Mercredi le 5 novembre - Last day in Paris for now!

The Dome Church - Yes! Real Gold!

We had to vacate our ‘petite appartement’ by 10:00. We sat and planned out our day, checked train times and discovered that train leaves 2:30 and home at 5:00pm rather than leave at 5:00pm- which I had first thought. This was much better as we get in and can get settled before school the next morning. It also meant we didn’t have to drag around our suitcase and packs for too long.
We decided to head to the gold topped Dome Church – Napoleons’ tomb. As we approached the entrance a member of the Gendarmerie approached and informed us we couldn’t go in with the luggage nor could we leave it anywhere. I thought I would wait and protect the luggage and the others could go in, but I also had to stay on the street not even allowed to wait outside the building in the grounds -“It is a far too important place” the Gendarmerie said. I presume this means if I had a bomb I would be too close. So I sat out on the street on top of the moat wall reading “Lonely Planet Guide to Paris” getting strange looks from passers by.
The story goes that Napolean – another person full of self importance – wanted everyone to have to bow down to him, even in death, so he was entombed below the viewing balcony in a set of coffins, a bit like a Russian matryoshka doll.
The allies even used the top of the Dome Church as a hideout. Hitler wanted to see Napoleans tomb when in Paris but refused to have to bow down to see him so he arranged to have a mirror placed so that he could look up into it. However he leaned too far back and his hat fell off into the tomb area! Funnily enough the allies were hiding above not realising Hitler was there for the taking – or it all could have been very different!

We strolled through the lovely streets and passed the Grand Palais and Petite Palais on our walk to the Metro station to head to the Gare de Lyon to catch the TGV.

On the Pont Alexander III - walking back.

Easier to have dejeuner there and wait rather than be rushed to get there and miss the train.

We had lunch in a lovely café at the Gare and watched the world go by.
The Gare is so big – many different platform levels, corridors and stairwells. Luckily our train was leaving from the main platform, but they don’t display the platform until 20 minutes before the train departs so it can be a rush to get to the right place. Even still we had to walk for 10 minutes down the train to get to our carriage – second last!

The Gare de Lyon!

It was a really good train trip as we got to see everything outside with all the different villages and scenery.

A quiet night – a few loads of washing and all looking forward to a sleep in our own beds.

Yay for Barrack Obama! A view of Paris from the Eiffel Tower

One thing I won't miss is the beggars in Paris - there are quite a few people who sit in the metro stations or at entrances to major tourist attractions with their paper cup holding it out wanting money. Quite often they have a dog - can't decide if this is good or bad - on one hand the dog provides warmth and companionship, on the other hand it is an extra to feed and they always seem to be in good condition - a local told me that people feel sorry for the dog and give money. So maybe that is the ploy. However they do get money from the government and locals feel it is sufficient and have no sympathy - not sure how I feel but they are an eye sore and so often have wine bottles or big beer cans beside them which I can't help but be judgmental about.

I will miss the entertainment on the metro - just about every time we rode in our carriage wew ere entertained by musicians, who would then come around with their cup - never saw anyone put anything in but I guess they must get some money or they would stop. On one trip I was seranaded by an argentinian guitarist - who gave comments about the All Blacks as he headed out the door and then turned around to see the Police greeting him! Not sure if you are allowed to busk or if it was something else as our train carried on.

Quite often they would have piano accordians and sing. I found it great and loved the atmosphere but I didn't put money in as no one else did. Followed the sheep!

I could easily live in Paris- providing I had the income to support it. I don't really like big cities as a rule but I have fallen in love with Paris. Je t'aime Paris!