Day 36 Cap d’ Agde to Paris

Today was a travel day. We were up relatively early - at least for me - because Saida and her husband were coming to collect the keys to the apartment. Although she said she’s an English teacher, we ended up chatting in French. Hope that means we’ve make some progress while here.

They kindly drove us to the train station - although we did pay them - but at
least it was better than taking the bus for 45 minutes. Our TGV train was 25 minutes late - most unusual, but they said it was due to water & an animal on the track. As we had reserved seats, there was no stress.

We’ve decided that trains are the way to go in Europe. The Eurail pass is great. If you’re making several stops in different countries it takes time to set up in advance, but it works beautifully.

The other thing I’ve learned - and love - is having a new SIM card. It was only $33 for a month and worked well in all 3 countries. Unfortunately it expired Oct 1 - really missed it today when we arrived at Gare du Lyon in Paris and had to find our way to the hotel. From now on I’ll buy 2 cards if we’re away for more than a month.

Not having a map or SIM card, we finally found our hotel. I had taken a screen shot of the directions, but we went down Avenue de Bercy not Boulevard de Bercy, and ended up at a dead end. We finally found our hotel - but it was thanks to a sweet young university student who walked us all the way there. Couldn’t thank her enough - also another great op to practice my French.

After checking in, we explored about and found a good restaurant nearby. French Bordeaux & Chardonnay, good food - a lovely way to end the day.

Didn’t take many pics - more to come tomorrow.Read more