Monday, 28 April 2025

A mini jaunt…Paris/Berlin/Paris.

I originally booked this trip on the back of a Eurostar special offer  for cheap ticket to Paris and decided to expand on that and get a train from Paris to Berlin too.As I have just done ten days in the French capital I figured it was time I got back to Berlin…even though that’s what I’m doing things have gone a bit south with the arrangements.This was all booked up before Christmas but a few weeks ago I got a message from Eurostar to say my return to Paris from Berlin had been cancelled owing to extensive track repairs scheduled.The original plan was one night in Paris,five nights in Berlin and finish with one last night in Paris…however now I can only do two full days in Berlin but luckily one of those is May Day.A day we used to celebrate in the UK before zero hour contracts turned us all into running dog lackeys of the imperialist state… 

May Day in Germany (Der Erste Mai,Tag der Arbeit) is still the workers day but it’s also a bit of a Halloween  crack but with usually more agreeable weather .The night before is witches night (Hexennacht) and there’s usually bonfires lit and I imagine drinking to be done.Basically what I’m saying is they make a festival out of the couple of days and if you‘ve spent over a week in Germany you’ll know that it’s illegal not to have a festival going on somewhere at any given moment…Luckily my favourite part of Berlin,Kreuzberg,has an all day street thing going on.I have also been warned it often ends up with a bit of a knockabout with the Polizei.Well you don’t have to threaten me with good time…

All that‘s in the future of course,currently I’m still in Blighty speeding towards the big hole that goes under the sea.The train isn’t rammed but it’s full enough.This morning was the easiest I’ve ever gone through passport control & bag checks.The longest part was putting my belt back through the hoops of my jeans.I really should get some special old man’s elasticated nylon strides whilst going through the Eurostar terminal…

Once again I’m gonna be staying in the 20th District (Menilmontant)  and it’s in a hotel I’ve stayed in before so I know where it is(ditto Berlin) also it’s only 30secs from the metro station which is handy as I have a fairly early train tomorrow for the nine hour trip with an hour wait at Cologne  thrown in as they obviously knew I’d want a smoke break.They‘re so thoughtful…only half hour out of Paris and it’s been a smooth as silk journey with the Brucie bonus of an unoccupied seat next to me also it looks like a gorgeous day out there…

Just got into the hotel,2nd floor,lift still not fixed from the last time I was here so the little legs are getting mucho work.I had also forgotten how much walking is involved in the Paris metro.Punters should really be charging for the shoe leather…soon as I landed in the cafe opposite Menilmontant metro there was a bit of an emergency with a young woman needing medical help.She had a spaced out look and general listful demeanour sadly all too common with too many drugs taken.Luckily the medics were on hand and she managed to walk with some assistance to the ambulance so hopefully she’ll be ok without the need of a stomach pumping which I can assure is not a pleasant experience…

Anyway the day is beautiful so I’m going to spend it in the only appropriate manner by sipping cold drinks outside a bar watching the world go by.It’s nice to be back…





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