We’ve found ourselves back in the south of France, this time in Nice in the Côte d’Azur area. The overnight sleeper from Paris to Nice was comfortable enough, where we shared a 4 bed (2 bunk) cabin with an elderly couple, so it was definitely quiet enough and easier on the back and neck than… Continue reading Nice, FR
Category: France
Paris, FR (Part II)
Day 5: Of all the museums in all the world, Christina had singled out The Louvre as the one that she wanted, absolutely for sure, to see. Having seen a huge lineup outside on our previous walk-by, we made a point of getting up early and arriving before the doors opened. Getting up before 9:00AM felt… Continue reading Paris, FR (Part II)
Paris, FR (Part I)
Day 1. Our arrival in Paris’ Gare de l’Est came fairly quickly, since we caught a TGV fast train from Luxembourg. We were given directions by our apartment host to take the Number 4 metro from the station to the St. Michel stop, easy enough – except that we decided to arrive at the wrong… Continue reading Paris, FR (Part I)
Lyon, FR
We left Avignon just in time! The rain was rolling in while we waited at the station, and during the first part of our trip the deluge was so dense, and our train so fast, that it seemed to be raining sideways. We arrived to skies that were dry, if not quite blue, and made… Continue reading Lyon, FR
Avignon, FR
Our arrival in Avignon was smooth, albeit a little later than we had initially planned. We made a newbie mistake and had checked the ‘Arrivals’ board in the Montpellier train station and thus were late for our real train by a mere 5 minutes and therefore had to wait for the next train 1.5 hours… Continue reading Avignon, FR
Montpellier, FR
As already in mentioned in Dan’s previous blog post, we found ourselves in Montpellier by accident since this was as close to Avignon we could book from Barcelona. We had a short stint here and enjoyed this small city more than expected. Our hotel was only a 3 minute walk from the train station and… Continue reading Montpellier, FR
Bordeaux, FR
Our ride to Bordeaux was mostly uneventful, as our train coursed through countryside that could nearly have been plucked straight from my Okanagan homeland. Nearly, but for the stone construction of the farmhouses and barns, and massive hilltop estate properties and other “castle-like” structures, which would have looked distinctly out of place in BC, as… Continue reading Bordeaux, FR
Tours, FR (part II)
Our last day in Tours, we took a half-day excursion out to the surrounding areas and visited Chenonceau and Amboise. In Chenonceau, we went into the grounds to look around the “Chateau des Dames”, built in 1513. It received this nickname because its decor and construction was highly influenced by its numerous female tenants. We… Continue reading Tours, FR (part II)
Tours, FR (part I)
The French really know food. While the town of Tours was nice enough for buildings and architecture, the biggest takeaway from this leg of the trip was how much I’ve enjoyed the food. The train ride from Lille to Tours on the TGV has been our best train experience to date. We were on the… Continue reading Tours, FR (part I)