Travelling on

A smooth Eurostar trip to Paris, sitting next to 3 Americans (parents and grown-up daughter). They'd just spent a few days in London - "it's so safe!" they repeated, "we've walked for miles!" This was nice to hear.
We all skirted around some of the more sensitive issues. "What do you think of the royal family?" they asked. I said that I thought it was all becoming slowly less relevant, and that ideally I'd prefer an elected national figurehead, not one linked to a system of inherited wealth. "Oh you mean like a president?" they said quickly, adding "you've seen how well that's going for us...?"
I didn't ask how they voted, though there were hints: "I'm not a Trump man, but..." said the Dad at one point. They all expressed weariness with the prospect of a Trump/Biden replay. All of us expressed surprise that the Democrats, in particular, haven't brought forward a new candidate.
Then we arrived, to be greeted by the sight of armed police and soldiers at the Gare du Nord. Not 'small arms' either, but massive automatic weapons cradled across the chests of fresh-faced boys. This is in response to a heightened threat from IS and related groups, in the context of the Hamas/Israel war.
It was the same at the Gare d'Austerlitz, where I went to catch the sleeper to Marseille. It's a beautiful station, but is currently in the middle of a massive renovation process. So I couldn't take some of the photos I'd hoped to take. On the other hand, there's an interesting photo exhibition on display there amid the chaos, which I really enjoyed.