Strasbourg – Paris Aeroport Cdg2 TGV Roissy – Stade de France St Dennis – Châtelet Les Halles – Madeleine – St Dennis Pleyel – Paris Aeroport

Today’s train was at 10am, so I was up and out early, to see some of Strasbourg by day. I took a different route towards the centre. The trams on this road were very smart, with huge windows and the tram interchange I encountered was quite impressive as well.

I ended up in Place Broglie, yet another square and this time with some rather funny looking pollarded trees down both sides.

I approached the cathedral from the opposite side to last night. There are a number of fine buildings in the vicinity of the cathedral. I’d not noticed before that there is a museum adjacent to it. I dare say it gets lots of visitors but I wasn’t going to be one of them, a touch after 8am. This area felt very German influenced to me, though in fairness the city is right next to the border.

Near the river I found a street market just getting going for the day. It was by now a little before 9am and the first few visitors were looking around at a rather fine selection of food as well as a small flea market.

I returned to the river, deciding that I would follow the bank back towards my hotel. Strasbourg is an island city, with rivers both sides of the historic centre and there really do take full advantage of it. The rather lovely single-span bridge is one of the oldest cast iron bridges in France, dating to 1841.

I found myself in an area with a range of mostly half-timbered buildings on the waterfront, where there was also a lock. There were no boats around but the tourists were already on the move. I had to wait for a large group of Japanese visitors to move on before taking these shots.

I returned to the station along the road that I’d walked last night and collected my bag, before walking the short distance to the station.

From here I had a direct service to Charles de Gaulle airport. In the adjacent platform as we arrived was a Eurostar badged service, as the Thalys identity has now disappeared since the companies merged. I believe the trains are indeed old Channel Tunnel stock.

I had a short journey from the station to my hotel, on a maglev (“magnetic levitation”) train. I know they aren’t new any more but I still find them quite a novelty. The Birmingham Airport one was installed in 1984 but is long gone now. I recall we used to ride it when going to concerts at the NEC, because it was free, even though we didn’t need to go to the airport.

I knew it was going to be a late night and with a very early morning tomorrow I took it easy for a while before heading back to the terminal to get the train into Paris. I’d not realised that the trains aren’t running and I would have to queue for a bus. My Interrail pass was not accepted on this service and buying a ticket was far from trivial. I needed to install an app onto my phone, buy the ticket then show it to the bus driver. There were LOTS of staff around, mostly helping people to buy tickets!

Taking a bus rather than a train meant a much slower journey, with a traffic jam on the motorway, but it also meant a chance to see the Air France Concorde at the airport exit.

The bus dropped us at St Dennis, adjacent to the Stade de France. Trains were running to the city centre from here, though the one I got onto was one of the most full I’ve ever seen. I went upstairs to escape the crowds but it was still incredibly busy with people standing.

I got off at Châtelet Les Halles, quite close to the river. I stood on the bridge watching the boats go by as I ate some pasta I’d bought. Amusingly the fork they gave me was edible, made of a quite crunchy biscuit. You wouldn’t eat one by choice but as a way to avoid litter I thought it was rather a clever idea.

From here I decided to walk to tonight’s destination. It was about half an hour away, but the weather was pleasant and it was a part of Paris that I don’t know.

I arrived in what was very clearly a theatre district, they were everywhere I looked, and one of the shows had just finished, so people were on their way back into the street.

My destination was the world-famous Olympia Music Hall, a historic and iconic destination, for the very last presentation of Amiri Luci. I had a front row seat but the ticket was stamped “strapontin” which translates as “jump seat.” These are very odd things, they fold out sideways from the last “normal” seat in a section.

Happily the person next to me never showed so I moved seats and did not have to use it. I did try it and it was very much what I expected; low, slightly leaning to the left and it folded up the moment you took your weight off it.

The show was lovely, and being in this iconic venue made it all the more special. Carmen addressed the audience in French; I followed her introductions a little better tonight than I do in Italy, though I wish I was better with either!

I stayed behind afterwards and said hello to Carmen and her PA Ellie before getting the train from Madeleine.

I’d long forgotten that some trains in Paris have tyres on the wheels. I suddenly remembered reading about this as child and now there it was right in front of me.

At St Dennis I swapped back to a bus which waited ages before departing. At least there were no more traffic problems, but on arrival at the airport I’d missed the last Maglev by a couple of minutes.

The airport was all but deserted. There were no staff around to ask how I got to the next terminal and so to my hotel. I found a cleaner who gave me directions but they didn’t help as the route he had suggested I take between terminals was closed overnight. By now it was almost 1:30am and in desperation I went outside, found a taxi and took the three minute journey to the next terminal. It really was the last thing I needed with a VERY early start tomorrow morning.