Beast, Beauty,

The train journey out of Paris takes about 5 hours to Perpignan, and it sweeps down through the whole of the length of France... over the grey Seine, alongside the sandy Loire, picking up the wide Rhone somewhere, eventually crossing its outlet near Nîmes and then the Aude somewhere south of Narbonne. Lots of tagging in the suburbs, the same names go out quite far - TPA, Sonic - some in beautiful swirly text, other marks like some seventies' album cover.  The eyes on the tanks of this sewage plant was just south of Paris - when we came back it was too dark to see where it was - haunting, nevertheless!

distractions at the sewage farm!

When you reach the Centre, the volcanos are luscious pointy hills with streaming clouds above them... soon after the roof tiles take on a pink hue, a half-tube shape, you know you are in the South. Baroque houses face the station in Nîmes and Beziers, palm trees in fruit, and the huge cathedral at Narbonne rises on the horizon. On the way back the lakes reflect their southern colours, flamingos stand on their one-legs and the sky turns a somersault. The tags from Perpignan all the way to here say "Krevet"... s/he gets about a bit!