The French Collection

[Ali Smith]

I'm not sure how I missed photographing that engine either-it is rather splendid.

[Ali Smith]

"As I walk along the Bois de Boulogne with an independent air..."

This was to be our last full day in France and we had decided to visit the David Hockney exhibition at Fondation Louis Vuitton in the Bois de Boulogne. This is too far to walk from our hotel, and the journey by Métro is not the simplest for beginners like us, but I found that a number 43 'bus would take us from Gare du Nord all the way to the northern edge of the Bois du Bologne (a big park) without changing. Even better it allowed us to see more of Paris rather than the insides of several tunnels.
We had plenty of time to complete the trip before the time on our pre-booked tickets so we had a coffee at one of the cafés opposite Gare du Nord.



Here you can see the full extent of the station, a Métro entrance and a waiter. What you can't see is that the waiters here still wear the traditional long white aprons, although they are no longer starched.
Once on the 'bus we were made to feel old by young ladies offering us their seats. Due to his ankle trouble Rob took up the offer but I persisted in pretending to be a gentleman and remained standing.
We reached the Bois in plenty of time and strolled along like the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo until we reached a coffee stall where we enjoyed that beverage until it was time for the exhibition. Perhaps I should use the French term 'exposition' because since returning home I have discovered that 'exhibition' exists as a perfectly proper word in French. What it refers to is not so proper however, as it means 'indecent exposure'.
We enjoyed the show, and were pleased to see the Normandy paintings which we hadn't seen before. One had working rain, which is quite a trick. I think it was created on an i-pad then shown on a much larger screen.
On the way back we got off the 'bus at Saint-Augustin to visit the church of the same name.



I wanted to see this 19th century building as it was built on a constricted and oddly-shaped site and has structural ironwork inside, although cast in an ecclesiastical style. It looked very fine from the outside, but it was closed throughout August. Presumably God takes His holidays in that month like most French people.
Still, all was not lost and we made our way to Opéra Garnier. This is very opulent within and one can go in and have a look for a fee when there isn't a show on. It was twenty minutes to closing time so we didn't go in there either.
Next on the agenda were the two nearby 'grands magazins'.  We weren't here for shopping, but both have roof galleries from which you can view the city.
For no particular reason we chose Printemps rather than Galeries Lafayette.



Fortunately, there are escalators all the way to the top, but to get onto the gallery you need to buy a drink. Never mind.
Here is the opera house we didn't go in. As you can see it's quite fancy on the outside.



The snazzy domes on Printemps's roof.



Here's Notre Dame. I don't know what the wonky building on the left is.






This is a view of nearby rooftops. The tall black thing is Tour Montparnasse, apparently the most hated building in Paris. It has a viewing gallery which locals speak highly of because the one landmark you can't see from there is...Tour Montparnasse. Mind you, they used to say the same about



Finally, here is another view of nearby rooftops; look at all those chimneys and that big metal thing.



On the other side of the building there didn't seem to be a way to the exterior, but I managed to get this snap of Sacré Coeur through a window.



Having returned to ground level we caught a 'bus back to our hotel. We dined at Brasserie Terminus Nord, opposite the Gare du Nord. I didn't have high hopes of this as its location suggested it might be inclined to fob off desperate travellers with second rate, overpriced grub, but it is recommended by the man in seat 61 (more of him later) and we found it very satisfactory.
The following day we returned home. Eurostar check in was much the same as at St. Pancras but seemed slower and clunkier. It was perhaps a bit cramped and not so effectively laid out. Still, we caught our booked train and were whisked to London, arriving on time. Having got off the train I thought we would be free to make our own way to the suburban platforms or anywhere else we fancied, but no. We were funnelled down a ramp where we walked past half a dozen Border Force officers who eyed us suspiciously. Eventually we found ourselves on Euston Road. From there we went back in and caught a train to Bedford and home.
Thus ended our French adventure. This all happened at the end of July and beginning of August. I expect the Christmas markets for which Alsace is noted will have started by now, so I apologise for dragging my heels with this narrative.
I'll do another instalment in due course about services and sources of information we found useful.

[Bealman]

Excellent! I have really enjoyed this adventure. Great pictures and narrative. Thanks for posting!  

[Train Waiting]

Très bon; très, très bon.

Merci

John

[Newportnobby]

'Printemps' also means 'springtime' in French

[Bealman]

Well that's taken me back to me schooldays, monsewer 

[joe cassidy]

Do they still mistake monkeys for Frenchmen in Hartlepool George ?

[Bealman]

  

[Ali Smith]

The Epilogue

Anyone contemplating a trip abroad by train would do well to see what The Man in Seat 61 (Mark Smith-no relation) has to say at www.seat61.com .
 
Having decided where and when you wish to go, there are various websites where you can book train tickets and hotels. We decided to use a specialist travel agent and chose Tailor Made Rail (tailormaderail.com). I rang them up shortly after 9am and explained what we wanted to do and when we wished to travel. That afternoon I received an e-mail with a suggested itinerary with dates and times, names of hotels and a price which covered all train rides and hotels on a B&B basis. We accepted this and in due course received tickets. Everything worked out very well with no early starts, late finishes or absurdly long waits, and both hotels were good. I had the impression they were familiar with the hotels they chose; whether this was from personal experience or customers' reports I couldn't say.

For advice about Paris there are any number of channels on Youtube. I particularly liked 'Les Frenchies' and 'Paris in my Pocket', but others are useful too. These will tell you where to go (or not), what to eat, restaurant etiquette, how to dodge pickpockets and other brigands and how to use the Métro. There are dire warnings of large fines for failing to 'validate' your ticket; I can only recommend you seek out the most up-to-date advice you can find as the rules seem to change frequently.
There is far less information on Youtube for Mulhouse apart from some tours; the best bet is probably the tourist office www.tourisme-mulhouse.com . Mulhouse is far smaller than Paris and not as busy so you are unlikely to get into difficulty.

The various train operators have mobile 'phone apps so you can see if your trains are on time, as do RATP who run the public transport in Paris. An app that proved to be a life (well pants really) saver was WiFi Map. This is primarily a source of information on WiFi hot-spots, but it also shows you where the public lavatories are. As one gets older, the need to have this at one's fingertips immediately becomes ever more valuable.

I hope some of the above is of some help to someone, and thank you for following what turned out to be a much longer narrative than I had intended.

Have fun/ amuse-toi bien (I hope that's right)

Ali