Saturday 7 January - Provins

We decided to take the train from Paris Est to Provins.  These trains are bi-mode in that they start out under the wires from Paris but change over to diesel for the part outside the electrified area. At Roissy-en-Brie I heard the diesel engine start up and we raced on towards Longueville with a seamless transfer from electric to diesel traction

Lunch was the first order of business.

Rognons with fries. The sauce was very good indeed and took a lot of sopping up

Pork in a brie sauce with noodles.
The sauce was in effect just melted brie. Why spoil a good cheese by adding something to it?

Ile flottante

Frozen nougat with a strawberry sauce

We have been to Provins previously on special days when people dressed up in medieval clothes and armor and provided hot wine and chestnuts etc. We thought it would be interesting to see the town au nature - in a word "dead".  It was cold and damp but it was good to see the many interesting buildings without a lot of cars or tourists around.

Half timberes buildings are very common in Provins

Vegetation seems to be getting the upper hand at many locations

Moss on a slate roof

Moss and vegetation on a tree

We came back to Paris. While waiting for the road at Longueville a big diesel came roaring through with an express from the Belfort area. We caught up with it in the Gare de l'Est. 

These are being replaced by new multiple unit trains. Their days are numbered

We caught the no. 30 bus from the Gare de l'Est.  It is always fun going along Magenta and Clichy. Surprisingly there were empty seats - late afternoon on a Saturday.  But then the brigade of old ladies with large shopping carts was absent.

We went into Androuet, the fromager on Levis to get a Camembert.  The assistant explained that if we found a feve in it they would give us another one.  In the paast we have only had feves in the galette du roi. Yesterday at Saint-Germain we saw a butcher advertising "poulet du roi".  I presume it is the same idea. The cheese is good, as is the Langres, bought at the same time, but so far we haven't found a feve. The assistants in the shop seem to have such a good time selling cheese.