The train, the drive, and Provence

Even though it took me a while to fall asleep last night, I was still too tired to write about our day. So this afternoon I am once again playing catch up.

Yesterday afternoon we took the train from Paris to Avignon. But first, we had to take the subway to the train station (La Gare de Lyon), carrying all of our luggage. That was fun. We then took the TGV - the fast train - for what was supposed to be a stress-free 2.5hr ride. Unfortunately for us, the AC was not working at all, which made for a very steamy, uncomfortable ride. Lionel was sweating like crazy from the very beginning, and even though I was Ok to start with, the heat also got to me. Fortunately - yes, there was a fortunate part to all of this - there were two other children sitting next to us. So the girls entertained themselves with them for a little while, and also eventually fell asleep. Bella insisted on getting her blanket out so she was sweating like crazy, even though I moved it to the side so she was just using it like a pillow. As we were finally approaching the station, Lionel announced that we only had two minutes to get out of the train, which momentarily increased my blood pressure. We were not the only ones waiting to get out, and by no means the only ones with heavy luggage. How in the world were we supposed to get out so quickly? And what if only some of us managed to get out, while the other ones got stuck back there?

After we survived the mad rush getting out of the train, we got the girls a quick snack, and stopped by the restroom. Just like in Mexico, you had to pay to use the restrooms which was ok with me. I rather pay for a clean restroom any day of the week. Lionel's parents were supposed to pick us up at the train station in a rental car but their flight into Avignon got delayed, so we were not sure how quickly we were going to be able to get out of there. Luckily his brother - who drove from Milan in his own car with his family - was able to come get us. We waited outside the train station for about 30 minutes until he arrived, and 30 minutes later we finally arrived at out rental house. Sadly, Lionel and his brother, who jointly selected the house, did not realize that the house had no air conditioning. Luckily, even though it is pretty hot outside, that has not been a problem as the house seems to stay pretty cool despite the intense heat outside.

By the time everybody made it to the house it was close to 7:00pm, and the decision was made that trying to go out for dinner with the kids would be complete hell. So Lionel and his brother went to buy food, while the rest of us - or at least me - started to unpack. When they came back with the food all the adults pitched in to get dinner ready while the kids jumped in the pool. Dinner, kitchen cleaning, and showers, and that was it for the day.