Londres-Paris-Marseille Day 0-1
The holiday started with me in a mild flap as Storm Éowyn arrived with remarkable precision for the exact time of my long booked travel plans. Work were happy to see the back of me an hour or two early and Jack was kind enough to drive me as far as York where the train service kicked in again. From there it was very easy. The trains were half delayed and half cancelled but service was regular enough and I ended up waiting about five minutes for a direct train to London. Sensible people were heeding the warnings and DO NOT TRAVEL advice, the train was mostly empty.
I booked myself in to a hotel called California mostly because of its stupid name. It was very close to King’s Cross / St Pancras which is absolutely all it had going for it.
The next morning it was an early start for the Eurostar. After a petit contretemps re: the exact date I had ordered my vegan meal (i had no idea) they eventually found one. It contained probably the nicest vegan croissant I’ve eaten and a really unpleasant cold tofu scramble.
They asked for feedback on the meal as it was new in rotation. I said the croissant was good and the tofu was awful, “Yes, everyone says that” came the reply.
No matter, I was soon in Paris. A 10 minute RER demi-metro train got me from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de Lyon for my next connection.
I had some time to kill and so crossed the Pont d'Austerlitz and found myself in the Jardin des plantes. France’s premier botanical garden. Late January isn’t doing it any favours. It is loosely on a campus with a Natural History museum and the Grande Galerie de l'Évolution. If I hadn’t had my rucksack I might have had more of a wander. I found a Vietnamese takeaway, got a Bobun Box (very good) and hunkered down with the dinosaurs for lunch.
I headed back to the Gare, took a picture of a crow on a bin that I really like the composition of, and soon boarded the TGV to Marseille.
The journey was quick and comfortable and uneventful until I got off a stop early in Aix. I confidently strolled out of the station and checked walking directions to the apartment on my phone. I was surprised that it registered about 40 miles. 30 minutes and €7 later I was back on the track.
I departed Marseille station and walked about a mile down to the apartment which is very nicely located on the old port. a Mikel John dinner and I was ready for bed.
