Day 3 – Bastille Day

Today did not begin well. I haven’t got the sleeping patterns quite right yet, but was dozing in my hotel room, when at 5:58 a.m. the door burst open and all the lights went on. Imagine my surprise as I blearily stared at the middle-aged gent, who was muttering the room number in French, while staring, aghast at me. Anyway, after a few seconds of shock, he went back to the door, confirmed the number, then left, shutting the door behind him, leaving the lights on, and without so much as a “Comment allez-vous?” or a “Pardonnez moi”. It took twenty minutes for me to get through to Reception, and all I got was a “Pardon, monsieur, it was a mistake.” Sacre bleu!! Froggies. Just as well I had the covers on, or he really would have got a nasty surprise. Mental Note: ALWAYS throw the door safety latch, when in one’s hotel room, and planning not to be surprised by hotel staff blunders.
I rose not long later, still weary, but determined to get onto the right time zone. Did some blog work, but couldn’t see the value in paying €18 per day for the privilege. Decided to check out the free Apple Macs provided on the Ground Floor, and looked for local internet cafes. Not a lot about. Strange how one expects to see the same sights, within reason, on the streets of any city. In my wanderings, I saw only two fast-food outlets, a Subway and a McDonalds. Both were tiny corner shops, not the barns we see at home. Plenty of boulangeries, bistros, bars and cafes, or combinations thereof. Many coiffure shops and patisseries and some other indecipherable ones as well. Anyway, I found one listing near the tower, and decided to wander down. It was cooler this morning, as I made my way to the Fat Tire Bike Company in a small back street, rue de Edgar Faure. I was understandably dubious. I had looked at the map provided, but if you haven’t been here before, you cannot imagine the street structure. There is none. You’ll come to an intersection, with streets north-south and east-west, and it’s like one sector of 90 degrees has been divided down the middle, and a fifth exit goes off to the north-east or south-west. Then throw in a stack of lanes at abstract angles, and you get the idea. It is really easy to get lost.
Anyway, after plenty of time spent re-tracing my own tracks, I found a group of people practising their Segway moves. Those are the two-wheeled motorised bikes you ride standing up. I saw one young lady was the leader and she had on an identifying T-shirt, and she directed me in an American accent, around the corner, where I was welcomed to sit down and use the free wi-fi. There were hundreds of bikes, and lots of American accents, and they could not have been more accommodating. I sat there for a couple of hours while I composed the Day 2 blog, and all I bought was a bottle of water. They wouldn’t take anything else, gave me a free map when I offered to buy one, and invited me back to hang out at any time. These guys have outlets in Berlin and London as well, and give people directions on normal tour options as well as their own, and freely provide lots of local knowledge. There were plenty of visitors over the time, including several Australian folks. They are great, and they certainly kept my blog alive. I think I’m in better shape internet-wise at Lille and Amiens.
While I was there, the skies went grey and the heavens opened. The rain came down vertically. Not good for the Bastille Day festivities, I thought. I came back to my room and from the 25th floor looked out on the storm. The lightning/thunder delay was very short, and I thought at one stage it was going to come through my window. I sat and watched a couple of movies this afternoon, before the first tour get-together at 6:00pm.
It seems that only passengers from coaches 3 & 4 are billeted at this hotel, but it was good to mix and mingle with other people affected by this event. We enjoyed a drink or two, then a simple, but tasty traditional French meal, and then went for a walk at 8:15pm in bright daylight. A group of us went up to the tower, where an expected quarter of a million people or more were gathering to celebrate Bastille Day at the traditional fireworks spectacular. There were many streets blocked off, and more gendarmes, police, security, fire-fighters, ambulance and a number of other agency representatives, with full riot gear, armed to the teeth, and with every utility vehicle in the combined forces, lining the blocked streets. With an early start to the official tour on Thursday, I and many others decided not to wait until 11:00pm for the fireworks. They had to be left that late because it doesn’t get dark until then. As it turns out, my room faced exactly the opposite direction, but I got a reasonable idea of the proceedings just by watching the reflection in a couple of mirror-type buildings close by. A fireworks show is a fireworks show is a fireworks show. Enough said. The real interest was in how the public roll up and park illegally, 2, 3 and 4 deep, almost blocking the road arteries altogether, and this under the noses of the aforementioned security personnel.
Tomorrow, we will start our tour with a local look at Paris and its attractions. Am looking forward to reporting on that.
Bye for now.