France 2024

On a day which was dry but cloudy and fresher, I took the Metro to Bastille. On the Place de la Bastille, paving stones outline the profile of the Bastille.
I walked to the Hotel Sully and then through the Place des Vosges which was arcaded on its four sides.
I returned to the St Paul Quarter, seeing a surviving section of the city's wall, and continued to the Jewish Memorial de la Shoah.
After an alfreso lunch, I walked through the Jewish and Arab Quarter, past an art nouveau synagogue and queues at falafel cafes.
I crossed the Seine to go to the 16.00 organ recital at St Sulpice before taking the Metro to Les Halles to catch the 17.00 organ recital at St Eustache.
Tea included another fruit tart from the boulangerie near the hotel.
Navigating the ups and downs along the Metro corridors must be tricky for the disabled. It was alleged that President Macron wanted to make all the Metro stations wheelchair-accessible prior to the Olympics and Paralympics but then he was given the cost. Only 10% of the 250-odd stations are wheelchair accessible. It was interesting that Andrew Parsons, the President of the IPC, in his speech at the Closing Ceremony wished that a fully accessible Metro system would be the legacy of the Paralympics.
There are no buskers in the Metro station corridors although accordionists walk through the carriages sometimes.
The platforms have vending machines with snacks and drinks but not as large as those in Japan and with no hot drinks. Also, they didn't appear to take cash but used code-scanning.
A few e-scooters and bikes were on the Metro trains, unlike to Underground in London. There were lots of bikes on the streets but, generally, they were properly docked unlike in London, e.g. Lime.
There were beggars on the trains and a few in the streets.
There were no free newspapers on the Metro such as the Metro in London, and I saw only once a newspaper being read on the Metro. On the streets, there aren't newsagents such as WH Smith, but occasional kiosks which sell newspapers such as Le Figaro and Le Monde although with little demand apparently.
The Metro carriages, platforms and corridors were clean although some seats on the older carriages were showing signs of wear, e.g. Line 12.
It was good fun to sit in the front carriage of the driverless trains on Lines 1, 4 and 14.Читать далее