Back in Lyon again!

We arrived in Lyon March 31^st after what became an extra-long day of travel.  Our flight was great; we even caught a tail wind so that our plane got in about an hour early.  Then we went to check on our TGV connection.

The TGV is the fast train that gets us from Paris to Lyon in only two hours. This connection is really convenient and easy – normally.  The train station is right at CDG airport, and the French do a wonderful job of posting information for travelers.  There are display screens located throughout the station showing train numbers, destinations, times of arrival and departure, and the specific track where the train will arrive.  Outside, on the platforms, displays show exactly where your train car will be so that you can get on and find your seat as soon as other folks have gotten off the train.  There are TGV employees on the platform to assist passengers and hurry folks in and out of train cars so that the train can leave quickly.  

A TGV at a station

David wondered why our train never showed up on the screen so he went to the information booth where a man told him it would be ~ 2hours late.  A delay like that is really quite unusual.  Then a nice gentleman sitting near us told us there was a strike in progress.  Lovely!  Our train never, ever showed up on the screen so David went into the ticket office to find out what our options were.  There he learned that there was a train coming that would make a stop at Lyon Part Dieu (our destination), and that we should just get on it.  And, so 4 ½ hours after our arrival at CDG, we, along with a bazillion of our nearest and dearest brand new friends, squeezed ourselves onto an already-full train.  Anna actually ended up in a seat, but David sat on a suitcase in the aisle.  The aisle soon became pretty crowded with people standing and sitting throughout the train car.  Everyone was quite pleasant and went out of their way to help folks get by, move their luggage, etc.  There was a sort of "we're all in this together" atmosphere on the train.  Needless to say, no one came through to check our tickets.  We arrived at Part Dieu at 1610 (our reservations would have gotten us in at 1400), and we were greeted by LOTS of people waiting to get on the train as soon as we got off.

After a short walk from the station to the apartment, we retrieved some of our stuff from the basement and were pleased to see that Roger and Dominique, our friends and ex-landlords (more on that later), had brought over some things we had stored in their garage along with a nice bottle of wine.  We made a quick trip to our local Monoprix for milk, eggs, and a few other things, unpacked the bare necessities for the night, and crashed.  We were both asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. 

Definitely an interesting trip, but all’s well that ends well!

Ah,  Lyon!