Paris 7: On the Rails

We went to Paris by Eurostar - which mean we went from the wonderful pristine splendour of the new St Pancras to dour and dull Paris du Nord.

But that may just be a fair reflection of the respective National psyches.  We think of rail travel to Europe as still something new and special - whereas for much of the mainland it is, well, just normal; so why make a big fuss? (*)

Once in Paris, of course, there is great pleasure to be had from the Metro and RER services.  They cover the city commendably efficiently, while at the same time remaining quirky and occasionally quite weird.

I particularly loved the old-world feel of the Gare d'Austerlitz, which we used when we went to the Jardin des Plantes.  But there are also real oddities further down river, near the Eiffel Tower:

Take this bridge - the lower level is a road, but the upper level (supported on pillars in the central reservation) is for metro trains. 

Like this:

This is the Pont de Bir-Hakeim (previously the Pont de Passy) - built for the 1900 World's Fair and featured in many films, including Inception, for those of you who like that kind of thing.

Just a little way further along the Seine is the Pont Rouelle,which arcs across the Seine carrying the RER C:

This is the viw back to the Tour from the bridge, taken one dark and lowering evening:; the Bir Hakeim is just visible.

And the Bir-Hakeim from the RER station at the Champs du Mars:

An underground railway station - under a major road - that looks out over a river. How cool is that? 

Of course, the other great wonder to us Brits, is that the RER has double-decker trains.  We can't imagine such a thing happening in the UK, with our tiny National loading gauge.

(*) This is a little overstated of course.  For years the boat train left for the continent from Victoria, via Dover.  But somehow, still, that was incredibly romantic and special by comparison with much (not all) cross-European travel.

Paris 6: Montmartre, Sacre Couer

So that evening we went to Pigalle (fleshpots, basically - think Soho) and caught the joyous little MontMartrobus (think P12) up the hill.  We missed the stop the first time around and ended up on the other side (Mairie du 18e – Jules Joffrin). 

So we had to change busses, but luckily the tickets were still valid so we raced up the other way. This explains.

Anyway, whether you walk, bus or travel by funiculaire (or cycle - we saw some of those too), at the top of the butte is Sacre Couer:

- which is pretty fantastic (if incredibly touristy).

And this view:

The one thing that surprised us was that we couldn't see the Eiffel Tower from where we stood - the angle is probably all wrong.

Then we wandered down past artists, restaurants and twee shops. 

If the top is touristy, this was the same, many times over.  For a while we sat outside a little bistro (La Boheme), on Rue de Mont Cenis and watched street theatre - in the widest sense.   I like all this; the rest of the family perhaps less so. 

We wandered amongst the artists in the Place du Tertre (lots of easels; offering to paint/draw/caricature anyone that moves - for the right fee). 

Then we stopped for a meal in a terriffic pizza / French restaurant with a live piano player (who included some fun stuff in his repertoire and turned out to be English), on the corner of Rue Norvins and Rue Poulbot (La Petaudiere).

We finally descended precipitously to the nearest Metro, before heading back to Wagram...

Paris 4: Tour Again

Wrapped around the first level of the Eiffel Tower are the names of 72 scientists, engineers and other notable Frenchmen. 

Several of these names I recognised - Le Chatelier, Gay-Lussac above for example. 

But this can be misleading: the Le Chatelier recognised on the Tower is Louis - it is his son who is the more famous, and  whom Le Chatelier's Principle commemorates.   So the Le Chatelier I thought I recognised was not actually there.

Wikipedia has a good entry on all of these names - all apparently chosen by Eiffel, and all men. 

The names were chosen in the 1880s, of course.  Just before the worlds of chemistry and physics were  overturned by atomic theory, radioactivity, relativity and quantum mechanics.  I couldn't help wondering which famous French men (and women) would have been memorialised if the Tower had been built fifty years later  - or a hundred.  The younger Le Chatelier and Carnot; both Curies, of course.  Who else?

Paris 3: Another Tour

After Les Invalides, we headed off for another Tour.  This one (as seen from the wet and rainy Batobus river cruise a day or so before):

The building is a gorgeous latticework of metal, even when just seen from the ground:

We'd booked ahead (for the others, not me - I don't do high things) - so all queues were avoided.  As I didn't ascend, the next few photos are by younger son.  (And there are others scattered through the other Paris posts...)