How good is train travel? For the last few trips to Europe the MOTH and I have prioritised train travel over flying as it is so user friendly, especially over relatively short distances. No long expensive taxi rides to airports and hours of checking in, security queues and potential luggage loss and delays! The European trains are very frequent, often fast and in places like Switzerland ON TIME! They are clean, comfortable and offer food and drinks. You can get up and walk around and see the countryside as it passes. What’s not to like? We left our house in L’Isle sur la Sorgue and within 4 hours we were in Switzerland enjoying a sundowner on Sue-Ellen’s terrace! Avignon to Lyon to Geneva on the TGV and then a local train to her village and once we got the hang of the train stations systems with platform announcements etc we were fine…

We always love coming to Sue-ellen and Michel’s house. They are consummate hosts and some of the best food we had on the entire trip was at their place! As a proud Swiss Man, Michel loves cooking some of the Swiss traditional dishes when we visit. Fondue, raclette, roti de porc – each accompanied with delicious wines from his cellar. A simple roast chook is elevated to a divine level somehow with a rub of this and a smear of that all creating heaven in the oven! We also ventured out into the nearby hills to a wonderful traditional restaurant that specialises in the “filet de perche” which is so well loved in the area. Perch is a freshwater fish commonly found in the lakes of Switzerland. It’s much appreciated for its delicate flavor and tender flesh and when paired with a delicious butter sauce made with wine and parsley, it transforms into something heavenly. A visit to a local winemaker, a shopping trip to a famous chocolatier, who just happens to have his shop nearby, and a wonderful walk home through the countryside listening to the blackbirds singing and I was as happy as a kid at Christmas! Everywhere you look in Switzerland there is beauty. At this time of year the wild poppies and cornflowers inhabited every empty field and the wisteria was in full bloom around verandas overlooking the lake.

Our dear friend Duncan met the MOTH 50 years ago when they both lived and worked in Villars, an alpine ski resort in the Swiss mountains above Lausanne. Duncan was a teacher at the elite private school – Aiglon College – and as a typical sociable American he quickly made friends with all the foreign workers in town, a friendship that has survived decades despite living thousands of miles from each other. Duncan is an adventurer. He flies small planes, paraglides, keeps poisonous snakes and has a garden of beehives. He skis, has canoed down the Amazon, helps out with various worldwide charities – in person – at orphanages in Romania and would never dismiss doing ANYTHING without thoroughly thinking of the positives versus the negatives. He will not die wondering about life that is for sure! We managed to sneak in a lunch at an old favourite pub from back in the 70s which is still going to this day and it was lovely to see him and his lovely friend Beri for a quick catchup. The weather was perfect for Spring and later we enjoyed an Aperol down at the lake alongside the marina where Sue and Mich keep their boat. On previous visits we have pottered around the lake and over to France for lunch in it before returning back to St Prex in time for dinner – what a life eh? A trip into Geneva and the old town was a nice day out and before we knew it our time was up and we were saying goodbye and back on the train – this time to Paris!

Before we knew it we were pulling up at the Gare de Lyon and we were back in a part of Paris we are very familiar with as we stayed here a few years ago when we were in town for the Rugby World Cup and found it to be a very easy part of Paris from which to see the sights. The hotel is literally a few minutes walk from the station and was just a hop, skip and a jump from the River Seine which we could walk along to Notre Dame, Musée d’Orsay, St Germain etc – even me , who has a notoriously dreadful sense of direction, can’t get lost following a river! We settled in and went for a neighbourhood walk to check out a dinner spot and it was so lovely to be back amongst all the glorious Haussmann buildings and we were soon just one of the many locals sipping on our aperitif watching the world go by!

The next day was a red letter day for us as we were finally going to eat at Le Train Bleu, the famous restaurant in the Gare de Lyon. Three years ago we were also booked in for lunch here on our last day in Paris and we arrived at the restaurant to be greeted by several policemen. A bag had been left there unattended and was being treated as a potential bomb threat, therefore closing the restaurant. We were so disappointed and as soon as we knew we would be back in Paris on this trip I booked lunch in advance! It was as magnificent as I had imagined and we loved the entire wonderful experience. The grandeur, the service, the food, the history all around us and I could completely imagine what it would have been like back in the day with people in suits and long dresses eating there ahead of their train trip to their holiday destinations. Listening to the hum of chatter, the tinkle of cutlery and watching the delightful staff look after everyone tableside was truly one of my favourite moments ever in a restaurant and was well worth the wait! The food was delicious, the lamb carved at a trolley at our table and my crêpes Suzette flambéed in front of me to great applause from all the surrounding tables!!

One of the things we really wanted to see while we were here was the completed restoration of Notre Dame. It was still under construction on our last visit and we are still in awe that such a huge project has been finished on time and in such a beautiful way. People from all over the world came together to give money, volunteer time and craftmanship creating an enduring and beautiful finished article. The beating heart of Paris is back, bigger and better than ever. The fact that so many people value this building so much is really heartwarming and gives me some comfort that the whole world hasn’t gone totally mad after all. I guess some people would say that the money could have been better spent but some things are WORTH spending a fortune on and this beautiful building will now hopefully live on for many, many generations to come. We continued to walk along the river until we came to the Musée d’Orsay. The MOTH had never been there and I felt that had to be rectified asap. The building itself is magnificent. Originally a train station built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) it became obsolete in 1939 when trains became too long for the platforms and by the 1970s it was largely vacant, prompting talks of repurposing the building. Plans were finalised to convert the station into a museum and in 1986 The Musée d’Orsay was officially opened, becoming one of Europe’s largest art museums and a major cultural institution in Paris. The museum focuses on French art from 1848 to 1914. It houses the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world featuring artists such as Monet, Renoir, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Gaugin and we loved wandering through the huge rooms spending as much time as we wanted examining these famous paintings which truly deserve this wonderful space to showcase them.

The other important and wonderful thing to do in Paris is ……EAT!! As we walked though St Germain, looking at all the amazing food shops and markets we swerved off to Entrecote as it was lunchtime and memories of their special steak frites were foremost in our minds! It’s always a lovely little bit of theatre there and we were soon tucking into our lovely green salad with roasted walnuts followed by the mandatory TWO servings of steak in their special sauce and fries. A bottle of red and a very full tummy later we waddled back outside to wander the streets and bridges, soaking up the very essence of all that Paris offers and grateful we got to visit once again. On our last night a local brasserie offered the asparagus I had been seeing all day at the markets and the duck I can never say no to! I love France and the different feelings I get from Paris, Bordeaux and the South – all great in different ways. Next visit I think we are going to try and visit Brittany and Normandy for yet another “flavour” of France and it is perfect as it’s just a stone’s throw from my beloved England. Close enough to be easy and far enough away to feel foreign! Tres bien indeed…..