Day 4: On the TGV from Nice - Paris

Agenda:

1.       Grocery shop for picnic food for our 5 hour train ride on the TGV to Paris
2.     5 hour TGV to Paris, whizzing by typical French villages, countryside, and vineyards vineyards vineyar..wait, there’s a river! vineyards.
3.       Arrive at the Gare de Lyon in Paris
4.       Drop things off at our hotel in the 10e and walk to Montmartre

So far we have been lucky with the weather—beautiful blue skies and warm sunshine. Today, however, the skies turned gray and drizzly, probably because she knew we were leaving. The brave Helen woke up at 6 (or maybe even earlier,,) to take a quick swim in the (freezing but refreshing) Mediterranean sea with Mme Yeo. You only live once, and what an amazing thing to remember—doing something so wonderfully crazy but worth it, because when else are you going to be able to wake up and do this?

After an active morning, we went to the supermarket Casino and the corner boulangerie to buy lunch for our train ride. Some of us ended up getting baguettes or tartes sales (savory quiches)—a la nicoise, pissaladiere (caramelized onions, olives, and anchovies), Lorraine, saumon. After les courses we headed back to the hotel, packed our valises, and walked 5 minutes to the Gare de Nice to catch our TGV, or Train a Grande Vitesse to Paris!

And here I am now, on the TGV trying to catch up on updating our day-to-day activities. Most of the kids are sleeping, having finished their pique-nique. Some of them are taking in the French experience of riding the train through the rose vineyards and fruit orchards of Aix-en-Provence. Some are catching up on homework or reading. I have some planning to do, since the day after tomorrow we will have a free day in Paris, and there are a million and one things that I’d like them to see and experience on foot. Alors, a bientot!