St. Germain-en-Laye - another train trip

Ed had a better night than I did for a change. My sore throat is back with a vengeance and a cough has appeared. Phooey! We debated Poissy and St. Germain-en-Laye for today and decided St. Germain would be the easier trip. I checked the RATP web site and there were no scheduled strikes or works on those lines so we set off on #12 Metro to Concorde where we changed to line #1 to CDG-Etoile and hopped on the RER-A for a pleasant ride to the end of the line. It's a really pretty trip. The Seine wanders so you go over it three times and once out of central Paris, you are above ground and can look out the train window.

As you exit the RER via escalator, you see the massive château and gardens on one side and on the other, the Eglise St. Germain. We found a café for tea and coffee to stop the interminable coughing and then set out to locate the tourist office for a map. The very nice tourist lady recommended La Manège on rue St. Louis for lunch so we walked over. It was cold and windy enough that we chose inside seating and both ordered the menu du jour. Ed got the steak and I got the best veal I’ve ever had. It was perfect and accompanied by spring potatoes and vegetables. Ed’s steak was a perfect medium-rare with excellent Dauphinois potatoes. He got a crème brûlée and I got the chocolate Moelleux for dessert. It was a great meal, served very well in a lovely old building. [5 Rue Saint-Louis, 78100 Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France; tel: +33 (0)1 3973-2212; La Manège web site]

We walked back to the tourist office where you enter the small Claude Debussy Museum. The museum is free but you do have to get tickets so we got our free tickets, climbed up a set of stairs and entered. It is literally two rooms but nevertheless interesting.

Then in a cold breeze, we walked back to the Château gardens and out to the viewing table with great views of Paris in the distance. Very impressive. This was the main reason we made the trip and we were glad it was a clear day. You see all the tall buildings of La Défense including the Grande Arch de la Défense. You can't see the Eiffel Tower; it's actually too small if you are on this side of Paris.

Returned to the town the long way around the back of the Château and found a wonderful restaurant. Of course we had already eaten so we just noted it for a return trip in the future. We managed to arrive back at the RER station just as our train arrived so forty-five minutes and three trains later, we were home.