Trains lead to wine

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Welcome to Episode three of TTI (Tina’s Train Investigations). I’m not getting any smarter but I’m getting through the wine.

I arrived in Paris yesterday after the debacle with booking tickets to a) the wrong place then b) on the wrong day.

It turns out that I also have a special skill for buying tickets that can’t be used. I did it once in Marseille so I thought I’d have another crack in Paris. I decided I would be really modern and buy a day pass for the Paris Metro, using their app called Navigo.

Unfortunately I can’t tell you anything about it because even though I paid 12 Euros for a day pass, it didn’t actually work. It was another ‘Bapbow” and a big red X for me at the turnstile. Am I trapped in an episode of the Voice?

So I had to join all the ants in the line to buy a physical ticket as there was no card or phone payment.

Did I mention the heatwave in Paris? By this time I was sweaty, busting for a wee and very close to tears.

It was that bad that I had to ask the boys to avoid jokes for at least five minutes once I finally got to my hotel. And get me to a bar. ASAP.

A bottle of wine at lunch with mes enfants and Eric fixed things.

Some art then another bottle of wine at afternoon tea kept me on an even keel. And a final one at my favourite bar in Paris, Chez Nous, capped it off.

We happened to be in Paris during an outdoor music festival, where on every street corner there was someone amazing. I enjoyed a band called French Time, near my hotel.

This morning as I went on the hunt for a Monoprix backpack, the scene couldn’t have been more different.

I have literally never seen so much garbage everywhere or watched it cleaned up so efficiently. I had to breathe through my nose on this walk – the toilet/rubbish smell was pervasive.