Thomas, Alas

In Paris last week we spent a delightful day on a self-guided walking tour of Montmartre. We walked around narrow back alleys through the old village, past houses where artists and composers lived and worked. Alas the old cabarets had been turned in tacky souvenir shops, and the closer one got to Sacre Coeur the thicker the crowds became.

Of course the four of us slowly climbed the 276 steps up to the brilliant white church on the crest of the hill.  When we got to the top a road train pulled in – a ute wearing a whole lot of wood panelling to make it look like Thomas the Tank Engine, pulling three carriages.  Fair enough, I thought, a lot of elderly and incapacitated people could not climb up to the church, and the road train really is a great help to them.  But most of the people who got out of the carriages were young and fit, though some of them were carrying very heavy cameras.  At other times it was a little disappointing to be in an almost deserted narrow winding street looking up in wonder at the window of the house where Eric Satie composed Gymnopodie III, and have to press yourself against a wall to let Thomas and his three carriages rumble by.

Ribeauville is a beautiful Medieval village, with narrow lanes, and beautiful old buildings.  Picture postcard is an overused phrase, but apt.  We strolled through the town in the early morning sunshine before the crowds built up, and it was truly beautiful.  Ted and LouAnne went to the church for the service, and by the time we all met again there were tourists everywhere.  As we were looking at a boulangerie at the local specialty – a two metre long loaf of bread that the baker would cut pieces off for customers, like cheese in a deli, we had to press ourselves into the wall again to let another Thomas and his three carriages full of tourists by.

After lunch we decided to get away from the maddening crowd, and walked five kilometres along a quiet country lane through endless grape vines over the low hills to another nearby medieval village. The village itself was magnificent, though more crowded than the sideshow alley at the Royal Melbourne Show.  It was a relief to get back onto the quiet country lane for the walk back Ribeauville.  Can you believe that there we were in the middle of the vineyards – when Thomas and his three carriages of tourists came rumbling around the corner.  If you look at the photograph you can see the shadow of Ted holding his head in despair.

Chris