We had intended to go to Fontainebleau today on RER line R. There was a pollution watch in place and all travel in the Paris region was free. Great. We took the metro across the the Gare de Lyon and found the train to Fontainebleau still in the platform a few minutes after it was due to depart. Further investigation revealed that there was no pantograph up and it had no lights. A double decker train full of people waiting for something to happen. A pantograph went up and the lights came on so we gon on and found seats only to be told that the train was a failure and would have to go to be repaired. There was another train scheduled 30 minutes later but that was likely to be overcrowded so we gave up the chance of a free ride and decided to go right back across the city to La Defense.
At times it can be difficult to find ones way up to the surface here but this time we managed to achieve this and visited the Christmas Market. We passed a Marks and Spencer Food store and I found some Battemburg cake. La Defense is a vast sea of concrete which is quite unpleasant.
A quick metro trip to Porte Maillot found us at Le Rekais de Venise just before 1200. We were staggered to find only about 8 people ahead of us when the doors opened and the restaurant didn't fill up until close to 1300 - most unusual.
We walked back along the Rue de Ternes stopping off at Monceau park where half a dozen people were shucking oysters and drinking wine.
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