Day 25 – Saumur to Paris

Leaving for Paris always signals the beginning of the end of the holiday.  However, we still have a week which will of course fly by. 

Just as we were packing up the car to go to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps to drop off the car and get the TGV, big drops of rain started falling.  This was to be a portent of things to come for the rest of the day. 

To get fuel within the acceptable radius of the car drop off point I found a supermarket fuel station in a small village close to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps.  It was very pretty and the small places on the way there were also lovely and so typical of many old villages. 

The train left on time for Paris and an hour later we were Gare Montparnasse navigating our way to the Metro.  I managed to get myself jammed into a gate as I pushed through.  Bev’s intervention with a ticket got the rest of me through. 

The rest of the trip was quick and a further hour later we were being welcomed into our Paris apartment, where we will stay for the weekend. 

Bev wanted to see the Champs Elysees again.  Six years ago we had frozen on top of the Arc du Triomphe  as we watched the mayhem below of cars accelerating and braking as they tried to find a gap.  The trees at that time in January 2013 were bare and the temperature hovering just above zero degrees. This time it was warmer and the trees were full of new leaves.  The foot paths were full of people and a new menace was apparent – Lime scooters!  They seem to be breeding!

As we were walking down the boulevard it began to rain lightly.  We were reasonably near our metro station so we headed for that and were soon packed into it as tight as sardines. 

For dinner we returned to a favourite restaurant around the corner.  It is an Italian restaurant. The food was good but not great.  In the meantime it was raining quite hard and it was interesting watching people hurrying past huddled under their umbrellas and wrapped up against the cold.  

There wasn't much to take for photos so only one today. 

Arc du Triomphe - Still magic to watch cars managing to avoid each other