Although train travel is pretty good here, there are some quirks to travelling by train throughout Europe. Leaving Paris early in the morning we travelled separately to the train station but caught up together for breakfast. Given that we were bioth travelling to Vence you would imagine that we would be travelling together – you would be wrong.
Although the Ingrams and the Campbells were travelling on the same rail passes we had completely different bookings to get from Paris to Cagnes Sur Mer (the largest town in the vicinity of Vence). The Campbells went direct from Paris to Nice with a short layover before taking a local train to Cagnes Sur Mer. The Ingrams on the other hand had to travel by train from Paris through to Marseille, change trains to go to Antibes, before catching a final local train to Cagnes Sur Mer.
Despite such different routes, the plan was for both families to arrive within minutes of each other to catch the pre-booked taxi to Vence. Plans have a way of changing …
We left Paris early, still in the dark and our early journey on the train was continued in darkness. It was so dark that it was hard to tell whether it was still dark or whether we we in a tunnel. Turns outs that darkness was made worse by a very heavy fog.
Our journey to Marseilles was an enjoyable one. We had great seats and the time flew. Ww finally emerged from the fog into a beautiful morning. At Marseille we were greeted by a throng of people heading home for Christmas. Our next train had no reservation and we knew it would be tight. We waited patiently on the station, ready to move as soon as the platform number for our train was posted. Our platform number was posted and I took off like a rocket, leaving Anthony and the kids to catch up. It is just as well that I did because I managed to get possibly the last four seats on the train. Luckily we got seats in a cabin with two French women. The kids were excited because the train compartment reminded them of the Hogwarts Express. We were fortunate to get seats as the corridors were lined with people who did not. This is where our luck dipped a little. We sat in our chairs (lucky) for the next 90 minutes not leaving the station. We still don’t know what was caused the delay but it was clear that this meant that we had no chance of meeting our connections.
Eventually the train departed Marseille with heaps of people left standing for the 2-hour plus journey. The trip took us along the Côte d’Azur giving us stunning scenery to take our minds off the delay. Beautiful deep blue skies mirrored the Mediterranean Sea. The train wound its way in and out from the coast. It was a slow trip (especially for us watching the time) but we were glad we came this way. We did miss our connection by three minutes but another train was coming. The sun was pleasant and we were all pleased at the warmth and vitamin d soaking into our skin. We rang a taxi and soon arrived at our accomodation for the next two weeks, pleased for some down time.
