Keen Internet observers will note that the e acute is not part of standard ASCII but it has been seen in HTML documents but is it standard ? Ah je ne sais pas.
We arrived at Paris Gare du Nord with a ten minute delay and I have to say too relaxed. The train, known as the Thalys is designed with longer journeys in mind so when you get bored with the scenery you can wonder along to the buffet car and take in the ambience. The problem is that you are too relaxed and step out from the cocooned environment of the train into the hustle and bustle of Paris and all of a sudden you have to think what to do. A tip is to buy the metro tickets - or at least one to get you to your hotel then know exactly which metro / RER to take. We didn't do this and headed for the cafe so we could recover from the journey and work out what to do. A useful tip of traveling any sort of distance and not in a hurry. We camped in the Bois de Boulogne at the official site which is highly recommended - they take caravans and it's handy for La Perifique. You have to get the bus to the metro at Port Malliot and a taxi is advisable at night though busses still run.
Two variants of the same design - a TGV that can run comfortably on standard rails. On platform 1 the Eurostar awaits passengers for London and we see our Thalys preparing to make the return journey to Amsterdam via Brussels. They also go to Cologne (Koln, Keulen) via Brussels and Liege. New track coming into service soon will make the journey between Northern European capitals faster but we didn't really care as it was so relaxing. I think the thing is once you are on their's no real need to keep an eye on the clock, the screens, your bags or your spouse and the holiday really begins as soon as you step on. It's the same with the night boats by the way.
The French railway authorities took revenge on the British who built a special viaduct so the trains could terminate at London Waterloo and not Victoria or the busy Charing Cross by erecting a sign pointing to something Napoleon just at the end of platform 1 but I guess it could have been worse. I mean a steak house would have been lethal.
He see see a profile shot of the three train types that serve Les Grand Lignes from Gare du Nord,
Photographer's note:
You may have noticed I have updated the photographs. The problem was that there was insufficient light in the station to get a good shot given the limitations of the camera. Using GIMP I drew round the outlines of the trains and restored the brightness of the rest of the station to it's normal levels but considerably enhanced the trains. The sucess of this trick does depend on the type of screen. The screen used here was one of the new TFT type. There are a few things that give the game away. Firstly the shadows of the posts are wrong and secondly the colour of the Thalys is too bright in the first photo but we just about get away with it.
La Perfifique in the evening rush hour just as it's about to get dark. On arriving from Holland the first impression is that this is a big place but the campsite is an excellent contrast and the prefect place to start the day. The standard of driving has improved since I was last here - obviously the British still have some influence in Europe even after the period of non-cooperation following the beef ban.
What is he on ? I hear you cry - it looked black and white when I took it - perhaps I adjusted the camera incorrectly. Seriously though it came about by accident in that I have just bought a new screen and suffered a colour map flash that made the picture look better than the original. I attempted to reproduce the effect by playing about with colour filters in The GIMP and here is the result. I'm expecting my first exhibition at the Pompidu Centre any day now. The image started life as a modern metro sign.
An older and classic image of Paris, The sort they sell in IKEA - I couldn't find a young passionate couple to pose in front of the sign however.
After dinner we take a stroll down Les Champs Elysees one of the World's most famous streets and happen to come across a perfume launch from one of the city's leading names.
Yes we are the Papparazzo and you'll be relieved to know we survived without having to make a claim on our travel insurance. It does bring out the killer instinct in you I have to say. We saw nobody we recognised and carried on down the avenue. I guess The Beckhams were smuggled in via the tradesmen's entrance.
There's plenty more to come - 4 CD's in total and in the next instalment we take a daytime stroll down Les Champs Elyses and yes we photograph the Eifell Tower.
