Wednesday 9th seemed to drag on forever. My first flight to Dubai (followed by a flight to Paris) was not scheduled to leave Melbourne until 10.55pm and by early morning I had everything packed and I was ready to go.
The windows and the street view gives the apartment a very Parisian feeling 
Addis the Cat. Named after Ethiopia's capital as Lise and Greg have been there. 
Here is me after being on the road for a long time. I didn't feel particularly jet lagged... Yet. 
And here is my stuff. Making myself at home in a corner of their apartment. 
Lise had to go back to work leaving me to chill, blog and refresh myself in the apartment.
Funny that you then get some doubts. Too much idle time?
Should I go? Am I doing the right thing? Life would have been so much more simple if I just stayed at home. Simplicity.
Of course, once the action starts, you're all for it. Take risks. Expand the boundaries etc
I discovered around midday that yesterday's QF9 flight was delayed by 3 hours and 25 minutes. It left Melbourne Airport 2.20am. For a short little while I thought that I was my plane but then I realized that it came up in my search because it had still not arrived in Dubai.
Regarding my flights, I was lucky. Both flights Melbourne to Dubai and Dubai to Paris were on time. No airport / airplane pics but a few notes:
- I had a great seat from Dubai. A 380 plane means the non cattle class are upstairs and my economy set was in row 5 below. I could look directly into the cockpit from where I sat. Very nice.
- Emirates provided free wifi in the plane from Dubai. Only 10MB and unbelievably slow but still. It worked.
- At one stage when I was checking the flight path I realized that the plane went south to north along the border between Iraq and Afghanistan. "Nice" places like Mosul was almost directly underneath the flight path. I didn't really like that.
From CDG I took the train to Gare de Nord from where I walked to La Chapelle station for a metro ride to Alexandre Dumas station. From there it is just a short walk to Lise and Greg's place.
Look out for that blue front door.
And here is Lise in hers and Greg's Parisian apartment:
Apartment overview. It is a one bedroom apartment with combined kitchen / dining :
The view out from their window. Pere Lachaise cemetery in the background.
Later in the evening, I walked to Lise's job once she finished for the day, she works for a firm called "One Fine Stay".
Nice facilities off a busy road around a courtyard.
From there we went to a beautifully grotty hole in the wall wine-bar called Bubar, a play with words as barbu is the French word for "bearded" which is exactly what the owner was.
The wine-bar was just one short street off the Bastille and very close to restaurant Bofinger where we went for dinner in 2013. Here is Lise outside that restaurant.
Lise's brother Antonie and dad Francois joined us later at the wine bar. Sorry, no photos. We had far too much fun to remember taking photos.
After saying goodbye to dad and brother, Lise and I walked back to their place again.
And as time is approaching midnight, it is finally good night from me after a very very long day.
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