im-okey-dokey: Paris (again!)

This was not my first time in Paris at all. Actually it was the fifth time! However, I had not been there for fully five years. I decided to fly Air France as the price of low cost airlines were not different in August. The cheapest prices are usually either very early in the morning or very late at night. AF flight 1169 departed from Manchester 40 minutes later than scheduled. This was good as the security checked point queue was too long for me to arrive at the gate on time. An hour and a half later, I arrived at Paris CDG and one more hour on RER, I was at the centre of Paris. Coming up from the RER to the street level, I could smell the breeze I have smelled years ago. People were riding bicycles. The green RATP buses passed by. The trees on the pavements I was standing were green as it was summer. The sky was dark blue as the sun had gone down. When bus line 95 was approaching, Pascal handed me a ticket, we rode the bus and dropped off at Avenue Les Goblins. Pascal's apartment looked exactly the same. Plates and cutlery I have ever used were still there. None of them seemed to be lost nor broken. I felt the time was stopped when I left this place and it resumed again when I was back. I went to bed early and could not wait for the next morning.

Some people might have thought it was a bit crazy that the first thing I did here in Paris was swimming. Swimming pool or "Piscine" in French could be found around the city. They are also cheap and clean. After the swimmin, it was time to have a snack and a cup of coffee. The French seem to be able to preserve their brasseries even some major cafe like Starbucks are spreading. After the morning cofee, we went to Porte d'Italie to see the new tram line "T3" services from Porte d'Ivry to Porte du Garigliano. Unlike most of metro lines, tram services are on street levels, therefore passengers might not be bored looking around. We continued our journey with RER to Tour de Eiffel, one of the world most famous landmark. She was standing tall welcoming all tourists from all around the world. From Eiffel Tower, we ended our today trip at Avenue des Champs Elesee, one of the most famous and expensive street in the world. Just window shopping is worth coming here.

We went to Minako's picnic at Canal St.Martin that evening. Both sides of the canal were full of restaurants, cinemas, people, musics and dance floors. Minako was an incredible japanese woman, speaking fluently in 5 languages (or more), holding postgrad-degrees in Physics and Maths from many countries as well. She also has got various type of friends. Holding camera at 45 degree is her character that I really like. We left the picnic late at night. I prepared myself for Musee du Louvre the next day.