ow we are on our way to France! We leave Amsterdam on a 7 AM train. When we arrived in Amsterdam we had activated our Eurail passes and made these reservations.

Be sure to reserve you seats. We were unable to book the direct train to Paris from Amsterdam so our route took us to the Hague and then Brussels where we change to the TGV that will take us the rest of the way to Avignon. This meant getting up very early to catch a train at 7 AM instead of 10:30.

Our hotel was most gracious and provided us with an early breakfast. We took cab to the train station.

In Avignon we are due to pick up our car for a 15 minute trip to St. Remy where we we will meet up with Peg, Cliff, Thom & Lori. They are due to arrive in Paris this day and will take the first available train to Avignon and pick up a second car.

The train is full of business type folks on the first legs. I guess people commute to the Hague and Brussels much the way folks commute on the East Coast of the US. We make a mistake here. I pick out a nice compartment for this leg. It quickly fills up. Then, we discover that although we are in a non-smoking car the compartment is a smoking area.

Doris chokes, but there is no place to go.

Along the way there is great scenery. All my life I have associated the Netherlands with windmills. The only ones I had ever seen were copies at locations trying to present some sort of Dutch theme. None really worked. We see a bunch of them on our way out of Holland.

We had been disappointed in the lack of large flower displays in Amsterdam. From the train we were able to observe large fields of flowers so our faith in Holland tulips was restored. The land is low and flat with farms. It is a pretty area.

As we enter Belgium we are on higher elevation. More trees and great scenery. It is a short ride from Amsterdam to the Hague and Brussels. Our steward brings coffee and hot chocolate. He is happy with the new Euro as he no longer has to carry three different currencies on the trip. We like too.

Paris! This is our first stop in France. However the train station at Charles de Gaulle does not offer this view. It our case it was even better. As we pulled into the station there, standing on the platform, were Lori, Thom, Peg and Cliff. They had just arrived.

Too bad for them they were not traveling on a Eurail pass. They were stuck in 2nd Class. We let them visit and Doris and Thom exchanged seats for a time.

We have driven across France in the past. The train is a better way to go. It is comfortable, fast and there are great views. Driving and trying to cover distance leaves not time to enjoy the sights.

We arrive in Avignon at about 4 PM and pick up our rental cars. Avignon has two train stations. One is in town across from the old city wall. The TGV station is about 15 minutes away. That is our arrival point. The car rental agency is right there.

Remember how we mentioned that St. Remy was only 15 minutes away. Well, that is not true. It is particularly not true when you miss the turn for the road you need. We did have good maps and after about an hours arrived at the hotel.

Great folks. We sit in the garden and drink our first bottle of French wine for the trip. (Domaine Daleran - excellent)

We spent two nights in St. Remy, but we also came back for an additional three nights after Cesseras. Lets skip ahead to Cesseras. We'll cover St. Remy later.

<- Back | Next ->
Home | Previous Page