Day 9 - more dead people / Day 10 - Aurevoir Paree, Bon Jour Nantes

Day 9

Our last full day in Paris and what better way to celebrate our joie de vivre then a visit to Pere Chaise Cemetery.

This was a completely different exercise to the Catacombs as:

- it was above ground (well, mostly)

- all the dead had names. Some of them very famous names.

Also Pere Chaise was a breath of fresh air. Literally. It was quiet and tree lined and a beautiful place to walk around.

Especially if you weren't scared of famous dead people. 

After lunch at a nearby bistro we went back to St Michel to visit Shakespeare and Company - the legendary English language bookstore that was a home away from home for many expatriate writers. It is one of those marvelous places with books crammed into every possible space, a bit like our lounge room.

Upstairs is a reading library with a view of Notre Dame. 

We had our last dinner in Paris around the corner from our flat. It was our last night there for we were off to Nantes the next day.  

Day 10

We meet up with our landlady (who we found was an author) who offered the flat to us for the next time we're in Paris. An offer we plan on taking up where possible. 

Our last breakfast at the Neo Cafe and then off to Montparnasse Station to catch the TGV to Nantes.

Only one barrier was in our way.

Lots and lots and lots of stairs. We believe that this is how the French stay fit despite their cuisine.  

Stairs.  

Fortunately we had given ourselves plenty of time to get to the train and soon we were able to wrangle our luggage onto the train and try for the two hour trip to Nantes.   We were both impressed by the TGV, we're now firm supporters of a high speed train for Australia - it's like flying at ground level. The only problem was, we were moving so fast it was hard to take pictures out the window.   


And then, suddenly, Nantes. We've come to Nantes for a very specific reason (which will be revealed in the next entry) so I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get around and he much of my appallingly stunted French I would have to emit in public.

It turns out Nantes is quite easy to get around (except for the point where we got lost walking home after dinner) and even if it appears that we don't share a common language it seems that every one still remembers a little Cro-Magnon.