One of the challenges of making a train connection through Paris — as through London — is that the train you came in on is pretty much guaranteed to come to a different station than the one on which you need to leave; and this entails a somewhat hectic trip via Metro and some unpleasant tactical decisions. If you have a layover of several hours, what do you mean to do with it? Will you put your luggage in consignment in order to let yourself wander the city? If so, do you put it in at the station where you came in, or the one where you mean to go out? Either way you have to go back to one of the stations twice, which is a bother, so perhaps you should just drag the luggage with you, prop it next to your chair at cafés, and turn a cold touristic obliviousness on anyone who expresses by word or gesture that you’re being a little inconsiderate.
For those traveling through the Gare d’Austerlitz, however, I recommend this possibility: spend some time in the nearby (very nearby) Jardin des Plantes. It’s a botanical garden, with statues honoring many French scientists of note, and there are some buildings you can go into if you like; but that’s hardly necessary if you don’t want to. There are also benches and long tree-lined avenues and you can sit and breathe fresh air, a welcome thing post-couchette.
In the morning there are joggers: not only solitary joggers such as one might see in any city, but jogging teams of fit men in t-shirts that say “SAPEURS-POMPIERS”. Literally this means SAPPER PUMPER, which sounds like a club for plumbing obsessives, but is actually French for firefighter.
