We awoke around 8:00 and headed with Tina’s family as a group to the train station. They caught a train west into Barcelona, and a few minutes later we caught one east toward the border of France. It was a commuter train with mostly standing room only, but fortunately was only about an hour. At the end of the line, we waited on a platform seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around but a small station and a high speed train bridge high overhead. There was no one to ask and the information screens were not functioning properly, so we had to just wait an hour and trust to the accuracy of the printed schedule that I had with me.

Fortunately, it was accurate and another train came along, another crowded commuter train that took us just into France at Cerberes. We then waited another 20 minutes or so to catch the next train to Perpignan.  With each train, they became more and more crowded, and therefore farther and farther behind schedule. At Perpignan, we changed again for the train to Nimes, and at Nimes for the train to Avignon. By this time, the train was literally packed with people pressed together in the aisles so that you could barely move. I managed to find a seat, but was separated from the others. After two hours we arrived in Avignon, where we bought some food from a sandwich shop at the station and then finally caught another train into Lyon. Six trains in one day!

At Lyon, we found our hotel right next to the station and checked in around 9:30. Everyone else wanted to stay in, so I went out alone for dinner. Unfortunately the only place that was open was the retaurant at the hotel Ibis across the street, where I had a steak. It wasn’t very good, but at least I can say that I had a meal in Lyon.