Monday 22 December - Trams

I decided to ride the T8 tramway again today to see the branch to Villetaneuse as well as the main line to Épinay in regular operation. I took first the branchline to Villetaneuse.  Nothing special of note although the section beyond the terminus has a sharp curve and goes to single track, presumably leading to the car maintenance and storage yards. I returned to the main line and rode out to Épinay and back to St. Denis Gare. Many of the traffic regulation problems seem to have been fixed although there were a number that still need attention, maybe the running time could be reduced by a minute or so. Some work has been done at stations although some signs had been placed at the wrong locations so that one station bore two names. A squad of inspectors was out to ensure people were tapping in.
St. Denis Gare is a great place to watch trams with T1 crossing T8, both double track. However there were a lot of people lounging around, deals going down etc. I was very careful where I went and took care getting out my camera. The trams on T1 are short and always crowded east of St. Denis. I decided to go west to Courtiles which is less busy. This section has been open some two years now and has a good interchange with the Metro.

T8 at Épinay

T1 at St. Denis Gare

T8 trams on the diamonds at St. Denis Gare

T8 tram for Courtilles approaching the diamonds at St. Denis Gare

T1 trams at Courtilles.

There was a piece on the TV3 news this evening about fare evasion on RER line B.  When the SNCF put on  a team of fare inspectors the ticket machine receipts go up 40%.  It would seem like a good idea to increase these inspectors considerably.  Jumping over turnstiles and dodging in after a paying customer is endemic in Paris.  It is particularly easy on the Metro because there is no exit check.

Sunday 21 December

The city has set up the free rides for the kids at the Square des Batignoles.

Fred Mills asked me about the famous picture of a locomotive which crashed through the wall of the Montparnasse station in 1895.  There are many pictures and explanations available on the web but one of the most interesting is a dream sequence from the movie "Hugo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YWpPEZnNq8

Saturday 20 December - Fontainebleau

The recently restored clock tower at the Gare de Lyon.

A Mobolis ticket is really good for a trip to Fontainebleau as it covered the metro to Gare de Lyon, the RER out to Fontainebleau as well as the bus to and from the Chateau. 

This is a peak travel day and the Gare de Lyon was very busy. One interesting innovation in the new Hall 2 was a roped off area for kids with a number of things for them to do with crayons etc. There was an SNCF employee on hand to play with the kids.

We enjoy the parc and chose not to visit the château. The château is smaller than Versailles and the grounds are in scale.  Even so the place us enormous and the grounds very extensive. The reflections in the lake were good and the trees were interesting. Without their leaves it is possible to get a better idea of their form. It is difficult to believe that the English garden was built in the 1700s. It felt cold here, colder than Paris, and we didn't stay too long before returning to Paris.

This "small house" is a gate house

Dinner was at le P'tit Canon. Friendly service and excellent food.

Friday 19 December - The Messiah

Seen outside a bank on rue d'Amsterdam

The weather forecast was for rain today. I went first to the four model shops on the rue du Douai. As the rain had set in I decided to take up the time on tramway T3. At least it was in the dry. 

This tram disgorged about 50 schoolkids and 15 attendant adults

At Porte de la Chapelle some 50 schoolkids, about 7 or 8 years old got off the incoming tram. There was one adult for every three kids and they all had to hold hands. Once off the tram they walked to the front and crossed the tram tracks in front of the out going tram. There was a delay while the last group of three got organized, it was difficult to hold onto three kids and an umbrella in the wind. They all got in to a RATP bus which was waiting.  The schools organize many outings for the children.

I took the tram to Porte de Vincennes and transfered to the tram to Garagliano. At Porte de Charenton the rain seemed to have stopped so I got off to take a look at the SNCF maintenance sidings for both TGVs and suburban trains. There was no yellow postal TGV in sight. The post office is planning to stop using these next August.
I caught the tram on to Balard and back to Villiers.

I had bought tickets for the Messiah in La Madeleine before we left Ottawa. It was an excellent performance although the church was barely a third full. We arrived in good time and found seats in the fifth row in the centre where we found the acoustics to be excellent. Several friendly ladies in the choir acted as ushers and sold programs. They had on filmy long black skirts which blew out when they passed over the hot air vents in the floor. The choir filed in followed by the orchestra and there was an expectant hush. Then it was discovered that one of the lights over the orchestra was not working. There was then a flurry of activity from several men and women in the choir and orchestra, all in formal dress, tracing cables and throwing switches in obscure locations. The conductor took advantage of the delay to promote some of his upcoming productions.  Suddenly the errant light came on to a collective sigh of relief from the audience and smiles from the amateur electricians.

The performance, which was in English, was excellent. All four soloists were good and they were not overwhelmed by the orchestra. The audience was reluctant to stand during the Hallelujah Chorus, maybe because they were not aware of this tradition. After a couple of bars the conductor turned to the audience and vigorously got them to stand. Before continuing he said

"C'est la loi de se lever pour la Choeur Alleluia"

The Hallelujah Chorus after the audience had stood.

My favorite part is "The trumpet shall sound" and this was very well played. The clear notes echoed back from the dome in a memorable manner. At the end, after the applause the conductor gave an encore, something I have never seen before. It was, of course, the Hallelujah Chorus and he made sure the audience stood up. He and the soloists then encouraged us to sing along.

It was a well performed, happy performance which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

The conductor, Paul Kuentz, with the four soloists

From the steps of La madeleine

Thursday 18 December - Bagnolet, Charonne and Hotel de Ville

The trains on line 3 are getting a little dated now.  They were the last ones fitted with the manual door lock levers which have to be lifted to open.  An old lady on the train was not strong enough to lift the lever and had to be helped.

It was cloudy today but no rain and there was a little sun. It was a good day for walking except with temperatures around 13C it was pretty warm in our winter coats. We took the Metro to Porte de Bagnolet and walked along the rues de Bagnolet and Charonne as far as Lodru Rollin. From there we went along Ledru Rollin to the park created from the railway viaduct to the Bastille. 

Tram T3b on a nicely grassed section at Porte de Bagnolet

 The area is quite interesting. There are many small businesses many of which had unusual names frequently in English. The city has gone to great lengths to improve the area with small parks and a few pedestrian areas. The kids are still in school and we came across several groups on outings. A lady dropped two baguettes on to the wet sidewalk, they had slipped out of the paper in which she was carrying them. One rolled in the wet. We didn't stop to see what she did.

A small urban park off rue de Bagnolet

Pedestrianized street off rue de Bagnolet

We passed over an unused section of the old Ceinture railway

The station was still standing including the Ceinture sign

Ledru Rollin. This is part of the viaducts that brought the high level railway into the former Bastille terminus station.  This urban park now stretches for almost 5 km,

 

Lunch was at a restaurant just off the rue de Rivoli, no tarte tatin this time. There was a good exhibition of photographs at the Hotel de Ville. This traced the changes that have taken place since the 1930s, paying attention to social problems. The rioting in 1968 was covered, showing the way street paving stones were lifted and used. The lack of food and housing after the war was also covered. The annual exhibitions at the Hotel de Ville. An added bonus this year was that we were able to walk straight in. There was a waiting line when we came out. 

Wednesday 17 December - Musée de Luxembourg and St. Sulpice

It has been raining lightly all day. The Musée de Luxembourg is a small gallery in the Jardins de Luxembourg close to the Senate building. There was an exhibit entitled "Paul Durand-Ruel, the Impressionist gamble,  Manet, Monet, Renoir." All the paintings on display had been bought originally by Paul Durand-Ruel who had an apartment in the rue de Rome. There works by Renoir, Monet, Manet, Camille Pisarro, Gaugin, Degas, Sisley, Rodin, Millet, Courbet and  others, practically all of them new to us  but all familiar by their style. 

Claude Monet Bateaux de Plaisance 1872-3

Camille Pisarro Entree du Village de Voisins 1872

The exhibition was well attended and worthwhile. However, it was quite small and we were left with several hours to kill before a concert at St. Sulpice which is close by.

After chocolate, hot for Mary and ice cream for me, we found out that the Jardins de Luxembourg were closing so we walked around the area in the drizzle. The temperature was about 11C so it was quite pleasant. The wall of the Mines building is heavily pock marked as a result of the fighting to liberate Paris in 1918.

There are several of these stone or concrete table tennis tables in the park close by

We had dinner in the Nostrand a good restaurant overlooking the Jardins de Luxembourg. A bottle of Saumur Champigny helped to pass the time. The place was filled with local people coming in to have an after work drink. One lady arrived in jeans and a sweater, presumably she lived in an apartment above. There was a white cat who had sneaked in and surreptitiously made a nest below a Christmas tree. I took a picture but the waiter noticed it and moved it out. It turns out this is a famous cat. It appears in a recent book about cats of Paris. It is even on the cover. For more information and additional pictures and video click this link
http://www.linstantparisien.com/en/chatsparisiens/ 

Roxanne under the Christmas tree

Near St. Sulpice on a wet evening

St. Sulpice earlier in the day.  The forecourt was surprisingly empty.  A large number of pigeons were roosting in the tree to the left.

Radio France were recording a Christmas concert in the church of St. Sulpice. It consisted of three performers, the organ, the baroque Ensemble Sagitarius and the Radio France choir. The organ was a bit spotty and the opening work, Bach's Prelude and fugue BWV 547 was a disappointment. The prelude did not flow. I have heard this piece played better in this particular church. The baroque was done very well although I am not a fan of this genre. The choir was excellent and performed very well. At one point they filed down and sang from both sides of the audience - right next to us. The seats are not comfortable but there was an interval during which hot wine was available. The scent of hot wine permeated the church for the second part. There were slots in the program for the audience to sing. I never thought I would be singing French carols in French in the largest church in Paris.

We were sitting just under the pulpit.  The chairs had been turned around to face the organ.

The program will be broadcast on France Musique on December 24.

Tuesday 16 December - Opening of new tramway T8

After lunch at le Bon Georges (foie gras and scallops) I went off to metro Saint Denis Porte de Paris to be at the opening of the new tramway T8. There were no details on the RATP web site although it was announced briefly on TV3 news yesterday. At the station there were no signs at all, in fact the only indication were two flags close to a raised dais. There was still a lot of work to do and it quickly became evident that the opening should have been delayed until the tramway was ready. The area is very different from Chatillon last Saturday although both are high density. This area is diverse and contains many middle Eastern and north African businesses.
The opening was announced for 1600 - just at the beginning of the evening rush.

A spare set waiting at the Saint-Denis terminus.  These five unit trams have three trucks but they are not articulated, the second and fourth "cars" are hung between the adjacent cars.

There were a lot of RATP personnel in high visibility jackets, at times they outnumbered the potential passengers.

At 1515 there was not a great deal of action

The first tram in with invited guests

A tram arrived full to the gills with invited guests, another followed it. There was organized chaos as the guests were channelled politely towards the stand for speeches. Finally a tram full of the important people arrived wrong line and the cameras started rolling. This formed the first official tram out. It was well filled but I managed to get a seat. We took off about five minutes late and we had to stop by the reviewing stand for photo ops.

Tram congestion - three trams in the holding sidings at Saint-Denis with another one in the departure platform at my back.The right of way is nicely grassed or concreted.  Note the blades of the switches are in the concrete and not in the grass.

The trams are very smooth, pleasant and quiet but the journey to the end of the line at Épinay Orgemont took an age.  There was a wait for 5 minutes to smooth out the traffic flows which was strange as we were the first tram out. There are many sections where speed is severely limited by very tight curves, a consequence of trying to fit a tramway into an existing built up urban area. There were many stops for traffic and I hope the RATP can get the sequencing sorted out. Adjusting the traffic lights to give trams priority can take some time - it took months on the first section of T3.

At Épinay Orgemont a group of drummers entered the tram and livened things up.

As of tomorrow the RATP is making changes to some 15 bus routes and eliminating two others. It might have been better to have delayed the opening of the tramway until the kinks had been eliminated.
It was good to finally ride over the double line of T1 at Saint Denis Gare where the four diamond crossings have been in place for several years. There were some decorations at several of the stations and a group of drummers at the terminus. I have the impression that the RATP opened the tramway to make good on their published plan to open by the end of 2014 rather than to ensure it was really ready.
After at slow return I decided not to go on the branch to Villetaneuse Université. I can leave that and the crossing at Saint Denis Gare for another day.

 

It was getting dark when I arrived back at Saint-Denis.  On the left is an outgoing tram.  On the right is the first tram back from Épinay Orgemont.