Cars, Hoardings and Saint Germain en Laye

8 April 2008

Today we went to the lovely little town of Saint Germain en Laye which is about thirty minutes from the Arc de Triomphe on the RER. The town is a nice mix of the modern and the historic. As soon as you get off the train and come up the escalator to street level you see a magnificent 14th century chateau which is now a museum but from which there are views over the Seine valley towards Paris. Saint Germain en Laye is a lively market town and we were fortunate enough to be there while the market was in progress.

The town and surrounding area have many old buildings and in recent years it has become a very swanky suburb for the bourgeoise. If you have a spare 1.5 million euro, you can find a very nice flat here.

After wandering around and having a bit of lunch, we returned to the Arc de Triomphe from where we strolled down the Champs Elysee. A visit to the tomb of the unknown soldier is always very moving and today was no exception. As always, there were flowers on the tomb and it was, of course, treated with the respect that it warrants.

On previous trips we have always been amused by the Toyota dealership which invariably features something new and unique from the imagination of their designers. These are not necessarily ever going to be produced for consumers, but they are always interesting and different. See the photo for what the rich French boys might be getting at Christmas if Pere Noel finds their behaviour up to the mark.

As we wandered along we looked down a side street and saw what appeared to be the most peculiar building. You can see a picture of it to the right. In fact, it is the painted hoardings behind which construction is going on.

In Paris this is an art form in its own right. Some years ago, when work was being done on the building housing Louis Vuiton, the whole front was covered in a hoarding painted to resemble a suitcase! Needless to say, that pales by comparison to this latest work.

Some of you may recall our last visit to the Avenue Montaigne. This is perhaps the classiest shopping street in Europe with prices to match. Virginia wants to go there tomorrow and she is talking about what she will need to wear at Will's wedding. I keep telling her that my American Express card has reached its expiry date, but she assures me that she can use my Visa card just as effectively. I keep suggesting that I can photograph the fashions she likes and we can have them made up for a fraction of the cost in Singapore on the way home. Such suggestions are greeted with a raised eyebrow and what can only be described as a look of scorn. Ah well, c'est la vie.