Nantes-Angers-Paris in three days!

Due to some long-distance travel planned in a couple of months, I suddenly found myself needing to renew my passport. Unfortunately, the closest place to do that is Paris... So a trip to Paris was called for (not that I mind or anything, Paris is a fantastic city...). Since Mathilde was planning a trip to Western France around the same time, I decided to join her to Nantes, then Angers, and take the train to Paris from Angers. Quite an ambitious programme for three days!

We arrived in Nantes as planned Saturday evening, and were happy to a lift to Aude and Magayes's lovely recently refurbished house where we were planning to stay the night. We spent a very nice evening indeed at their house, enjoying some rather delicious pizza, followed by some equally delicious crepes. Since we still have some illusions of youth, we decided to head into town after dinner for a couple of drinks. After checking out a couple of places that were just too busy (finding a bar "too busy" - a sign of getting old?), we found a nice little bar in the town centre, where we stopped for a couple of beers. I really like the buzz Nantes has - it seems like a much more happening and "experimental" place than Nice (in spite of Nice being a student town, it just feels a bit old sometimes...).


The next morning, we got up, and sat down to a most excellent brunch. Bravo, Aude and Magaye! Our appetites sated, we headed to the Vertou, a village just down the road from Nantes, where we checked out the local market. It's one of the things I really like about France - the fact that most towns have access to a proper farmer's market (we do almost all our fruit and veg shopping at our local farmer's market). After a couple of glasses of white wine at the "buvette", it was unfortunately time to head to the train station, say bye bye to Aude and Magaye, and jump on the train to Angers.

After a nice late lunch in Angers town centre, we headed back to Joel and Francoise's house, by foot (the sun was out, so we wanted to make the best of it). The walk back to the house, along the Maine River, really is great, especially when the sun is out, like it was on this particular day.

Our welcome at Joel and Francoise's house was great, as always. Great to see them, even though in my case it was to be a very short visit. And the dinner we were served was as great as always ;-)

The next morning, it was time for me to say bye bye to Mathilde, and catch the TGV down to Paris. After the raid 1 1/2 hour journey, the train pulled into Montparnasse station without any delay. From there, I jumped on the metro and headed down to Invalides, where the Finnish embassy is located. After the quick and efficient (if rather expensive...) formalities, I headed out to explore Paris.

I had almost all day ahead of me, before catching my flight back to Nice at 7 in the evening. Since I was lucky enough to have some excellent sunny (if a bit chilly) weather, I decided to make the best of it and walk around and enjoy Paris. I started by crossing the Seine to Place de La Concorde, from where I headed towards the Jardin des Tulieres. To get my mandatory dose of culture, I visited the Orangerie, a museum featuring Impressionist art - including the famous Nympheas by Monet. What can I say ? It's a fantastic museum - I really like Impressionist art, and the place in human-sized (unlike the Louvre located just next to it), it took me about an hour to check it all out.

I then carried on through the Jardin down to the Louvre, and headed towards Pont-Neuf after contemplating the ridiculous queue for the Louvre (and remember, this was a Monday!) for a while. I crossed Pont-Neuf to l'île de la Cité all the way to the Notre Dame. I considered the option of visiting the church for a while, but seeing the length of the queue, decided against it (that's the problem with Paris - the queues to most monuments are just ridiculous...). I decided to have a walk around the Latin quarter instead, on the other side of the Seine. Good choice, it was a bit calmer there. By now, my stomach was starting to grumble, so I decided to grab a bite to eat. The Latin Quarter is unfortunately full of tourist traps, but I managed to find a lovely little Georgian restaurant at a deserted side street. The place was deserted apart from a few people who seemed like regular customers - but the food was excellent and the 13 Euros I paid for the lunch menu felt like a bit of a bargain considering this is Paris.

I still had a couple of hours before catching my bus to Orly, so I decided to check out the nearby Pantheon, which I've not visited. This neoclassical building was originally a church dedicated to St. Genevieve (the patron saint of Paris). After the revolution, the government decided to change the place from a church to a kind of mausoleum where "great Frenchmen (and later French women) were to be buried". The building itself is more imposing than pretty, I would say (it's grandiose but not exactly subtle), but the visit proved quite an interesting summary of French history, as there are plaques summarizing the lives of the most famous people resting in the building.

 My original plan had been to finish my day in Paris with a visit to the Catacombs, since they are located in Denfert-Rochereau, where I was supposed to take the bus to Orly later on. Unfortunately they were closed on Mondays, so I eneded up spending an hour chilling out in the Jardins de Luxembourg instead. Not a bad way to end my day in Paris actually, basking in the winter sun, and watching the Parisians playing chess, reading books, and just basking in the winter sun like me.

All in all, quite a busy, but fantastic day!