Day 269 : Arrival in Paris

My original plan was to fly out of London after visiting Betty, but seems the airport tax for flights out of Heathrow airport was a couple hundred dollars more as compared to my original flight out from Barcelona.  After speaking to Singapore Airlines, I decided that it was better to fly out from Paris since both cities are easily connected by rail and the difference in flight cost was able to cover for my train ticket to Paris!

I took the 4.01pm train to Paris and within 1hr and 16 mins, arrived in Paris.  After numerous email exchanges, I finally met Fabien for the 1st time after 3 years!

Fabien had offered to put me up at his place during my week in Paris however due to some complications at his home, he put me up at his sister’s city apartment, which she uses as a layover when she travels back to France to visit family.  The apartment was lovely and being so close to all the key attractions, it was perfect for visiting all the sights with total freedom.

 

After settling me down at the apartment, Fabien brought me to a cozy French bistro walking distance away from the apartment which served fantastic French cuisine.  People were really friendly at the bistro too!  Knowing that I was a foreigner, the table next to ours even made the effort to speak in English.  I was pleasantly surprised as I have heard often the contrary from travellers, that Parisians are extremely unfriendly and will never speak English even if they could.

Looking forward to the rest of the week’s stay in Paris!