May 15
Eunice and I took a night train to Paris. The train was late arriving in Florence--15 or 20 minutes. We had very little time to board and find our berth. We found what we thought was ours and settled in. Within a few minutes, someone knocked on the door--a young woman in an SNCF uniform (Syndicat National des Chemins de Fer-French National Railway System). She asked for our ticket, which we showed her, and she informed us that we were in the wrong berth. Our ticket was 1st class and several cars away. So she helped us with our luggage and we moved ionto a much nicer berth. Shortly a young man in uniform came and helped us turn the seats into beds. He also informed us that we should take our tivcket to the dining car and get our champagne, and that we were entitled to breakfast in the morning. We went for the champagne right away and brought our little plastic wine glasses back to our berth and used them to drink our lemoncello, We had bought a very small bottle in Florence (They call it Firenze)--just enough for each of us to have a sample. It didn't takelong for us to go to sleep. We both woke up a few hours later and read for a while, but both dozed off again. I haven't checked to see what the distance is between Florence and Paris, but it was about a 12 hour train ride. The train is so much more comfortable to ride than an airplane. It's just getting on and off the train that is the difficult part. Again, we havemore luggage than we should have and it's heavy.
We arrived at the Gare de Lyon and first thing had to go get another withdrawl so that we could pay the rent--no problem. That is until we arrived at the apartment (in a cab), paid the rent, and I realized that I no longer had my debit card. The only thing I can think of is that I dropped it in the cab floor when I took out the money to pay him. I haven't figured out just what to do yet because it's still not time for Credit Union of America to be open, and their online chat doesn't work until they are open.
At any rate, we are safely installed in our apartment in Paris--the same one that we had in the fall of 2011. Eunice has had her shower, and now it's my turn. More later
Eunice and I took a night train to Paris. The train was late arriving in Florence--15 or 20 minutes. We had very little time to board and find our berth. We found what we thought was ours and settled in. Within a few minutes, someone knocked on the door--a young woman in an SNCF uniform (Syndicat National des Chemins de Fer-French National Railway System). She asked for our ticket, which we showed her, and she informed us that we were in the wrong berth. Our ticket was 1st class and several cars away. So she helped us with our luggage and we moved ionto a much nicer berth. Shortly a young man in uniform came and helped us turn the seats into beds. He also informed us that we should take our tivcket to the dining car and get our champagne, and that we were entitled to breakfast in the morning. We went for the champagne right away and brought our little plastic wine glasses back to our berth and used them to drink our lemoncello, We had bought a very small bottle in Florence (They call it Firenze)--just enough for each of us to have a sample. It didn't takelong for us to go to sleep. We both woke up a few hours later and read for a while, but both dozed off again. I haven't checked to see what the distance is between Florence and Paris, but it was about a 12 hour train ride. The train is so much more comfortable to ride than an airplane. It's just getting on and off the train that is the difficult part. Again, we havemore luggage than we should have and it's heavy.
We arrived at the Gare de Lyon and first thing had to go get another withdrawl so that we could pay the rent--no problem. That is until we arrived at the apartment (in a cab), paid the rent, and I realized that I no longer had my debit card. The only thing I can think of is that I dropped it in the cab floor when I took out the money to pay him. I haven't figured out just what to do yet because it's still not time for Credit Union of America to be open, and their online chat doesn't work until they are open.
At any rate, we are safely installed in our apartment in Paris--the same one that we had in the fall of 2011. Eunice has had her shower, and now it's my turn. More later
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