St Germain-en-Laye, Wednesday, 18 November

Today was Virginia's day off from school so we decided to go to St Germain-en-Laye. This is an easily accessible, very fashionable town close to Paris. To get there we took the RER which is the suburban rail line which interacts with the Metro. We bought our tickets at Charles de Gaulle in the centre of Paris and boarded the train. After one or two stops the train reaches La Defense which is the massive and hideous business district dominated by a huge arch (is it possible to have a square arch?). Many of the international companies have their headquarters here and their highly paid employees live north of the area in the pretty suburbs.

Before reaching those suburbs however the train surfaces from underground and goes through some pretty pedestrian industrial areas; then into the wealthy suburbs. On arrival at St Germain-en-Laye, as you come out of the station and up the stairs, you immediately see the magnificent chateau which dominates the town. It is vastly intimidating; so much so that rather than visit it we wandered around the town.

St Germain-en-Laye is an interesting mix. Many of the buildings are classically French and the shops in the streets are largely from the nineteenth century. Because this is a wealthy area, they are beautifully maintained. There are also a number of very svelte shopping arcades with fine shops. As Christmas is approaching, some of the decorations are up and add a delightful sense of festivity to the town.



Virginia, looking around, announced, "I could live here - this is very nice!" Considering this is the 423rd place in France that she has said this about, I would have been less impressed had I not shared her view. Unfortunately, we have not won the lottery so it looks most unlikly that we will be moving here any time soon.

After a light lunch and a further stroll, we wandered back to the RER and admired the park which extends out from the chateau and, because of the height of the town, has some excellent views of Paris in the distance. As we went down to catch our train, voila, there it was, the tourist office for which we have been searching. All the maps, help; anything we could desire. It had just reopened after lunch and we grabbed handfuls of stuff, chrortling like two demented children.

This was actually our second trip to the town, having come on an earlier visit to France. Then, as now, it was cold and this is the sort of place you really want to come to in warmer weather, but if you are only in Paris for a short time and want to see something of life outside of the Metropolis, this is a very easy way to do so.