16. Paris - It feels like home

We packed our suitcases in Milan last night, cleaned our tiny (less than 40sq.m), uncomfortable and over-priced apartment and went out for dinner.  

Japanese in Milan is always going to be a challenge, but my prawn wanton soup was the star of the show, closely followed Paul's stir fried beef with fresh asparagus.  Hiro at Shiri Nui in Glen Waverley would have had a fit, but it was clean cooking and fresh with no wheat in sight.

The rain stopped long enough for a stroll to the newly renovated Milan canal area.  Originally designed by Leonardo da Vinci in the 1400s and redeveloped many times since, this was the most recent hi-tech, re-generation of the waterways in this inland city.

Sunday night at 9pm and it was packed.

This morning found us out on the main road, in the rain, at 7.20 am waiting for our taxi that never arrived.  Anyone who knows us also knows that 7.20 am is not a time we are even awake let alone standing in the rain waiving frantically at every one of the hundreds of taxis that passed us but did not stop (despite two calls to the booking number).  Finally, at 8.15 a young driver finally stopped for us and managed to get us to Garibaldi Station by 8.35 am.  We found our seats on the TGV to Paris with 4 minutes to spare.

My imagined very fast train trip to Paris was abysmally slow.  Milan to Torino was quick enough, but the following leg over the Alps to Grenoble took forever.  Not because of the mountains but because the train kept stopping in the middle of nowhere, for what seemed to be no reason, on many, many occasions.  

There was still a little bit of snow on the Alps as we went through the mountain passes near Frejus and then into Grenoble.  Up through Lyon and finally a good, fast run into Paris.
The trip took seven and a half hours from Porta Garibaldi, Milan to Gare de Lyon, Paris.  We transferred directly to the RER A and went one station to Chatalet-Les Halles followed by an upward hike of about four levels to ground level and arrived virtually at our front door within 20 minutes of getting off the TGV.  Paul had to do a bit of extra heavy heaving of the bags, when one of the escalators stopped, but all was well.

Here we are at the cafe at the end of our building, having coffee, using the loo and waiting for Simona to meet us with the key.

This is our third extended stay in the Les Halles area.  Here is our local Metro entry-exit.

Feels like home already!