Paris was angry with us today, or at least that is what it seemed like to us.  We got to the metro station this morning and it turned out that our 5 days metro passes have already expired.  No big deal, we thought, we will just get a daily ticket. This metro station however,  does not have a machine to buy tickets and the shop upstairs would not take a credit card for any purchase under €15, also no bank in sight.  So we wondered to the next station down the line, dragging our luggage behind.  Finally we got the tickets at a shop on the way there but they did not have any kids tickets so we had to get adults ones for everyone.  When we got to the station, I got stuck in the gate trying to get through with my large suitcase.  Actually, I got through but the suitcase got caught in the jaws of metro gate.  Anna scanned her ticket to let the suitcase through but that meant she could not get in now.  Christ!  Finally, she  got in through the exit gate as other people were leaving and we got to the main train station.  We decided to ditch the suitcases and go for a walk since we still had about 3 hours before we were to board the train. At first we could not find the lockers, when we did we could not find a locker large enough to fit the largest of the three small suitcases we brought with us.  Finally we found a locker, we put our suitcases in and realized that this again will need cash.  No worries, off to the change machine we went, but the machine will not change a €50 note.   Anna went wondering around the train station trying to break a  €50 bill so we could jam the darn suitcases in, put the coins in and lock them up.  Finally, with a bottle of water in hand and a pocket full of change, Anna arrived to put an end to this misery.  By now it seems like we have been traveling for 3 hours.  The locker we found was out of order and would not lock.  By then there are 50 people in the locker room frantically looking for a large locker for their huge suitcases. We scramble, and frantically look around for a new locker and finally, we stopped one, shoved our luggage in, locked the darn thing and set off for a walk.  After a nice and relaxing walk we sat down to have lunch at a little corner bistro called L’Atmosphere in St. Martin. Truly a lovely place with great service.  Food was great, dessert even better and the hot chocolate that Anna and Boris ordered were hands down the best hot chocolate to date, better than the one we had in San Gimignano.  Time to pay.  The crazy credit card machine would not connect, we stood there for about 5 min as the waitress jiggled the cables and preformed some other techno voodoo to make it work.  By now it was 3:06 and our train was leaving at 3:22pm.  Needles to say we booted to the train station, got our luggage and finally settled in our comfy seats.  What a day, and we haven’t even left Paris yet.