Europe Holiday 2015 - Day Nine

Up at 7:30. Markus' wife was still ill. Markus prepared bread, meats, cheese and yogurt for breakfast. Then we went shopping for German cosmetics and the missus found almost everything that was on her list. Yes, she'd prepared a list just for German shopping.

This strange bike would take a bit of getting used to

Lovely buildings in Heidelberg

They still have cigarette vending machines in public

 After the shopping Markus checked the timetable and saw that our ICE train was running 15 minutes late. He had warned me about Deutsche Bahn not being very reliable and once again they weren't. At least you could rely on how unreliable they admitted to being as it was, indeed, 15 minutes late. There was no difficulty in catching our train as it pulled up at the station where it was supposed to. Short trip to Karlsruhe then a quick change for the TGV to Paris.

Euro petrol prices

It's a mini, not a maxi

Guide to the wagon/carriage arrangement for different train types

 We waited at the correct section on the platform for our wagon but the train wagons were lined up backwards so we had to run to the other end of the train to board. Some passengers were obviously complaining to the conductor who didn't seem to care too much. A couple were in our seats so they had to move. Dammit, I paid nine euros for my reservation so they my seats.

Our TGV to Paris

Tony Abbott would be horrified with the scenery

Nice photo considering that we were travelling at over 300 km/h perpendicular to the traffic

319 km/h - topped out at 320 I recall

  After departing Strasbourg we came across our first beggar, in our carriage, who was adamant that we should give him some money. This I refused to do. It was only after he left empty-handed that I realised that I had all of my coins sitting on the table in front of me. No wonder he was expecting to get paid.

Could do with some bug cleaner after that run

 We arrived in Paris at Gare de L'est and walked to Gare du Nord, as instructed by our host. Grabbed some tourist guides and purchased a couple of museum passes. Took a bit of finding. Had to find the train line, RER B, which we did, but our destination wasn't mentioned. I wasn't about to board any old train lest we became lost with all of our luggage. Asked three people and the third, who wasn't French, was able to tell me that the platform we were on wasn't for our train. That much I had guessed. I saw some other platforms over yonder and realised that was where we needed to be. And so it was. Reached Luxembourg station, followed the street directions and were then at our apartment with our host waiting for us. Her daughter was with her and we gave her a kangaroo. Spoke for quite some time as I wanted as much information as I could obtain about getting around. And she was very good about it.

Courtyard outside our apartment which is on the left

 We were too tired to see much - bought some fruit and veg and items from the nearby shops for dinner. At 9 pm we decided that a walk would be pleasant but Jardin du Luxembourg was closed and they were kicking people out. Took to the local streets instead.

Pantheon was just around the corner

Parisian buildings in silhouette