• SiewchParis Olympics 2024Traveler
    At Nice Ville just before we departed.
    Jeff is finally on his way to the Olympics!Speeding through the French countryside.Speeding along the coast just before Antibes.The train's ceiling was too low for Jeff.Le Bar on board the train.At Marseilles Saint Charles station.Scenes from the train journey from Nice to Paris.Scenes from the train journey from Nice to Paris.Scenes from the train journey from Nice to Paris.Scenes from the train journey from Nice to Paris.Scenes from the train journey from Nice to Paris.We were greeted by Phryges, the Paris Olympics mascot, as we checked in to the Mercure Hotel.

    Nice to Paris by Train

    July 24, 2024 in France ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    And now for the main event... we're off to Paris!

    Setting off from Nice Ville station, the SNCF train first travelled west for 2.5 hours on a normal cruising speed along the coast to Antibes, then Cannes (the beach was sandy there!), then Toulon, and finally Marseille. After Marseille, we turned north, picked up speed, and made our way to Paris Gare de Lyon in a little over three hours.

    During the train ride, as I drifted in and out of sleep, I replayed my favorite album, Simple Minds' Empires and Dance, in my head. Released in 1980, Empires and Dance is a dark, brooding Cold War era album written while the band was traveling around Europe, well before they descended into commercial, bombastic irrelevance in the mid-1980s. The Guardian described the album as “A Mitteleuropean Psychodrama"; as a Cold War child, I cannot think of a more appropriate album to revisit on such a journey through Europe. Here is a link to the aforementioned Guardian article. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jun/27/a…

    Arriving at Gare de Lyon, we transferred to the RER Line A to La Defense, from which we walked to our accommodation at the Mercure Paris La Defense. After checking in and freshening up, we wandered out for an Italian dinner.    Read more