Advertisement
Published: June 22nd 2011
Edit Blog Post
When we hopped onto the train we realized that we didn't have seats, and it was a good 4 hour journey. So, we sat next to one another hoping no one would claim the seat. As expected, first a gentleman and then a woman passenger came to claim their seats. Both of them who first spoke in French and then switched to English when they realized we were not natives, were nice enough to take other open seats but we knew if other passengers came to claim those seats, we would have to move. So, for the first 30 minutes it was an uneasy journey as we had to be ready to move at any second. Fortunately, everything worked out those both of them had to move at least twice and didnt even ask us for their original seats. We decided to go to the lunch cart in the train and buy them snacks as a small token of our appreciation.
As we were purchasing the treats, the gentleman came up behind us to buy his afternoon cafe. We informed him of our desire to buy him a snack and offered to buy his cafe. He refused several times but
finally gave us the opportunity. He said we could treat him to conversation-so charming!-and so we did....for 2 hours. His name was Alan and he was from Scotland but fell in love with a French woman and they lived in Cannes in the French Riveria. He was a businessman and had owned several business over his lifetime that took him around the world. He was extremely well versed on the affairs of the world and of the U.S. but at the same time dropped words like "bling". 😊 He told us about the Cote and gave us history of the region and lessons in culture, food, etc. It was a delightful conversation and he was as interested in our journey as we were in his. The most interesting part of the conversation was when we realized we had the same anniversary-July 24th! In the end, we exchanged contact information and headed back to the seats as Alan recommended because the views were becoming more spectacular.
When we headed back to our compartment and found the woman, Rebecca, to give the other snack to, she as well joined a seat near us on the nearly empty train to have a
quick conversation. She was from Canada and had been to France before years ago, which explained her French proficiency, and took off from work to live in Dijon for a couple of weeks. Her husband was joining her on the Cote d Azur portion of her trip. We got off together in Nice, exchanging contact information.
From Nice we took a train to Ville-Franche-sur-mer. When researching where to stay in the Riveria, we wanted to stay in town that was relatively quiet and not extremtely touristy like Nice. Ville Franche was just that-a sleepy town on the edge of the sea mostly car free. Nonetheless, It was quite an adventure taking our lugguage up and down cobblestone roads to reach our hotel near the water. We checked in, freshened up, and wandered over to the water side restaurants examining menus as we went along. We settled on one restaurant that specifically mentioned vegetarian options. We took our seats at a table with an obstructed view of the Mediterrarean Sea. A woman in Lyon had informed us that in France you can sit wherever you liked, so we took advantage of this freedom of choice. Shortly, a couple joined us at a table very close to us and naturally conversation started as we realized we were all speaking English. They were from the UK and one of their parents owns a home near the Cote. A short two hour plane ride from London gets them to Nice so they would visit them often. Travel in Europe is so easy when you can hope on a quick flight to the French Riveria! We were very jealous. It was as if we had come together as we ate and talked all night about many things, including healthcare, until they had to catch the last train back to Nice around midnight. The food hadn't met our expectations based on what we had already had in France but the great view and great company made up for it!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.372s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0857s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb