Night train ...

I have been on many train rides on this trip -- short ones, long ones and LONGer ones -- but I was able to take my first train ride to include a chance to sleep as the conductor motored us from Paris to the southern France city of Nice.
The trip went better than I expected and proved to be just the thing as I wind down this long journey.
Things actually got off to a slow start as my reservation for a private room with the sleeper was right next door to a very noisy, whiny little boy who was likely 3 or 4 years old and would not behave. His mother and grandmother sure had their hands full. He screamed and ran around outside the train for what seemed like hours (actually 20 minutes).

The train left Paris at 9:17 p.m., scheduled to arrive in Nice at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, and by 10 p.m. I was sleeping. Not a bad sleep for a person my size. It was a room built for two people (I had the bottom bunk, the other one was stored away since I was alone in the room) and it had a sink, hangers, a shade for the window, which is cranked open and closed.

I did wake up once or twice during the night, finally waking up to the screams and the playful joy of the young boy who really needs to give his mother and grandmother a break ;-)

I have arrived in Nice, staying one block from the water, not far from Cannes and not far from Monaco and even very close to Italy border.

I plan to visit the Matisse Museum today, return for dinner, a get good night's sleep and I take a train back to Torino on Tuesday afternoon. I will spend Wednesday in town and then I fly out early Thursday.

I will have a few more posts to do before I head home, but my last official post from this trip will likely be written from Bakersfield.

Hope everyone is doing well, especially some very special people I know in Colorado. Good luck!

RTB