We began our day by showering and packing. Our cab met us at 9:15 and we were going to Gare de Lyon. We were driven past the Opera Bastille which reminded me that we were supposed to be there in 2020 until Covid Times hit. I do hope we can get back to Paris sometime to see an opera there.

Goodbye, Paris … this is from our taxi, as we passed by the Louvre:

Of course we arrived at the train station plenty early: we never take chances and we always have had time to spare. We had our last Paris breakfast at the station, and were on our train and in our seats well before it departed, at precisely 10:56 as scheduled. Our car was nice and quiet, and not completely full. Then I stared at this guy for 3 or so hours:

The start of our trip:

I’ve been surprised to see people leave bags unattended, both on trains and in coffee shops.

After leaving the station and getting out of the city we, for the very first time on this trip, I think, saw a truly blue sky. Despite being on a very fast moving train I had to make a few photos!

I did a few things on my iPad (yes, I’m still managing to play all of my word games most days) and then shut my eyes for a brief time. I find it very difficult to stay awake on a train. Heck, I find it difficult to stay awake any time I’m in a moving vehicle that I’m not driving! I also find it difficult to let myself sleep, though, only because I don’t want to miss anything! But the train lulled me to nap and I was out for a short time. When I woke, I woke to no more blue sky, but lots of fog.

Later it was fog and frost on the ground. It was so beautiful from my nice warm train seat!

The first stop was Valence, for a whopping three minute stop … except not really: it looked like some people wanted to get on the train and I don’t know if they didn’t have tickets or if it was the wrong train, but the person from the train who was talking to them clearly wasn’t going to let them on for some reason. So the stop turned out to be ten minutes.

Second stop: Nîmes, where a lot of people exited and we stopped for all of four minutes.

Finally our destination. Hello Montpellier!

Before getting off the train my blood sugar issue hit: it’s the first time for this trip, so I was rather surprised. If I eat breakfast (which I’ve been doing on this trip) I sometimes, a few hours later, get the shakes, my heart races, and I get very warm. Well, I guess I was due for this. So before getting a taxi to the hotel we went into a place at the station and bought water and I got crackers while Dan bought chips. We sat for a while as I recovered. Dan had nearly finished his water and I still had much of mine so I suggested he pour his into my bottle. He was not seeing clearly so I took his bottle and then proceeded to pour half of it on the table! Too funny that I thought I’d do better!

We caught our cab and got to our hotel in fairly decent time. The place is an older one, and pretty spacious.

Now I confess I didn’t know much about Montpellier. I had chosen it because it fit between Paris and the next destination. We could have opted for one other city that would have fit, but this one seemed to be more about food and the other about the beach life, I think. When I read that it had great food I figured we’d enjoy it. Of course I then neglected to research any eating spots.

We got settled in our room, spent a short time relaxing, and when rain had subsided decided to go out and see what we’d find. We first headed to Place de la Comédia, and then continue wherever our feet took us.

Neither of us realized just how many small streets and alleys we’d find, and this, um (sorry) right up our alley. Dan was enjoying the rainy streets for photography, as was I. (But I’m still using only the iPhone. I think I’ve decided vacations are for the iPhone only.)

So we walked. And walked. And walked some more. We were surprised to see a large number of tapas places. I guess that’s a thing here. Montpellier is closer to Spain than France (Dan informed me — no, I don’t know those sorts of facts!), so maybe that’s why?

It was getting to the point where dinner sounded like a good idea, so we went to look at a place that was recommended at the hotel. Alas, they didn’t open until 8:00 and we weren’t wanting to wait that long, so we headed back to another spot where we had looked earlier. I had mussels and Dan had fish and chips.

When we left the restaurant it was raining, but not terrifically hard, so with umbrellas we were just fine. Had I followed my instincts I would have gotten us far away from the hotel. It sure is handy to have phones that can tell us where to go!

Getting back to the hotel I did something I also did for the past two nights that I probably haven’t done in eons: I took a bath! What can I say? They have these lovely tubs, and it just seems like the right thing to do. But am I becoming my mother? She took baths all the time. (I don’t know if she ever took a shower in her life!) Hm. We’ll see if this trend continues.

So now it’s after 9:00 and I should post this before I fall asleep!

Until tomorrow —