GETTING TO THE STATION
On Thursday, we took the TGV, high-speed train from Aix to Paris. It’s a three hour journey. This train travels at speeds from 150 to 180 mph and the countryside whizzes by. Being on the train was the relaxed part of this trip. Getting here, getting rid of the rental car and waiting in the station were more of challenge.
The TGV Gare is outside Aix so you drive into and around the city on its circular roads and then drive some distance into the country on a divided highway. Exiting, the entire side of the road was lined with parked cars. The closer we got to the station, the more cars there were parked everywhere you looked and in the official parking areas. After driving into a paid lot we didn’t want and exiting without having to pay, we finally found the signs to the rental car drop off lots. Enterprise/National was at the far end, but we took care of the details and schlepped our luggage to the modern all glass station built in 2001. We were relieved that our train was to depart from the closer track, so we didn’t have to lug the luggage upstairs and down to the other side of the track.
RESTROOMS
When I was growing up, women and girls had to pay a nickel to use public restrooms. As I recall, boys and men got in free. That changed a long time ago in the U.S., but in some European countries, there is still a charge for public restrooms, particularly in train stations.
The cost here, after you entered the sliding glass doors (they read, “2 the loo”), was one euro, about a dollar. Hard to believe. The credit card reader was out of service, so you had to have a coin. I watched lots of women and some men enter, look surprised (although there is a sign outside), and then fumble for change. The young woman staff member occasionally took pity on a poor soul without the coin and let them through the turnstile. You even got a paper receipt, good for a tiny discount on a drink or other purchase. I will admit the restroom was clean, but nonetheless…
WAITING TO BOARD
About an hour before we departed, a siren sound came over the loudspeaker. Then a voice said, first in French which I understood, then in English followed by Spanish, German, and Italian, that because of a “glitch in the building” (the English translation), everyone was to evacuate the building by the nearest emergency exit. We hesitated as few people seemed to be moving; then there being no EXIT signs, the CP went looking and discovered the front station entrance was the exit. We went out and joined others. The time outside was short and, relieved, we went back inside.
ON THE TRAIN AND ARRIVING
Nothing but good things to say here. Quiet train, comfortable seats and an on-time arrival at Gare de Lyon in Paris. The food from the café car was nothing special, but it was something to eat.
There was a bit of confusion meeting our cab driver at the station (he wasn’t where he was supposed to be), but eventually we found him and were on our way to Hotel St. Paul Rive Gauche, a boutique hotel not far from the Luxembourg Gardens. Our room has lovely flowered wallpaper and a most comfortable bed. It’s small as hotel rooms here are. (We’ve been spoiled by the spacious rooms in our various B&Bs.) The hotel is near lots of small restaurants and close to Notre Dame which we walked to before dinner.
Note: Photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
