Classic Cars | Notre Dame | La Louvre

This is a brief, late winter, three-day train trip to Paris, with a mid-morning Eurostar departure from London St.Pancras International, returning a couple of days later on a late afternoon service from Paris Gare du Nord. Two nights accommodation has been reserved at the CitizenM Hotel Paris Gare de Lyon, very close to the city centre.

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The main objective is to spend a day at the Paris Expo pavillion where the RetroMobile 2025 exhibition is being held from 5th to 9th February. This is France's premier, annual classic car event, and in 2025 the show especially celebrates the 70th anniversary of the launch of Citroën's astonishly radical design, the Citroën DS, first revealed to the world of motoring in 1955

The DS was developed to replace the aging, but equally revolutionary Traction Avant - a pre-war design that was also well ahead of its time when introduced in 1936. These days both models of the marque are highly collectable, not least for their quirkiness and innovative engineering.

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So Retromobile has the DS as it's focus, but also promises to be a highly enjoyable day out to experience all things French in the world of classic motoring. And for evening entertainment, the Paris 'jazz scene' looks lively, with many venues across the city offering plenty of choice, ranging from modern jazz-rock fusion to tributes to Django Rheinhardt and 'gypsy jazz'. Laurent Marr's Soundscape at the Sunset/Sunside club looks promising.

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However, whilst in Paris for a short while, the main day's visit to RetroMobile will allow time on arrival day to visit the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral, devasted by fire some five years ago; and on departure day, the aim is to spend the morning at the Louvre, one of the world's most famous galleries.