On the rails to Nice!

So, after hardly any sleep (unfamiliar bed, very hot, very noisy) we trotted along Euston Road to St Pancras (lovely station) at 5.30 am. Met Claire (Tour Manager) and other sundry tour members. Set off bang on time at 7.01 and following a light complementary breakfast arrived Gard du Nord at 10.24 (+ one hour). Ted and I laid low on the Eurostar whilst others went through their professions/children/grandchildren/former holidays in the first hour….. 🙄
Then , with the promise of a 3 hour wait at Gare de (or is it “du”) Lyon, we boarded the coach across Paris from Gare du Nord. As it turned out the traffic was sooooo bad (shades of when we were there 4 weeks earlier for said Olympics) we arrived with only an hour and a half to spare. Quick bite to eat, search for 1€ coins as “spending a penny” has gone up with inflation, and we soon set off on the Marathon walk up the platform to board our RER to Nice (first class too!) Ted and I were most fortunate to have forward-facing seats on both trains. Can’t say I was impressed by Gare de Lyon-nothing to recommend it apart from its lovely clock tower.
So…. A timely departure to Nice but that was the highlight….. delays then set in and instead of arriving at 8pm it was nearer 10pm 😫 I was starving! Unfortunately it turned out that someone had jumped in front of the train in front of us so that was very sad and everyone felt guilty for moaning. We had a 3 course meal when we eventually reached the Novotel and then straight to bed with alarms set for 5 again. The countryside through France down to the south was lovely and rural with many farmhouses and vineyards and a glimpse of the sea just before we alighted though all hopes of seeing the Nice promenade faded as it was so dark when we arrived. A loooooong day! 😬Les mer