TGV to Paris

On Sunday, I went to the market at Pellissane for my last market fix before we headed up to Paris. It's funny what difference a week makes - the market seemed much more ordinary than last week, after we'd seen what other markets had to offer during the week. Can you believe I became that jaded after just a week?!

We found the Hertz car return process at the Avignon TGV station to be rather opaque, so I'm hoping that everything turns out ok in the end and that I won't be hit with some unexpected charges. Unfortunately, our train turned out to be 56 minutes late with some technical difficulties. The ride itself went very smoothly, despite my decision 4 months ago to purchase 2nd class tickets, instead of forking out for 1st class (like the rest of my travelling companions!). We had an upstairs set of four seats, with a fold out table in between. It was pleasant watching the countryside fly by and we reached Paris in 2 hrs 40 mins.

We rented a lovely 2 BR apartment in the heart of the Marais. As our taxi drew near to the address, located on a narrow but extremely packed street, I was amazed at the sheer number of people about. Our driver informed me that it was because this district was especially packed on Sundays. I can since attest that it's not just only on Sundays...

We had a short time to decompress before we left for our 8 pm reservations for Sean's birthday dinner at Au Pied de Cochon. This is a traditional French brasserie, not really known for its food but high on the ambiance and in a good location. Their French onion soup was reputed to be great. The 9 of us had a nice meal - of course, it ended up later than expected, as usual. Highlights included both of my daughters trying (and seemingly liking) Escargots - thank goodness they're turning out more like me on the food front ;) My other big conclusion of the evening is that genuine Andouille sausage (or at least the way they serve it in France) is one of the most disgusting things I've ever tasted. Word to the wise - it's NOTHING like what you think an Andouille sausage from the US is like. And I usually have no problem eating weird stuff.

After dinner, we took a stroll to l'Ile Saint-Louis for our first Berthillon ice cream of the trip. They even had one of my favorite flavors that night - a lovely Pear sorbet. Almost made up for tasting that Andouille sausage...