Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Paris is very big, and there's lots to explore. According to Julián Carax, a character in Carlos Ruiz Zafón's novel The Shadow of the Wind, "one can't see Paris in two days, or in two months, or even in two years". There's too much!

Even so, it can be nice to get out of the city once in a while and explore the rest of France. After considering several options, last weekend we decided to take a day trip to Saint-Germain-en-Laye. This is a small town in the Île-de-France region and accessible by commuter train from Paris. Saint-Germain-en-Laye's main claims to fame are its fabulous chateau and grounds, and the fact that many royals made it their residence. Louis XIV, France's favourite king, was born there, and the chateau was also home to James the VII of Scotland and II of England (the same king) after he was exiled from Britain for being too Catholic.

"Louis XIV was born here". Apparently this is a big deal.

Most of the town is seated on a hill, so you can get a good view of the Paris region, including the skyscrapers that constitute the business district (la défense) and the Eiffel tower.

The Eiffel tower is that little blip in the distance beside the hill on the right.

The gates to the chateau.

Inside the chateau, naturally, is a large archaeology museum, with displays from the palaeolithic to the Roman era. It particularly focused on French archaeology, with displays of neanderthal burials, cave paintings from the south of France, and Gaulish settlements.

A neolithic carving - this one was barely bigger than a fingertip.

A bronze-age Zodiac calendar.

The museum was fascinating, really a lot of information in there. About a third of the exhibits were translated into English, and the rest we slowly puzzled over. When we were ready to leave, we just hopped on the commuter train and were home in 45 minutes! It was very pleasant to find this town. It was far enough from Paris that it didn't feel like Paris (being on the hill and being able to see far helped with that, I think), but also close enough that a spontaneous day trip was not full of travelling. Perhaps we'll take more day trips in the future.