Welcome to Paris

We arrived in Paris after 43 hours in transit exhausted but ridiculously excited to finally be in France. Being the transport buff he is, Dave insisted we try out the trains. We hopped onto the train at the airport with much huffing and puffing (I regret that extra pair of jeans and jumper I crammed into my already loaded bag), to catch it to the Gare du Nord station near the backpackers we are staying at. To our delight, a man jumped onto the train with an accordion and proceeded to serenade the carriage. It was like we'd landed in an old-school Parisian movie. Our awe and excitement was short-lived, however, as at the next stop the number of people in the carriage was doubled as people literally forced their way into the train. People crammed themselves just inside the door with their arms spread wide to balance as the doors shut a centimetre from their nose. And at the next stop more people boarded! I'm not one to feel claustrophobic but I was starting to feel short of breath when our stop finally came along. It was an interesting first experience in Paris but certainly not enough to put me off. I'll be avoiding peak hour trains from now on though!