Beautiful France by train and the perfect Lyon apartment

Today was one of those perfect travel days. No mishaps. No delays. No long lines. No getting lost. It was easy, and after 4 plus weeks we needed it. The morning was lazy and lovely, packing and hanging out at our nice Nice flat. I don't think I mentioned the swing before. In the living room there's this swing chair bolted to the ceiling. You get in and cozy up and it rocks gently back and forth as you sit. I spent quite a bit of time in the swing this morning. It was hard to get up and go (literally - the swing is amazing but extracting yourself from it is a bit of an acrobatic feat). We breakfasted in the square, where I was disappointed that they only serve crepes after 12:00 (weird, right? Or maybe it's just American of me to think of a crepe as breakfasty). I settled for pancakes and some fruit. Alex had scrambled eggs and salmon.

Like professionals, our last ride on the tram was routine. I was relieved that we were legal, though, because the transit police appeared on our car to check everyone's tickets. Right before this happened I was fiddling with my ticket, folding it origami style. I noticed it said 'do not fold' on it too late but was unconcerned because it was validated and we were almost to our stop. So when I was asked to produce my ticket and I handed over this multi-folded (though artistic I gotta say) paper, the transit cop laughed. Not good at following directions.

The train trip from Nice to Lyon was 4 1/2 hours and it took us along the southern coast of France all the way to Marseilles. Dang. That was a gorgeous ride. Towns and villas lined the coast, the water twinkling in the midday sun. I kept wanting to get a picture, but every time I tried, the train would go around a bend or through a short tunnel. Eventually I gave up and decided that it was far better to just use my eyeballs as my camera and soak it all in. After Marseilles, the train moved north and quickened its pace. The countryside was beautiful, reminding me of parts of the upper Midwest, except this was France and there were dozens of vineyards scattered in the plains and hills. I was sad to see the countryside transform into suburbia as we neared Lyon, wishing that we could stay on the train awhile longer.

After a quick taxi ride, we arrived in Lyon's old town, a beautiful, quaint, cobbled section of the city built in the 15th and 16th century. We met our Airbnb host Stephane and his adorable young daughter for a quick tour of our new home for 4 nights. We've had many excellent accommodations on this trip, but Lyon's may be the best (tied perhaps with The Writer's Retreat in Rome). The apartment has two nice bedrooms, a modern and efficient kitchen, a large living and dining room and a modern bathroom with a large shower. All of that makes the place quite comfortable, but what's so nice is the location. Open any of the windows (there are five) facing the street and you get the most amazing view of shops and restaurants and people. It really looks like a movie set. I had to go and explore a bit before we settled in for the evening so I took a half hour walk around the neighborhood, discovering places we'll return to in the coming days. I popped into a bakery to get some bread for dinner and lingered a bit in the main square. We're lucky to be here, in beautiful Lyon. I'm already smitten.