After
stopping for our obligatory café and pastry breakfasts, we headed to
Gare Part Dieu and John's train departure. But, guess what! That
train was delayed. At that point John and David
decided it would be a good idea to visit the restroom in the shopping center
across the street. Here one purchases a ticket with a QR code on it,
passes the ticket under the reader, and gains admission to the
facilities. However, David and John soon joined other men in line, and none of
them could get the reader to work. So, now the question, "how many men does it take to get the reader to validate
their tickets so that they can use the restroom?" The answer?
One French woman! This lady was able to hold the tickets at just the right distance
from the reader to make everything work (and earn the gratitude of all the men in line - not to mention adding a touch humor to the trip).
John's train finally arrived, we exchanged our good-byes, and he embarked on the rest of his adventure. Here's the photo he sent us of him with a family he met on the train:
 |
| John and his latest new friends (on the train). |
From Lyon, I continued south to Nice and treated my beachside hotel as home base for venturing east to Menton and Monaco and then west to Cannes. My timing put me in Monaco for the first days of the Gran Prix and in Cannes for the second week of the Film Festival. Lunches at beach clubs along the coast and dinners in restaurant-filled plazas in Nice. Lots of easy train rides and walking. And I did catch some sun and get into the Mediterranean! From Nice it was back to Paris.
I will want to work on my language skills before my next visit. I had a basic set of phrases to get things engaged, but I was lost as soon as someone would respond…just too fast for me! But I never met anyone who wouldn’t try to help me in communications and English is surprisingly common in Paris. So many details to each little adventure. So much to bring me back for more.
Encore une fois merci, Anna and Dave.
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