Day 4 - Train-ing from Paris to Lyon - Gorging Ourselves in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023 - CycleBlaze

April 21, 2023

Day 4 - Train-ing from Paris to Lyon

We’re (Almost) Starting to Pedal

We did actually ride 3 km’s today; about 2.8 km from our apartment in Paris to Gare de Bercy and then another 200 m from  Lyon Part-Dieu  station to our hotel in Lyon.

As mentioned in our first post, our original plan was to train it from Paris to Geneva today and then start full on touring tomorrow. However, when we were unable to book both ourselves and our bikes to Geneva today, the plan changed to Paris-to-Lyon today and then Lyon to Annecy tomorrow, where we would start biking (honest 🤥).

So far this has worked out like clockwork and we’re comfortably ensconced in our (tiny) hotel room right by the Lyon station.

This also turned out to be another chance for serendipity to smile on us again. It turns out that one of our daughter’s very good friends from University has just moved to Lyon and we were able to get together tonight for a quick  catch-up.

We were also fortunate that we heeded local advice (thanks once again Susan) and got to Paris  Bercy well before departure time to secure a spot in the train for our bikes. We were the first of seven bikes in a space designed for three. 

So, nothing more than a relaxed travel day and one step closer to actually turning the pedals for real.

At Paris Bercy station. It was fun Paris, thanks! See you again sometime soon.
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Our bikes safely on board with the next one just coming in!
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Nice comfy seats for the next 5 hours to Lyon
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Not so comfy for the next 4 cyclists!
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Rachael AndersonThat’s a lot of bikes!
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11 months ago
Lyle McLeodYeah there were. The astounding thing about this (at least to me) was that at each stop, someone would try to get on, or off, through these doors, even though there was a completely clear door about 5 m along in each direction. In the famous words of Jim Morrison …. People are strange …. Luckily our stop was the very last one and our’s were the only bikes left by then.
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11 months ago
Lyle McLeodYeah there were. The astounding thing about this (at least to me) was that at each stop, someone would try to get on, or off, through these doors, even though there was a completely clear door about 5 m along in each direction. In the famous words of Jim Morrison …. People are strange …. Luckily our stop was the very last one and our’s were the only bikes left by then.
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11 months ago
Karin KaarsooDid poeple need to get by that pile to get to the restaurant car?
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11 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooWe were the first door on the first car so the restaurant car must have been somewhere else.
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11 months ago
Patrick ParnoI guess its too difficult to keep track of bikes, bike spots, and bike cars, but it sure would make life easier for bikers if they booked spots for bikes!
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11 months ago
Lyle McLeodTo Patrick ParnoBookings are required for TGV’s, and that effectively limits / reduces demand. Trying to make a booking system for the regional TER trains would be like tying to boil the ocean IMO and be counter to the underlying philosophy of encouraging ridership. Although it’s a times chaotic the current system works.
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11 months ago
Marjory SwordTo Lyle McLeodSwitzerland does it quite nicely. You can check out their APP. super easy to use and super easy to book travel with your bike. and no they did not boil the ocean LOL - oh maybe they did! THAT IS WHY THEY ARE LANDLOCKED!
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11 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooYou can book your bike on the TGV’s but they usually only have a handful of spots. Switzerland also has a lot less people. We haven’t had to book while in Switzerland which is nice as then it can be a spur of a moment thing.
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11 months ago
We’ve arrived. The start and finish of our trip coincided with the train start and finish. As a result our embarkation and disembarkation was pretty relaxed
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Dinner was a really good Vietnamese bùn and a beer, what great place Chez Bànôi! Lyon is considered by many to be the gastronomic centre of France and there was no lack of choice of excellent places to eat. We were very happy where we ended up
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The elevator in tonight's hotel. Our room is not much bigger, but it doesn’t need to be as we’ll be back on the rails to Annecy first thing tomorrow
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Patrick Parnowhere did you put your bikes?
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11 months ago
Lyle McLeodTo Patrick ParnoIn the hotel’s underground car park.
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11 months ago
Francine Taylor-GobeilHilarious!
That's a tight squeeze!
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11 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Francine Taylor-GobeilIt sure was!😊
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11 months ago
Larry Kwan
Love the photo!!!
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11 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooYes it worked out. It was an extremely tiny elevator.
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11 months ago
It was nice to be able to meet up with Alison’s good friend RJ who’s now living in Lyon. That’s it for today!
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And this sets up SOTD - Good Friends by Joni Mitchell

Our out of the blue meeting tonight with our daughter’s very good friend RJ put this ear worm in my head. We also spent a good portion of our train trip today fielding emails, texts and Instagram messages (Kirsten - I’m still a SM Luddite) from other good friends. To top it off, by the short time we finished dinner at Chez Bànôi, Nhu the proprietor felt like a new friend. With that, Joni strike again.

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Gilles RobertI am truthfully enjoying this blog. I love exploring new words (ensconced) and utterly appreciate 'votre belle plume' (serendipity to smile on us again). La touche spéciale of adding video clips bring this journey to another level. I woke up and was excited to read more. Now, you will arrive shortly in Annecy, one of my favorite places in France. If you can, please take a pic of paragliders (this is where I fly when in France). À bientôt!
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11 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Gilles RobertHi Gilles,
We are happy that you are enjoying the blog. We love getting comments so keep them coming.
You and Lyle must think alike as he had already taken some paragliding photos. Which I am sure he will post.
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11 months ago