To lessen my perceived stress levels, I thought it best to pay for a taxi direct to Garde de Nord Station instead of taking a domestic line & changing at another station where anything could happen. I pre-booked my 1hr train trip from Paris (Garde de Nord Station) to Amiens long ago in Australia but will be tested by the enormous Garde de Nord train station for the correct platform on which Hall (Zone), as per my previous blogs.

Looking out the front of my Mercure Hotel, it has just stopped raining at 7.45am so I headed off, hoping to see a taxi, but no, so kept walking towards the other Mercure Hotel where there was a taxi rank. I should have had my hotel call a taxi .. der!!! Next to this other Mercure Hotel was the Australian Embassy with our 3 flags for God’s sake!! Arghhh!  .. Go figure, I never saw it before walking past it. Should go in & complain about our treasonous Communist Albanese Government & Commie Governor General, the flogs!!

I see the line of taxis, so I do the right thing & go to the front taxi & stated “Garde de Nord”. The driver repeated in clear English & talked as we loaded my bags into the boot & away, we go. It normally takes around 20mins & €20 for the one-way. I noticed he went another way to my compass brain, so I tracked using Google Maps. The 1^st bridge crossing came up & he did a quick turn left at the Eifel Tower, right behind a 6klms/hr street sweeper (I think he saw it, then turned hard). I said “really?”. He shrugged his shoulders. He was supposed to take the 2^nd bridge & go to the Arc de Triomphe but no, he took another 2 diversions, then I showed him my Google Maps stating the bleeding obvious. No real English now but in French says he’s in the Bus Lane in peak traffic. Another 2 blocks & we are now at The Notre Dame .. shit!! … not even close to the train station & so far from the hotel, then after me stating a few words, he repeatedly states “Fuck you” x 4 times, to which I stated right back to him. The next turn, he then heads straight to the station in peak crawling traffic. The fare ended up at €28.50 & 33mins. He did know I was right & pissed! ☹ These drivers don’t display any badges, licenses, etc so I took a picture of his number plate to vent to the company later. Don’t ever rip me off or disrespect me!! Kharma comes in many forms, but I hope in this case it hurries up.

Now for the Garde de Nord station. Looking up at the first large board I can see my train # but had to wait to see Amiens (ha .. 2^nd stop). The next winning bonus is Hall A (Ground Level) & this is where I entered the station. A win!!! Now to wait the hour or so till boarding. Being early, this Hall 1 is partly deserted, but it won’t be long till it’s crowded & insane.

Travelling to Amiens is for three reasons. The first is where the train runs through it, has more accommodation available & is a bigger city than the village of Villers-Bretonneux (closer to the war section I am preferring to see). For my accommodation I selected La Pléiade Dorée from my Booking.com provider at my Genius Level rate. Travelling to the war locations I wanted to see involves a bit of hardship + hiring a car is a bit risky for me & to firstly obtain one, so I booked the best war tour available through Tripadvisor for tomorrow. It wasn’t cheap but goes for 8hrs & includes a private vehicle with guide.

Arriving at Amiens too early to check in I found this great bakery & coffee shop .. but they need to improve on their coffee. Not good .. but bakery & seating are excellent. I did a bit more of my travel blog, but internet is not working that well, so more frustrations. Jose (off-site manager) contacted me through Booking.com stating in French that my apartment is ready. He continually sends everything in French & I must use Google Translate all the time. He now wants me to go to another address & find a lockbox with a code. Google Maps got me to the street corner but still had to find #6 & then the lockbox. 2 vehicles were up against the small steps, but in more detailed searching, something caught my eye; it was the small lockbox around a water tap & the code worked. Yay!! Now I had to go to another address (turns out around the corner). Opened the steel security gate & then said go to ground floor, room 103 or use the lift or the stairs. Well, I went into that building. No rm 103, lift access doesn’t operate for me. Security is tight at every door I see, so what do I do now?

Obviously, something is wrong, so I went back out to the security gate & reread the message. A young, very accommodating lady with French speaking only, helped me for quite some time & she was also confused on Jose’s messaging. With huge thankful smiles I let her go. Then my frustration boiled again. Nothing makes sense. Contemplating what strategies are open to me & after complete frustration I went back to see the people at the lockbox, but they shrugged their shoulders on having limited English. I typed a strong msg back to Jose & in doing so some photos turned up showing the lockbox near the concrete steps, the gate & then the back doors of building 1. I retraced my steps back through the gate (Building 1) & found more building units behind it. Entering each foyer, I was able to see the letterboxes & that told me which building had Rm103. Why he said to use the stairs or the lift got me. Well, I arrived & the apartment is very clean & well set out. Kitchen, dining & bedroom all 1 room. Quite small in area but it all fits. Separate bathroom & WC. Washing machine under kitchen bench (common in France & Germany) & that is a bonus for my laundry needs.

Unloading all my gear & wanting to venture out more & to find a grocery store for my stay I followed the security advice & escaped through the security gate to stroll down the main corridor street (no traffic allowed). This corridor was quite wide & fully paved & a little slippery when some drizzle rain started. The older buildings were quite impressive but some of the new buildings were ordinary. The first ugly one is Amiens Train Station as per my photo & the second one is right out front of the railway station & was an architect’s/ owner’s ego to build the highest building in the region but the Amiens citizens call it the “ugly pencil“. I note, down another street is the Cathedrale Notre-Dame d’Amiens with restoration works happening. It is obvious this cathedral has a very important history for more of my research.

Now closer to dinner time I’ll venture out before dark & then bed early for a HUGE day tomorrow, so I’ll end my Blog #12 here. Many thanks for reading my blogs. My next blogs will be living the WW1 experience & keeping a ‘promise’ I made some time ago to visit the Sir John Monash War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux & other places he was well-versed on, etc for my youngest brother, Rod who suddenly passed away in 2017. Please stay safe, happy & healthy. Cheers.