Thursday and Friday, April 6 and 7, 2023
Deidre and I were up at 8:00AM and on our way to Kylie's house at about 11:00 AM where we parked the Jeep and called Uber for a ride to the airport. (Its hard to get Uber on the IOP) The flight to Washington was on time, our connection to Paris was a bit tight but we managed to get to the departure lounge just as boarding was announced. All good.
We decided to upgrade this flight to the next level - "Premium Economy". (For our last international flight in October, 2022 to Australia we tried "Economy Plus" and that was unimpressive. But we were both very happy with our new seats. Way more space, bigger seats and better food seems to sum it up.
The 7 hour flight arrived right on time, just before 7 AM. (When Thursday became Friday per our body clocks.) Immigration, baggage and customs were fast and easy. Kylie was due to arrive on a different flight about 30 minutes after us, and we had arranged to meet at McDonalds located near the subway station. But we could not find McD's but did eventually found a Starbucks, so we SMS'd the new plan to Kylie. She got the message but did not turn up for quite a while because the delay in Immigration etc. had expanded.
After a coffee we headed for the subway and found the right platform and train. The carriages loaded up as we headed towards the city and by the time we reached Chatelet-des-Halles it was packed solid. All the suitcases did not help. After asking a few people "Parlez-vous Anglais?" we found the right platform. It was a busy place.
We had time for some lunch at Gare dfe Lyon before catching the TGV. The TGV was very long, so we had quite a walk to find our assigned carriage and seats. The seating was 2 by 2 and the carriage seemed quite narrow. And yes, it did go fast.
Unfortunately we needed to change trains in Lyon, and we only had 8 minutes to make the transfer. We came across an Anglophile on board who was able to tell us the new platform. We all ran - I made it, asked the Conductor to hold the door, but he would not. Deidre and Kylie were just in view when the door was closed.
In anticipation of the short changing time, I had also lined up a "just in case" car in Lyon. All the trains to Avignon were fully booked, so we headed of to Alamo and picked up the car. It was only another 230 km to Avignon, with freeway just about all the way, so I expected to arrive in a couple of hours. But the traffic was so bad it took us 4 hours! Other than the traffic it was easy driving, but we had all been awake for about 30 hours so we were ready to arrive. The country side approaching Avignon was well cared for and really attractive.
Our hotel was just outside on of the main gates of this walled city. After cleaning up a bit we walked into the city. Dinner was pretty ordinary. We went back to the hotel and to bed.
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