France: the land of wine tasting, crepes, and famous sites with sayings like “gay Pari” and “Paris is for lover”. Well for me France is the land of transportation problems (for short let’s call them TPs), beautiful parks and gardens, and a lovely ballet.
The original plan: Thursday - Take the direct train to Lyon, France, arrive by early afternoon, tour the city. Friday – take the train to Tain l’Hermitage and visit 4 wineries all within reasonable walking distance of the train station. Take the train to Paris in the evening. Saturday – tour Paris, see the ballet. Sunday – Go to Easter Mass at the famous Notre Dame. Take the train to Nancy in the evening. Monday – Tour Nancy, head home. I have highlighted the plan deviation areas.TP #1: The night before I left, I discovered that I need reservations on certain trains in France. This is unlike Switzerland. Mainly these were the trains in and out of France. All the train in the EVENING were booked, so I ended up booking trains that left at around 12 from Lyon to Paris and Paris to Nancy. Ok so this is a slight change of plans, but it’s all good. Then I discover that the train I was planning to take from Geneva to Lyon was cancelled. They suggest I take a bus. That wasn’t happening so I came up with plan B.
Plan B: Thursday – Take the train to Chambery, France. Take an evening train to Lyon and skip seeing Lyon. Pick up with Original plan on Friday.
I was up at the before the crack of dawn to take the 5:30 AM train to Chambery. I changed trains in Laussanne which is on a lake. There I caught the train to Chambery. The train ride to Chambery was beautiful. The train was small, when slow, and had almost no people on it. I was a little surprised at this because from the online research I did Chambery looked like a big city. I enjoy the ride up the mountain. Part of the train ride was on a cog because the grade was steep. After an hour and a half I arrive in Chambery. This small town was beautifully nestled in the mountain. I was a bit puzzled at how small it was. I saw a tourist information center and went in. I grabbed a map and visitors guide. As I looked at the map, I became quite puzzled. Where was the lake that I saw online? Where was the town? I was in a one horse town that didn’t have a horse. This was a small ski town (note for next winter) and realization slowly crept in. TP#2 THE BIG KAHUNA. Could there possibly be two towns named Chambery? There sure was and I was in the one in Switzerland NOT France. I could do nothing but laugh, laugh, laugh some more and see when the next train to somewhere was. Well, there was only 1 train that came to Champery and that was the one I took up here. I stand corrected. This was a one train town, literally. I would have to wait an hour for the train to take me back to Laussanne. It was a beautiful train ride though and I saw many wineries on the hillside, but tasted no wine. On the ride down a flower flew in the window and landed in my lap. A kiss from God as He laughed along with me. [On a side note, I was informed at work today that it is Champery, Switzerland and Chambery, France. The difference between a ‘p’ and a ‘b’ can be so dramatic.
By the time I made it to Geneva, my train to Lyon was running again. Sweet! Upon arrival in France, the train was stopped and searched by police. I soon learned that all big train stations in France have many armed guards on the prowl. Not just with a Billy club, but with semi-automatic weapons. I arrived in Lyon and got to my hotel by 6PM. Then I walked for the next 4 hours checking out Lyon. There was much to see. I stopped by a crepe shop and it was too late to eat crepes. The menu looked so good. A crepe with chocolate, pears, and Grand Marnier. I would come back tomorrow. Let me just skip a head for this saga. I stopped in the next day at about 11AM. I was told it was too early to eat crepes. So what time can you eat a crepe in France? I may never know. The Rhone River runs through Lyon. These were the wines I should be tasting tomorrow, the Cotes du Rhone wines. But they eluded me on this trip. With my 2 TPs that had occurred I did not have time to take the hour long train trip to Tain. I will have to come back. 
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