Sunday 11/09/2011, Paris: Cite' Universitaire/Gare de Lyon

Paris
11/09/2011

I was up very early to the sound of heavy rain. I got straight into comparing the Lesueur drawings from Le Havre with the notes and photocopies I have from the Paris Central Library archive and there are a number of matches. I verified this with the plates Lesueur and Petit published in the Atlas associated with Perons Journal of the 1801-1804 voyage to Terra Australes.

Gabriella Bonnemains may just have got it wrong with separating out the Le Havre "Terra Australes" collection, but the Lesueur and Petit plates were produced before any of the Lesueur American drawings/paintings, therefore any matches for those animals would have to have been from Terra Australes. As it was both the plates and the Le Havre drawings appear to agree, hence matching paintings in the Paris manuscripts were most likely from the Terra Australes voyage. An excellent result!

I then had a quick breakfast and headed out to the RER station to trial-run the trip to Gare de Lyon, where I will catch the train to Adge on the 19th. September, (to go Barging on the Midi Canal).  I did the same thing for the Eurostar station in London before making the trip to Paris. 


The trip was an eye-opener. First the transfer between RER trains at Challet was not straight forward, then the crazy Gare de Lyon station itself. Like Gare du Nord, all the Metro and RER platforms are downstairs in a "rabbit warren" of tunnels, escalators, and turnstiles. The main-line trains are upstairs but there are security barriers to keep you from the platforms until 20 min prior to the train leaving! I found my way to the appropriate places (I think) but the system is completely different to the train trip I took to Le Havre. With luggage it is going to be really interesting!

I was actually hoping to book my forward journeys from Ghent to Vienna and then Vienna back through to London. I did find an information booth, but there was only one harassed staff member and a line of clients a mile long. Not the appropriate time or place. None of the ticket offices appeared to be manned, but the manned one(s) may have been situated elsewhere. In terms of travellers it was as busy as the Gard du Nord, but this was a Sunday!  It looks like I book my Tickets on the Internet and hope I get it right. So far it has worked. 


I did book my hotel in Ghent for 5 nights and did the research on getting to Vienna; Ghent to  Brussels, Brussels to Cologne, Cologne to Vienna on a sleeper. Sounds like when I was using my Eurail card, 20-30 years ago! I also did some work on the Vienna to London run and was surprised by the reasonable cost. I have learnt to be wary of apparently cheap options on the online sites because invariably I have ticked the wrong boxes.

Mundane tasks such as a visit to the ATM, recharge my NAVIGO for next weeks travel at the RER station, and doing my laundry were all accomplished in the afternoon. I checked out the Spanish Maison Restaurant (again) and will try it for breakfast tommorrow. I am intrigued.