2 months, 2 kids, 2 continents (technically)

Those old “carnet” paper books of 10 tickets for the Paris metro are being phased out, so time to add a new smart card to my collection—Navigo Easy—destined to join the Oysters, Opals and others in that shoebox full of random travel stuff back home.

7B0064A6-99C5-41C6-AF1A-E5A6B12A91B7.jpeg

€2 for the card, but if you load a carnet onto it, it’s only €14.90, instead of €16.90 for the paper ones, so the card is effectively free.

8yo travels for half price and 3yo travels for free, although exactly how this is achieved wasn’t entirely clear. In London there’s wide gates for luggage and prams on the tube. The Paris metro just has thin turnstiles with a tall door on the other side. And there’s very rarely anyone manning the gates to help you through.

I asked about this when buying the tickets: just go through together, basically, was the answer. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze but just about doable. We’ve only had one issue, at the Funicular at Monmatre today: 3yo somehow got through the turnstile too quickly, leaving my wife stuck on the wrong side. You can’t scan again, so she had to vault over. No one batted an eyelid.
 
Last edited:
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

That’s just about it from Paris for us. Tomorrow we head south to Bordeaux.

A lovely few days here. We’re exhausted, though. It’s a lot of walking at the best of times. Pushing a pram, navigating Metro stairs with a 3yo and 8yo, and negotiating the occasional peace agreement when things take a turn (usually solved via ice cream, tbh) only add to the exhaustion levels.

The La Résidence Nell | Opera Paris **** where we’ve been staying has been great too. It’s in a buzzing little location on a street corner in the 9eme arrondissement. Of an evening we can put the children to bed in the living room and sit with a drink and people watch through our window as Paris comes and goes below us…

91F37567-C8D5-4811-BC7C-0E2AF65D017F.jpeg

0D830B4E-9756-40B4-AB0F-81DC55E4F4CA.jpeg
 
Thoroughly enjoying the TR. I was in Paris in March 2020 but had to bug out early as covid was sweeping through and I had to get back to Oz ASAP. So thanks for showing me a lot of what I missed :) (One advantage was that there were few other tourists so I had Versailles etc almost to myself). I only have school boy French (Quebequois, actually) and I too noticed an attitudinal change to Anglos over my previous visit there about a decade prior. Still, splutter ... English on the signs??!!

1656111726289.png
 
Oh my! your photos are killing me! I want to go back. But seriously I loved looking at your photos. My perfect Paris lunch, a baguette, jambon, fromage, fresh berries and sitting in a park looking at the Eiffel Tower. Bliss! I love walking the streets of Paris.
 
Oh my! your photos are killing me! I want to go back. But seriously I loved looking at your photos. My perfect Paris lunch, a baguette, jambon, fromage, fresh berries and sitting in a park looking at the Eiffel Tower. Bliss! I love walking the streets of Paris.
The strawberries were amazing. Never tasted any quite as ripe as that in Oz. From the little fruit and veg place on the corner around from our hotel. Just picked up some more for the train…

A6844897-EA6D-4AB7-9098-0C481E29F50C.jpeg
 
@MattA I love the fish produce stalls of France. Everything tastes so sweet and delicious. I wish we had more of them in Australia. The French people love to shop the local markets almost daily. Enjoy those sweet strawberries :)
 
The TGV to Bordeaux departs from Gare Montparnasse, across the other side of Paris. Booked an Uber this time, after the taxi experience on Tuesday. At €37 an Uber Van to go nearly 8kms across town was significantly cheaper than what old mate had been trying to charge us to get the <2kms from Gare du Nord to our hotel.

The TGV takes just 2 hours to get to Bordeaux. We were in «1 classe» but that just means a slightly bigger seat. There’s no included catering on French trains, so we BYOed again, French style.

07AFF2A2-2691-4478-A2AC-614A18F5EA70.jpeg

8yo very excited to see that it was a double decker. We were upstairs.

B6A2FEC1-B314-4655-811F-A2B286311485.jpeg

The 2 hours whizzed by, with most of the family taking the opportunity for a high-speed doze.

56911FD8-123C-4308-8D0F-E19F13A9C9F2.jpeg

Real-time map, train version:

EE004E98-18D6-43D5-8FF6-86BE66D66B8C.jpeg

Before we knew it, we were in Bordeaux…

7112F2EC-90CF-4B84-8966-7284B7F5F52D.jpeg
 
Sponsored Post

Struggling to use your Frequent Flyer Points?

Frequent Flyer Concierge takes the hard work out of finding award availability and redeeming your frequent flyer or credit card points for flights.

Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, the Frequent Flyer Concierge team at Frequent Flyer Concierge will help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

We’re not staying in Bordeaux itself, but rather about an hour inland, along the Dordogne. It’s here that we meet up with my (UK-based) parents, as well as my sister and her partner.

We have wheels for this part of the trip. Time to get used to driving on the right (wrong) side of the road again.

89D16963-7448-45AE-9D65-1910B41ACBDD.jpeg

We’re staying in a lovely gîte in the middle of a winery. After a bit of rain on Saturday and Sunday the clouds have cleared and it is glorious here.

97BC1D1B-CE36-4B82-ADC8-CC4FA00E909F.jpeg

We’re on the top of the hill overlooking the vines.

732D1844-CB0C-4952-84BA-23185514B7E1.jpeg
E6D67C86-6F0F-4FE1-9F2F-75E9410F9A09.jpeg
65193E5C-F066-4559-A890-958A049A979A.jpeg
 
Back
Top