Weather forecasts for rain changed our plans for a day trip to Arles and we didn’t go. Of course, it didn’t rain on Saturday and Sunday, the rain was mostly in the early morning. Oh well, we’ll just have to return as we had to move on to Paris (Parigi in Italian).

This time, we left ourselves more time to get a taxi and find the right track for the TGV to Paris. We had no problem which was helped by already having our tickets.

We left on time and retraced the route through Aix-en-Provence and Avignon but fog limited the views.

The views were mostly countryside.

Less than 3.5 hours we were in Paris.

We arrived at Gare de Lyon which has a famous restaurant, Train Bleu. We went there to have a bit of lunch. The restaurant itself was full so we sat in the bar area.

We took a taxi to our hotel which was a good decision as it started raining despite the forecast which had no chance of precipitation.

Our hotel, Hotel Molière, does not have sea views.

But it has a huge bathtub.

We went for a short stroll to a caviste, wine shop, to buy some vin. For dinner we went to Benoit, a traditional restaurant near Tour Saint Jacques.

I had cassoulet which was very meaty with both pork and lamb.

Scott had two hors d’oeuvres, gratin l’oignon and terrine of wild game.

We felt the much cooler temperature during our walk back to the hotel,