Tuesday 19 January - Crepes bretonnes and old locomotive

We had lunch today at La Bigoudine on rue de Moine across from the Batignolles covered market. Bigoudine is the name of the traditional tall hats worn by the women in Brittany.  They had a lunch special - a crepe sale and a crepe sucre and a bowl of cider.

Crepe sale made with buckwheat flour - with cheese and ham

Crepe sucre with caramel

A visit to Gare Saint-Lazare produced two surprises.

An empty stock train hauled by 817041 only the second one I have seen on this trip

A train with vinyl decoration calling itself "Le Train de l'Impressionisme". I didn't investigate any further because there were plenty of SNCF security people around.

http://guide.voyages-sncf.com/article/sur-les-traces-des-impressionnistes/le-train-de-l-impressionnisme-voyazine_3270690?q=Vernon

http://www.ter.sncf.com/haute-normandie/loisirs/le-train-de-limpressionnisme

Monday 18 January - Mulhouse

I took the TGV Lyria from Gare de Lyon to Mulhouse today.  We left precisely on time and only made one stop at Belfort.  We ran very slowly through Dijon and finished up about six minutes late. The train was running through to Basel and Zurich.  Outside the station at Mulhouse I purchased a day ticket and went out to the Cite du Train which bills itself as the largest railway museum in Europe.  Both the city yellow No. 3 route trams and the SNCF blue tram trains go out to the museum. Of course SNCF have to label their trains TT even though the no. 3 trams make the same stops and there is a common ticket system.  The tram trains run further out than the yellow trams and change voltage to the SNCF system.

A tram train at the Gare Central

The museum was empty, in fact, I believe I was the only visitor.  It was great wandering around with the whole place to myself.   The exhibits have not changed very much particularly the first historic part but I was able to spend as much time as I wanted.  It was good to see one of the turbo trains that I rode in the cab from Saint-Lazare to Caen and back as well as one of the big 65xx electrics that I rode to Dijon a few years ago.

Micheline Railcar

Illustrating a locomotive damaged by wartime bombing

Tank wagon for wine in the Hereault.

Pre TGV

I rode one like this out of Gare de Lyon to Dijon in pre-TGV days

A blazon from the RTG gas turbine train

I saw the Fleche d'Or in steam days at Calais with Brian while we were doing our training on British Railways

Of course the restaurant was empty so I decided to chance my luck in town so I caught a tram train back to the station.  I am sure most riders do not have the slightest idea of the difference between the yellow trams and the blue trams.

Lievre (hare)

The restaurant at the station was very good.  The plat du jour was lievre (hare) so I had to have that.  Along with a glass of red Saumur and a coffee the total came to 19 euros with free wi-fi thrown in.  I was dining with trains in front and trams behind.

The trip back was another Lyria from Zurich with the same crew.  This time there was one stop at Dijon.  We arrived back precisely on time.  There are two stretches of high speed line.  Between Paris and Montbard (Dijon) this is the original line which was built for 260 kmph and subsequently raised to 300 kmph.  The second section between Villiers-les-Pots (Dijon) and Petit Croix (Belfort) is more recent and was built for 300 kmph although trains are allowed to run at 320 kmph if they are running late. There is a screen which gives progress including speed (when we are running over about 200 kmph). Our speed on the older section did not exceed 300 kmph but we ran up to about 319 kmph on the newer section.  Speed seems to vary quite a bit according to the gradients being traversed.  I thought there was a universal speed control on these trains similar to cruise control on a motor vehicle but apparently not.

Click here to see all pictures taken st the Mulhouse Museum

Click here to see all pictures taken of Mulhoouse trams

Click here to see all pictures taken at Mulhouse Museum on a visit with Paul in 2012

Click here to see pictures of Mulhouse trams taken in 2012

We had another excellent meal at Le P'tit Canon this evening

Cassoulet

Gambas with risotto

Sunday 17 January - Walk in Batignolles

The crocus are in bloom in the Square des Batignolles

Didn't do much today.  I walked down Levis to Cardinet, through the Square des Batignolles then to the Batignolles covered market which was very busy indeed. Many families were visiting and there were many little kids wearing the galette du rois crowns.

Saturday 16 January - Parc de Sceaux and Dinner in Neuilly

We took RER line B from Gare du Nord this morning to La Croix de Berny.  We had intended to get off at Parc de Sceaux but this particular train didn't stop there and Croix de Berny was just as convenient.

The Parc de Sceaux is another enormous park laid out in the grand style with a very big man-made lake.  This will give an idea of its scope.
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Parc+de+Sceaux/@48.7690566,2.2894605,15.38z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x47e67748e741d927:0xa9abcc24e00d5ef5?hl=en

We entered at the south (bottom)  end and walked along the east side of the lake. past the fountain and up a series of formal waterfalls to the Chateau which is a local museum (closed at the moment). From there we walked along the Allee d'Honneur into the town and caught the RER from Bourg-la-Reine back to Gare du Nord.

Formal Gardens at the Parc de Sceaux

Being a nice day and not being in a rush we decided to walk to the Gare de l'Est and catch the no. 30 bus back.  Rue Magenta is always interesting with its profusion of bridal and formal wear shops while Clichy and Batignolles are always busy.

A piece of whimsy at the Gare du Nord, newly installed last October

Set in the floor of the main entrance hall of the Gare de l'Est 

Diva et Chocolats had baked a Brioche Bordelaise or Galette du Rois Bordelaise.  The crystallized fruit was very good

This evening we were invited to dinner at Le Chalet, a restaurant near the Sablons metro.   Fred Hume made the reservation and the rest of the group were Lauren, his wife, Gail Boisclair and her boyfriend Larbi, Phillip (American) and his wife Tiphane IFranch. The restaurant specialized in Savoyarde cooking.  Mary and I had a three cheese fondue which we shared with Phillip and Lauren while others had raclette.  It was a great evening with lots interesting discussion.  The restaurant was full when we left and there was a big line up of people waiting for tables - all with glasses in hand.  Fred then took us to a bar next door where we had drinks and sat outside.  The lady brought out a complimentary pizza and just laughtd when we explained that we had just left Le Chalet.  With a laugh she said "I will just leave it here anyway."  In the end Phillip and Tiphane had it boxed and took it back for their three children.

Tiphane with Fred hidden behind a pile of grilled potatoes.  The raclette is behind the water bottle.  The cheese is heated and melts on to thr plate below where it is scraped up and mixed with the meat.

Gail and Larbi with their nightcaps and the complimentary pizza.

Friday 15 January - Walking in the 17th

Walked into deepest darkest 17th today.  Villiers to Malsherbes to Wagram then Niel to Ternes and back via Courcelles.  The sun was shining in a cloudy sky butthe wind was pretty cold in places.

Abandoned double track railway near Place Wagram

Wallace fountain outside the post office on Niel 

Interesting to find these razor clams at the Poncelet market - we had these at lunch yesterday

The part of the 17th is not particularly interesting although there are wide streets with wide sidewalks.  Some of the buildings have interesting details.

Thursday 14 January - Lunch with Gail

Today we had lunch with Gail Boisclair who runs Perfectly Paris.  Le Bon Georges is a small restaurant close to the St. George metro.  The atmosphere was convivial and the food and wine was excellent.  Mary and I both started with razor clams and then had roast cochon au lait.

Razor clams are quite a treat.  We have never seen them in a Paris restaurant.  The last time we had them was in northern Spain.

It has been alternating rain and bright sunshine.  At one time during lunch there was a heavy downpour which included hailstones.  However we walked up to the Moulin Rouge and rue Lepic and on to Arnaud Larher which has a good reputation as a patisseur.

A selection of pastries from Arnaud Larher.  Chestnut meringue, tarte au citron (very lemony), mille feuille with a cinnamon biscuit, chocolate mousse.

Wednesday 13 January - Musee de l'Orangerie

We were all set to take a ride on RER line B to the Parc de Sceaux today.  However, line B has frequent interruptions and we checked with the screen in the Villiers station before getting tickets.  Sure enough there was a slow down as a result of a suspicious package being found.  Quick change of plan and we decided to walk to the Place de la Concorde and visit the musee de l'Orangerie.

Pierre Herme on the Boulevarde Haussemann was pushing their Gallettes du roi.

The musee de l'Orangerie is a well organized gallery.  There was a special exhibit of the role of women in the development of photography.  The photographs were interesting although the commentary was poorly written and difficult to follow in places.

The signage in the museum was difficult to follow and the details of each photo were placed very low so than many had to bend.

The permanent exhibition consists of paintings acquired by Paul Guillaume, a dealer/collector. Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani,Derain, Utrillo, Rousseau, and Soutine are all hung in a manner which allowed good viewing and good crowd flow.

Cezanne

Derain - Harlequin and Pierrot

The highlight of the musee is at the ground level where there are two large oval rooms devoted to eight very large canvasses by Monet illustrating water lilies and water plants in Giverny.  Each room has a series of benches in the centre with the four canvasses around the outside.  An opportunity to sit quietly and contemplate.

What to do for lunch?  Mary pointed out that we were not very far from Le Grand Colbert.  A brisk walk along the Tuileries and past the Louvre and we were given a nice corner table. The a la carte menu had pickled herring as a starter and this was followed by fondant de boeuf (7 hours) for Mary while I had the confit de canard.  It was washed down with a half bottle of red Sancerre.

Serve yourself pickled herring

The pickled herring was accompanied by boiled potatoes

    

The sun was shining brightly on the walk back.  It brought out well the golden architecture of Le Printemps.