Air We Breathe: Saint Germain en Laye

17 August 2012

Saint Germain en Laye

It was Assumption Day here on wednesday and what better way to spend a public holiday than outside the hot and humid city! Scott and I took the RER (still trying to pronounce this as the French would - something along the lines of airgh-ergh-airgh) out to the western most suburb of Paris - Saint Germain en Laye. It's a seriously beautiful suburb, which feels like a French country town, yet it's just an easy hop, skip and jump from the city centre. Very little is published about Saint Germain en Laye, so we were quite surprised when we came out of the train station and saw an impressive grand chateau perched in front of us, surrounded by a labyrinth of beautiful gardens. We couldn't help but head straight for the chateau grounds and strolled the gardens for a while, stopping only to take in the distant view of Paris city. We finally made our way into the gorgeous town, where we found a wee English pub hiding in the back streets and were quite excited by the prospect of fish & chips and cider for lunch! We had a fantastic day exploring the interesting streets, which were filled with a great mix of ethnic restaurants and boutique shops... we will be back soon, if only for another round of fish & chips! Bisous x