On our way

Shortly after Mary arrived home from Boot Camp’s make-up day, we started getting notifications that the Boston bound Amtrak train was delayed. The last notification before leaving the house said there would be a twenty minute delay. By the time Uber dropped us off at Kingston Station, the delay had increased to forty-two minutes. Within a few minutes it spiked to fifty-four minutes. By the time we actually boarded the train it was an hour behind schedule. Despite the hour delay, we made up some time and arrived at Boston’s South Station forty minutes behind schedule.

Because we’ve traveled so often we have global entry, which includes TSA pre-check and we have Clear, which augments TSA pre-check. We dropped off our bags and shortly thereafter were through security and sitting at the Delta Sky Lounge.

Japan will spoil you. Everything is efficient and runs on time. If a train is delayed, it’s usually by seconds not minutes. Not only was our Amtrak train delayed from Kingston Station to Boston our flight to Paris was delayed by at least an hour. We were scheduled to board at 5:55P however, we didn’t board until 7:00P. Originally we were slated for a 6:50P departure, our flight did not takeoff until 8:15P.

Ferris Wheel

Paris Olympic cauldron

Sunday, June 29th - Paris Arrival

As expected, we arrived in Charles de Gaulle only forty minutes behind schedule, thanks to a good tailwind. \240Despite long lines at passport control, we met our Welcome Pickup driver within the agreed upon timeframe.

Notre Dame

We’ve used Welcome Pickups in the past. Price-wise they’re slightly higher than a taxi, but they monitor your flight for delays and, in many airports, they meet you at the arrivals area. Our driver Yacine, a very tall and broad middle eastern man, loaded our bags into his Tesla and we were at our hotel within fifty minutes.

We arrived at the hotel sometime after 10 AM. As checkout is not until noon, our room was not ready. The reception desk gave us keys to the executive lounge and told us they would notify us as soon as the room is ready. Needless to say, we were both feeling the effects of the overnight flight. Actually, overnight is a misnomer, by the time we arrived at the hotel, it was only 4:00A east coast time.

Cat-napping in Jardin des Tuileries

After nibbling on some lounge refreshments, we both started the dreaded junkie nod. If we stayed in the hotel lounge we would have ended up napping on uncomfortable chairs. We decided to go for a short walk just to stay awake. In the distance we could see the Paris Ferris Wheel. We meandered in that general direction and before realizing it, we were at the base of the Ferris Wheel in the Jardin des Tuileries. We took a ride on the ferris wheel taking in the amazing Paris sights, then walked through the park until we reached the Paris Olympic Cauldron; it’s actually quite beautiful and breathtaking.

Notre Dame Nave

All of Europe is in the grips of a heat wave. The scorching temps have hovered between 92-98. So as we walked towards Place de la Concord in the oppressive heat, we found two of the park’s green metal reclining chairs and sat beneath a row of trees. As hundreds of sweaty tourists and Parisians walked by, we unintentionally took catnaps in the uncomfortable chairs. Realizing this was not the best choice of activities, we grabbed a bite and cold drink from one of the cafés in the park, and headed to Notre Dame Cathedral.

We took the 1 train to the Hotel de Ville stop and walked across Pont d’Arcole towards Notre Dame. The queue for the Cathedral was incredibly long, but was moving relatively fast. We jumped in line and before long, we were in the Cathedral. The Cathedral is still under construction, but it’s open for mass and visitors. When we were here two years ago, the Cathedral was closed because of the fire, so we felt fortunate to see it this time. As luck would have it, as we toured the cavernous nave an organ recital, which reverberated throughout, was taking place. Maybe we were overly tired, but the music from the massive pipe organ was incredibly moving.

It was after 6:00P and we managed to stay awake most of the day, catnaps in the Jardin de Tuileries not withstanding. We took the 7 train back to the hotel, grabbed some drinks and dinner at the hotel lounge and were fast asleep by 9:00P. A long travel day in the books.

Monday June 30th - Opera Day

Grand Staircase Paris Opera

We had 10:00A tickets to tour the Paris Opera House and 12:00P for the Musee l’Orangerie. We arrived at the Opera House entrance gate by 9:40A and there were nearly two hundred visitors already waiting. Once the gate opened, we realized most of the crowd had no advanced tickets. Those of us with tickets were ushered in, but despite being early, by the time we reach the grand staircase, Instagramers and wannabe influencers were already posing on the grand staircase. Phantom of The Opera has always held a special place in our hearts. It was the first play we saw together and we eventually got to see it at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, where it initially premiered. The Paris Opera House was the inspiration for the play, so we were excited to see it.

Reception Hall, Paris Opera

After touring the Opera House, we again joined a queue to see if there were tickets available for that evening’s performance. There were nearly 400 obstructed view nosebleed seats we could pick from at €12.00 or we could queue up again at seven for a limited number of orchestra and first balcony seats for about €200.00. The show was a modern dance performance called Red Carpet, so after some deliberation we opted for the €12.00 seats as we weren’t certain how good the show would be.

One of eight Water Lilies Murals

One of our favs

Once we were done at the Paris Opera House, we headed to the Musée L’Orangerie. The museum is in the Jardin des Tuileries near the plaza de La Concord. Napoleon had the Orangerie built in 1852, to store and protect the Tuileries garden’s citrus trees from in the cold winters. The L’Orangerie was built out of glass on the Seine River side to allow more light to the trees, but the opposite side of the building is almost windowless.

Beautiful permanent Instulation

The L’Orangerie Gallery has mostly impressionist art. The museum is most famous for its permanent \240collection of eight large Water Lilies murals by Monet. \240It also exhibits works by Matisse, Picasso and Renoir. As we did the first time we saw a Monet, we were awestruck by how beautiful the murals were. After a few hours of touring the museum, we headed back to the hotel to refresh and relax before the show.

Stage & Seating, Paris Opera House

Our tickets for the show were on the fourth balcony, so instead of being seated by the usher, those of us in that section were left to fend for ourselves. We all migrated to the left of the box, where the views of the stage were better.

Empty Grand Staircase During Performance

Paris Opera’s Foyer

The show Red Carpet was interesting at best. The first clue of what we were getting into was the large bucket of earplugs being passed out like halloween candy. The music was energetic in a Bollywood way and the dance performance was enthusiastically erratic in the ilk of Alvin Ailey rather than Pilobolus or Momix , who we tend to favor. We endured the show for about 40 minutes, thankful we hadn’t \240bought the €200 tickets. The silver lining was once we exited the box we had unfettered \240access to the rest of the theater. We were able to enjoy the exhibitions and photograph the grand foyer and grand stairway with no one around.

Paris Olympic Cauldron in flight viewed from hotel lounge

We took the metro for one stop and we were back at our hotel within fifteen minutes of leaving the Opera House. Before bed, we went up to the eighth floor lounge to watch the Paris Olympic Cauldron take flight and snap a few photos of a sparkling \240Eiffel Tower.

Tuesday, July 1st - last full day Paris

Museé d’Orsay

After breakfast, we cabbed to the Museé d’Orsay. The Museum is on the left Bank of the Seine, so rather than the Metro one has to take a bus; hence the cab. Not to deviate too much but we discovered a cool app “G7”, that works much like Uber, but for cabs. Although popular in Paris, Ubers can’t travel in the bus lanes like taxis can. Therefore, to get from point A to point B it takes slightly longer with Uber than it does with a cab.

G7 Taxi App

The Museé d’Orsay was a former railway station, Gare d’Orsay, \240built from 1898 to 1900 and the museum itself is a beautiful work of art. It holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist masterpieces in the world and It is one of the largest art museums in Europe. If one viewed every piece of art in the museum for about sixty-seconds \240it would take weeks if not months to see everything. We lasted a few hours then headed off to a magnificent lunch.

Van Gogh Museé d’Orsay

The museum restaurant is on the second floor and it was the perfect place to enjoy a meal, especially in a setting that was as beautiful as anything hanging in the galleries. The museum’s restaurant has one of the most impressive dining rooms in Paris. It isn’t your average museum café, but rather a French restaurant filled with history. Its high ceilings are covered with frescoes and a new design incorporates colors and mirrors that complement the original gold detailing. After recharging with a delicious and leisurely lunch, we explored a few more floors of the massive museum.

Museum Restaurant

Although we knew we were too late to enter, we wanted to see Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton. So, after wrapping up at the Orsay, we ordered another cab and headed to the Fondation. We’ve visited \240Gehry’s Biomuseo in Panama City and have had Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain on our bucket list.

Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton

Gehry’s Amazing Architecture

In the shimmering heat, the massive structure was more than we could’ve imagined. It was a stunning example of contemporary architecture, which resembled an iceberg or maybe a glass sailboat. It has 12 glass-like “sails” made up of 3,600 curved panels. The building plays with the light, constantly changing with the time of day. \240Truly impressive!

After a long day on our feet, we headed back to the hotel for some wine, dinner and an evening of repacking; our ride to the train station, Gare de Leon, was scheduled for 5:00A.

Paris Marriott Opera

Wednesday, July 2nd - Provence

As we checked out of the Paris Marriott Opera Hotel at 4:45A, the hotel’s night clerk said, “your ride is already here”, but in a sort of odd tone. I dismissed it as the musing of a typical midnight worker, fueled by lack of sleep and meaningful social interaction. However, as we stepped outside, we were greeted by two men claiming to be our driver. One drove a sedan and the other a multi passenger van. They kept asking where the other four people in our group were. I think we all suffer from (or maybe enjoy) dissociative identity disorder. We exhibit different personalities around different people, depending on how we want to be perceived. Despite possibly possessing various personalities, we didn’t need more than one car. When we convinced them there were only two of us, the van driver reluctantly conceded the trip to the driver of the sedan. It turns out our agent obsessively confirmed and reconfirmed our transfer so much so that the company ended up double booking our pickup.

Train to Provence

Gare de Lyon is a large train station but not incredibly complicated. Like large US train stations, platforms are announced moments before boarding. Since we had an early train at that hour, like Stairway to Heaven, the stores are all closed. Once we arrived in Aix-en-Provence, we picked up our car rental keys at the Hertz counter in a building adjacent to the station but then had to haul our bags up a steep hill to pick up the car. After finally reaching our rental, we drove to the center of Aix-en-Provence and found underground parking in the heart of the town. We did a little shopping and had breakfast in a small café in a plaza that was hosting a large farmer’s market. After a relaxing walk we headed off to The Coquillade Winery and Chateau that would be our home for the next three nights.

Parking in Aix-en-Provence

From the minute one rolls onto the exquisitely manicured grounds, you start to understand how absolute magnificent Coquillade is. When we book trips, we approach hotels as a necessity. They are a home base to store our stuff and a place to land after long days of exploring. Hotels are part of our journey, not the destination. They need to be clean, safe and if possible, comfortable. Case in point, when we travelled to Uganda and Madagascar, comfortable was a relative term. Because we had someone help us book parts of this trip, we ended up in this truly magnificent place.

Entrance to Coquillade

Coquillade

The Coquillade resort is a five-star Relais and Chåteaux property with luxurious amenities, locally sourced dining options, and amazing service. The breathtaking Provençal setting doesn't hurt either. The property also has an award winning, Michelin rated gastronomic restaurant, and a bar serving light meals. Although it simply means the restaurant serves unique local and seasonal produce, we found the term “gastronomic” strange. Since it’s not a term we commonly use, we found it to have had an odd dissonant ring, like it produced some weird intestinal condition. OK, enough of that weirdness. Nestled in their vineyard, Coquillade has a dedicated garden used exclusively by their chefs. Needless to say, our meals there were outstanding.

Poolside Coquillade

We spent most of the afternoon trying to relax poolside in the brutal Provence heat. As we sipped on a luscious lavender cocktail, a young father and his very young kids splashed around in the pool. The very uninterested mother sat in the shade wearing a floppy hat, sipping on a cocktail. As I watched the father get in and out of the pool, I kept thinking, god this guy looks familiar. It wasn’t until we were back in the room that I realized the young man playing with his kids in the pool was actor Ben Feldman of NBC’s Superstore fame. We had a great meal at the hotel, a whole turbot (like our flounder), which they deboned for us and zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese and sprinkled with pine nuts. Sure enough, the actor, his unruly kids and his disinterested wife sat two tables from us.

Stuffed Zuccini Flowers

Thursday, July 3rd - Hot Air Balloons

Normal individuals would have happily enjoyed all of the amenities Coquillade offered, but au contraire. We decided to maximize our time in Provence, so we booked a 5:00A hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately, the meeting point was an hour from the Chateau, and we needed to muster at the meeting point ten to fifteen minutes before 5:00A. Consequently, we had to leave Coquillade by 3:45A. No surprise, when we arrived at the lobby, the night clerk had our car ready to go.

Old Defenders

The drive was easy and beautiful. Hints of pink painted the horizon while Venus shone as bright as a beacon in the night sky. It was so bright and felt so close that at first we were not sure what we were looking at. When we arrived at the designated meeting point, half of the participants were already there.  Launch sites are dictated by wind direction, that morning we needed to drive to a valley about thirty minutes north. So we all jumped into the balloon company’s tired and weary Defenders and headed off to the new site.

Readying the Balloons

This was a fairly small operation. There were 24 participants, two balloons, and two pilots and balloon basket held 12 people. Of the twenty-four participants, twelve spoke English and twelve spoke mostly French. Since everyone is expected to follow the pilot’s directions one would think they would divide us evenly by language of preference. Oh no! Through random selection our balloon ended up with three French couples and three American couples. Our side of the basket had us with two French couples and the other side of the basket had two American couples and one French couple. Straining communication even further, our Australian pilot spoke an outback form of French that left the French speakers cocking their heads like the RCA dog.  Despite some minor issues, we had a magnificent ride high above beautiful lavender fields.

Early Morning Balloon Ride

During a previous hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia Turkey, hundreds of balloons took off and landed simultaneously. Clear communication between the pilots and the ground crews insured a precise landing on the balloon trailer. Although our pilot attempted to communicate with the two guys on the ground, we failed to completely clear some trees and had to be dragged across a busy road to a bumpy landing in an adjacent field. I imagine this was part of the experience. Once on the ground, we all helped fold the deflated balloon and assisted the crew to load the basket onto the trailer. Because this was a smaller operation, it felt very intimate and was undoubtedly a blast. We celebrated our adventure with an early morning champagne toast, just the breakfast appetizer we needed.

Champagne Breakfast

Because of the early morning balloon ride, we had layered up. We headed back to the hotel changed and headed over to the hill town of Banon. Once in Banon, we hiked up to L’Eglise Haute, which literally means The High Church. Although it is no longer a church, the building is used as an art installation. We spent some time admiring the paintings before heading back down to the center of town. We stopped at a local café for a cold drink and a fruit smoothie, but unless you were there to smoke cigarettes and drinking alcohol, everything else on the menu was mediocre.

Le Bleuet Bookstore

The concierge at the hotel recommended we stop at Le Bleuet, a prominent local bookstore in Banon, and pick up a book by a local artist. Luckily the bookstore was across the street from the café, as it started to pour as we walked across the street. With the help of the Concierge, who we called while we were at the bookstore and we were able to find the book.

Paella at Andalus

On the way back to Coquillade, we pulled into the quaint village of Apt. We did a little window shopping and found a cool little restaurant called Andalus. Their small menu included paellas and Spanish tortillas, which are Spanish omelets resembling a frittata. The owner, cook, waitress, and host was born in Andalucia, Spain. Her parents immigrated to France to escaped Franco’s rule when she was a child. We enjoyed a seafood paella, a potato tortilla, salad and of course, a wonderful sangria.

Wines from Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Friday, July 4th – Happy Fourth and Eighteen Wines.

 In our quest to stay busy (can you feel the sarcasm), we booked a wine tour in the Chateauneuf-du-Pape region, as if our winery didn’t have enough wines. Which meant, once again, we had to drive about an hour to Avignon. We met our driver at 10 o’clock at the designated pick-up spot in the center of Avignon. One couple was from Scotland, one couple from London and one couple from San Francisco. The couple from San Francisco was very interesting, she was originally from Texas, and he was from Northampton Massachusetts. The Scottish couple was very sweet and the DINK’s from London were your quintessential, Ethal Merman and Howard Keel from Annie get your gun, singing “anything you can do I can do better”.

Wine Tasting Crew, DINK’s on the left by themselves

I can’t tell you with any certainty the names of any of the wineries we visited that day. Suffice to say we stopped at four wineries, and were slated to try four wines at each of the wineries. At the last winery, our guide included two additional wines, totaling 18 wines we sampled that day. It goes without saying that we ordered a case of wine to ship home. Not feeling 100%, I napped for a few hours when I returned to the hotel.

Our favorites after eighteen samples

Saturday July 5th - Drive to Berne

 We check out of Coquillade at around 10:30A and started our circuitous drive to Chateau Bern. We wanted to make a few stops, although they weren’t really on the way. We first headed to Gordes to see The Abbey of Sénanque.  The roads leading to the Abbey are extremely winding and narrow and we found ourselves dodging tour busses, motorcycles and a myriad of cars parked along the road leading to the Abbey.  We slowly made our way to the Abbey’s parking and were surprised to find a parking spot near the entrance gate.

Abbey of Sénanque

The central reason for this trip was to experience the lavender field of Provence. As a rule, we don’t travel in the summer, since the reason we moved to Narragansett was to enjoy the summer months on the seashore. The lavender fields in France had been a bucket-list item for a while, but we had not been willing to give up part of our summer for them. Therefore, when we pulled into the Abbey, we knew we had made the right decision. The lavender fields in front of the abbey were breathtakingly beautiful. The front of the Abbey is enclosed to keep the fields in pristine conditions, and free from hordes of tourists and Instagramers.  

Lavender Fields adjacent to the Abbey

The Abbey was founded in 1148 by Cistercians monks, and it is one of the most famous places to see lavender in France. Monks still live at the Abbey, and they make their living selling lavender and tending to honeybees. They used to make and sell potato chips, but they got tired of being called the chip-monks (no not really, but I can’t help myself sometimes).  You can, however, buy honey and lavender products in the Abbey’s gift shop and no, they don’t sell potato chips.

The Village of Gordes

On the way back from the Abbey, we attempted to stop at the picturesque village of Gordes; however, every public parking lot was packed. Additionally, like vultures circling carrion, countless cars followed pedestrians in hopes of scoring the parking spot. After a few unproductive tours of the lots, we decided to continue to Saint Remy-de-Provence. We hoped to return to Gordes at some point before the end of our trip. We eventually arrived at the Saint Paul Asylum, near Saint Remy-de-Provence. The asylum is where Vincent van Gogh was hospitalized in 1889 after suffering a major mental breakdown and cutting off his ear. It was in Saint Paul that van Gogh produce many well-known paintings, including The Starry Night.

Vincent Van Gogh’s room in the Saint Paul Asylum

Because The Abbey of Sénanque had been so beautiful, we decided to make one last stop on the way to Chateau Berne. We headed to the Monastery of Saint Joseph in the town of Cotignac.  However, when we arrived, the entrance to the Monastery was cordoned preventing us from going near it. Oddly, we kept seeing large groups of men, some walking, some sitting on the side of the road and some reclining against trees. They seemed to be everywhere. As we headed down to the village an older man in dusty clothes flagged us down. He was limping and asked if we could give him a ride to a nearby encampment. As he crawled into the back seat, in heavily accented English, he said that he and thousands of other men were there on a pilgrimage.  He explained Cotignac was the site of apparitions of two members of the Holy Family, Saint Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The village is known as the "Village of the Holy Family." Reportedly it has drawn pilgrims for over 500 years. We happen to hit it at the height of the pilgrimage season. We saw no lavender, but we did help a pilgrim in distress, John Wayne would have proud.

Our Welcome to Chateau de Berne

We finally arrived at Chateau de Berne at about 7:00P.  After checking in, we strolled to their bistro on the opposite end of the grounds for a light meal before turning in.

 Sunday, July 6th - Relaxing at Berne

Like Coquillade, Château de Berne is also a beautiful 5-star Relais and Châteaux hotel. Château de Berne has two prominent square towers making the estate look distinctive. It’s hard to choose which of the two properties is nicer as they both had distinct aspects we loved.  Although the current buildings were not erected until the 19th century, the vineyards of Château de Berne date back to Roman times, when vines were already grown here. The current winegrowing estate was established by a former imperial army frigate captain. By the 1980’s the estate had changed hands several times and had been somewhat neglected. Luckily, in 1995, an Englishman bought the Chateau and replanted 32 hectares and modernized the winemaking facilities.

Chateau de Berne Winery

As the sun rose, we started our morning watching the water lilies pop open in the pond adjacent to our room. After breakfast we headed back across the grounds for yet another wine tasting, but at least this wine tasting was on the Berne Estate. The Sommelier was a bit on the quirky side and completely devoid of any personality. Despite his oddness, we learned a great deal about their wines, including the fact that the patented square shape of their wine bottles represented the chateau’s two distinct towers. We bought a couple of bottles of wine to take home. Unfortunately, unlike Chateauneuf-du-Pape, they claimed they could not ship to the USA. However, they did indicate that Berne wines are sold widely in the US.  

Opening Water Lilies

After the wine tasting we headed to the local village of Lorgues to gas up and find an ATM. We quickly learned that on Sunday almost everything is closed in Provence. We found one self-service station on the edge of town and an ATM not too far from there. Lorgues is not a tourist attraction but rather a working-class village with a gritty commercial center. A few locals sat drinking in the square and some polite panhandlers adorned the entrance to a small market. I’m not actually sure how polite they were but with their French accent everything sounded polite.

After running our errands, we found a small Italian cafe with an outdoor terrace catering to locals. We had a delightful young waiter who grew up in Spain. His Spanish was much better than his French and way better than his English. In France, in an Italian restaurant, we managed to order a caprese salad, a delightful limoncello and lemon sorbet treat, and an affogato, all in Spanish. You gotta love international relations. We enjoyed a slow ride back to the Château and finished the day by having cocktails, and room service on our veranda.

Room Service

Monday July 7th – Valensole’s Lavender and Sunflowers

Valensole

With full bellies and a full tank of gas, we headed north to Valensole. The Valensole plateau is one of the largest plateaus in France, and it is France’s largest producer of lavender.  It’s a literal feast for the senses. It not only looks stunning but there is a sweet scent that perfumes the air. We spent the day strolling the lavender and sunflower fields, stopping at several roadside stands, and relaxed while eating lavender infused ice cream.

Artist in her Gallery in Valensole

By midafternoon, we made our way to the village of Valensoe for a late lunch and some retail therapy. We found a cute little gallery where the artist was selling her own prints and picked up a beautiful watercolor depicting the lavender fields. Further up the village we found a boutique with some unique pieces and reasonable prices. The two women running it spoke little to no English and were very comical to interact with.

Boutique in Valensole

We made it back to Chateau de Berne by early evening. Once again, we ordered room service and sat on the covered veranda to admire a hazy sunset as a light rain started to fall. We packed a little, as the next day we were heading back to spend our last night in Paris.     

Shopkeepers Valensole Boutique

Tuesday, July 8, Fire in Marseille

After breakfast we finished packing and checked out of the Chateau by 10:00A. Our train from Aix-en-Provence to Paris was not scheduled to leave until 5:26P so we decided to drive the two plus hours back to Gordes. Rather than a village, Gordes looks like a carving on the side of a mountain. It is one of the most beautiful hilltop villages in France. The houses and buildings are made of white stone, which makes them look like they blend into the mountain and the labyrinth of narrow cobblestone streets only adds to its charms.

Streets of Gordes

In contrast to our previous attempted visit to Gordes, we found plenty of parking. Venders of all sorts were in the town’s main square. However, as we approached the square, the winds picked up. As we tried to do some shopping, gusts of wind knocked racks of clothing and food displays over. We managed to pick up a few things before the vendors packed up and called it a day. As we trekked the narrow cobblestone streets, we darted in and out of shops. At a boutique featuring clothing designed and painted by a local artist, we talked to the owner, who was a very interesting woman.  Much like the owner of the Andalus restaurant in Apt we met on July 3rd, she was also born in Spain but her parents moved to France to escape Franco. It seemed to be a recurring theme in this part of France.

Gordes

After lunch we headed to the train station in Aix-en-Provence to return the car and make our way to Paris. As we drove through Marseille, we could see large plumes of smoke in the hills near the town, but other than mild curiosity, we didn’t give it much thought. We parked the car in the lot and headed to the office to drop off the keys. The car rental office was mobbed, and the clerk was so anxious to get our keys he never even asked about the condition of the car. As we entered the train station, it too was mobbed. The overhead monitors blinked but showed no information about arriving or departing trains. When we were finally able to ask one of the attendants, he told us all inbound and outbound trains were canceled due to the fires in Marseille.

CNN Coverage of Marseille Fire

Mary managed to charm one of the attendants who helped her use an electronic kiosk to rebook our train for the following day. Unfortunately, this meant we would miss our 11:45A flight the next morning and had no place to stay in Aix-en-Provence that night. In a hail-Mary attempt we contacted the agent in Athens who had booked some of the hotels and activities for us in France. Within minutes she called back informing us she had booked us into a nearby hotel named La Bastide.  She also told us the hotel would arrange a taxi for us. While we waited for the taxi that never came, Mary managed to change our flights for the following evening. We had new train tickets for the following morning, a hotel room for the night so we didn’t have to sleep in the train station, as many did, and flights for the following evening. However, no taxi to get us to the hotel. After what seemed like an eternity, a very young well-dressed man driving a black Tesla pulled up and jumped out of the car. As he looked around, we noticed a nametag with La Bastide written on it. Alas, our savior had arrived. He threw our bags in the car and apologized profusely for the delay. He was the evening desk clerk who was picking us up in his personal vehicle. He was so concerned his car was not clean enough for us. Apparently, his parents harassed him about keeping his car clean. At this point we didn’t care if it was a mule and a cart, we were glad we were sleeping in a bed. He again apologized and explained that so many people were stranded due to the fire, taxis and Ubers could not be found. 

Train to Paris

The Hotel was lovely, and they even arranged transportation back to the train station for us the following morning. We treated ourselves to a nice meal in the hotel’s restaurant and fell fast asleep as soon as we got back to the room.

  Wednesday, July 9th – Homeward Bound

As promised, our Taxi arrived right on time. We got to the train station earlier than needed, but the train station was already besieged with people. We boarded our very packed train to Paris, obsessively knowing we would be too early for our flight. The train ride was long and uneventful, and we made it in time to make our flight to the US. Needless to say, we were exhausted but delighted to get home.