly informed me that she actually had a spare room in Paris (huge sigh of relief)!

So after many tearful goodbyes a short hop across the channel with some ridiculously heavy bags we found ourselves walking thought Gare du Nord and seeing a very friendly face standing at the end of the platform!! Our friendly face came with us in a taxi to aforementioned spare room...and oh the taxi ride – I was excited as a three year old...first thing I saw was ‘Keira Knightly’s’ breast exposed in a somewhat more explicit Chanel poster than we tend to find in England! After that cultural experience we actually drove right past the Louvre and spotted the Eiffel Tower proudly reaching its head up over the top of the skyline and making squeal a little in excitement!

We spent the rest of that day exploring Montmatre and Sacre Coeur; which, as it happens, was my favourite part of Paris. The views, the street performers, the market of artists who were intent on drawing any passing face, the graffiti and cobbled streets. And...the best crêpe I’ve ever eaten, fact. As the evening drew in we popped into a small franco-italian resto to devour both the moules frites and the sounds of the piano.

The next day we had to sacrifice our tour guide to her university classes and so braved the metro alone, and survived! After having managed to a)buy a rail card b)refunded our tickets and c) bought new ones we rewarded ourselves to a nice meal in a small restaurant à la place de la Bastille. Followed by a huge walk from the Eiffel tower, down the Champs Elysée, trought Les Tulleries and finally around the Louvre.

It had been a whirlwind trip of Paris, that night we crashed into our single bed (being careful not to kick eachother in the face) and awaited the next morning...it was time .