Today I made the train trip from Lyon to Paris, explore the Jardin des Plantes, and got ready for Nisheets arrival in Paris tomorrow morning! I’m so excited!

Train to Paris

I took the train again, but this time I had a second class seat. It wasn’t  too much different from the first class except the seats were a tad narrower and there were more families instead of business people. The leg room was about the same though, twice as much as on an airplane, so that was nice.

French train stations are easy to navigate even if you don’t understand much French. There will be a large board with all the train departures on it, and approximately 20 minutes before your train leaves, it will be assigned a platform number. At that point you just follow the crowds to the platform. Once on the platform, there are often tv monitors that show you where your train car will be located on the platform. Once the train arrives, double check the small electronic screen next to the door to make sure you are getting on the right car. Sometimes the tv monitors aren’t correct.

Paris Hotel

Once in Paris, I headed to my hotel. Luckily it was only a 10 minute walk from the train station so I didn’t have to put much thought into how I was getting there. The hotel room is much bigger and nicer than I thought it would be. I reserved a room with an attached “European” style bathroom (they also have rooms with “American” bathrooms and I believe some with a shared bathroom), so I was a bit apprehensive on how tiny it was going to be. It has a standing shower instead of a bath/shower combo, but it is plenty big, and it is probably 3 times larger than the one I shared with 2 other girls in Nice. The bedroom is also quite nice with a desk, wardrobe, and queen bed. As is common in France, the room also comes with a gigantic key I have to turn in every time I leave the hotel.

Jardin des Plantes

After settling into my room, I decided to brave the cold and dreary day and go for a walk. Originally I had planned on going to Pere Lachaise Cemetery where a bunch of famous people are buried including Chopin and  Jim Morrison, but since today is the day of my Nana’s funeral, I just couldn’t bring myself to walk in a cemetery alone. So, instead I went to Jardin des Plantes, the main botanical garden in France. It is a beautiful garden, and they had it decorated with gourds for fall. I imagine on a sunny, warm autumn day this would be a very popular place for an afternoon stroll, but today the garden was nearly empty expect for the occasional stray tourist and small groups of students on a class outing.

View of Notre Dame

I wasn’t completely chilled to the bone when I left Jardin des Plantes so I wandered down the river. On a warm summer day, the road would be lined with artists and vendors selling old books, records, and trinkets, but today only a handful were open. Even the river tour boats passing by were basically empty. I eventually made  it to Notre-Dame, and not even the damp gray weather could keep the crowds away from here!

Today was kind of lazy with a lot of wandering, but tomorrow starts the serious exploring, so stay tuned!