The Volunteer Effect

Sleep? Pah! Overrated.

Headed out Tuesday morning to meet Whendie. She needed to get an upgraded accreditation for her first para shift in the afternoon, so I tagged along to get mine too. Bought a day ticket for the metro and headed to Place de Clichy to wait for her train to arrive then I hopped on to join her and we headed to the accreditation centre at the exhibition centre at Porte de Versailles, where we got chatting with a Dutch journalist, Chris.

After a while we got round to the desk to get our passes done. Also picked a Navigo card which allows travel on metro, etc during the games. Sadly it seems I got a dud so need to head back for a new one, but tomorrow I'm off to collect uniform so fingers crossed it'll be an easy fix.

We headed to a little boulangerie along the road near the uniform centre and I indulged in a croque monsieur.

Then time for Whendie to head off to her shift and I was heading to meet up with a UK friend, Sue, who with her sister and son were spending a few days in Paris. Today was Eiffel Tower day, and I eventually caught up with them in the gardens under the Tower.

We decided to take the lift up to the 2nd stage, where we had a fabulous view of Paris and could pick out a few of the sights.

Sue's son Jos was very excited to see 2 of his you-tube "heroes" just in front of us in the queue, so several photos were taken. (Peet Montzingo) so now I'm down and cool with the kids.

Had a lovely iced slushy which helped cool me a bit from the heat, but must remember to drink more water as the headache was starting to build.

After our climb we walked towards the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees, where we could see Place de la Concorde and the Orb/balloon where the Olympic flame was and where the Paralympic flame will be lit on Wednesday evening at the Opening Ceremony.