Day 6 - Blogabond

Paris to Avignon. After packing 40 kilos of @#%!^ into a couple 20 kilo bags (approximately 8), we left them to be moved to a car by the rental staff. After carrying them down 3 flights of stairs, they were not nearly as pleasant about the service as they had seemed the day before when offering to move the bags. While they were sweating and grumbling, we were off the Eiffel Tower once again. John needed to get a few pictures of himself near the tower. After a short visit it was back to get our bags, which were being held hostage for a large tip. Hmmm, don’t know why? Paul gladly paid and we were off to the train station.

We arrived in plenty of time so decided to get a beer in the restaurant before we boarded. What we forgot was that Parisians never rush time spent near food or drink, so with a whopping 10 minutes to spare, we rushed to our train, lugged all 8 bags, plus assorted carry-ons up to our seat on the second level of the car, stashing them in various places near and far from our seats. As we were settling in, a group of travelers stated they had these seats as they were on car 7, not 17. Car 17 was about 10 cars further toward Avignon, though we were not sure where it was at the time as they did not seem to be in any numerical order. A bit of shouting, tugging, sweating, and running we reached our seats on car 17 with seconds to spare. The French do not have the same relaxed attitude about train schedules as they do about dining. After kicking the poor lost vacationers out off our seats, we relaxed for a very comfortable and smooth, high –speed train ride to Avignon. Disembarkation is allowed about 3 minutes and we just got off and counted our bags, which were amazingly all with us, as the train pulled out.

We then drove to our new home in St Remy De Province. Mark’s first words to the nice gentleman helping us settle in were, “No wonder this place costs so much!” It is really quite reasonable, but very comfortable. I am sitting under the arbor on the patio, listening to the pool gurgle as I write this. We should be very happy here.

SKC

written by

pscossette on June 23, 2007 from Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France

from the travel blog: The Cossette Family Sabbatical

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