Bonjour,
Hope you had a great week.
Last week I ticked something off my bucket list – The Train Bleu restaurant in Paris. You’ll find it in Hall 1 at the Gare du Lyon train station and it certainly lived up to my expectations. This has to be the poshest train buffet in all of France, maybe in the world (top photo). I will say, if you want to really experience it, go for lunch or dinner as, if you go for breakfast as I did, they put you in a side room which is perfectly nice, but nothing like the main dining area though I still got to ogle it as much as I liked! It’s not cheap, but it is special.
I stopped in Paris on my way to Avignon to join a CroisiEurope cruise on the River Rhone to Lyon. I met some lovely people on the boat including a lady who was there to celebrate her 86th birthday. “Evergreen Evelyn” I called her because she clearly knew how to enjoy herself and to her, age is just a number and nothing to do with how much fun you can have (how wise). She told me she wouldn’t be joining in the nightly dancing sessions because she’d broken her leg doing the cha cha cha at her local salon des fetes a couple of months ago and was still resting it a little. She did however don a curly wig to mime to Edith Piaf belting out La Vie en Rose which made everyone on the boat break into loud applause and cheers. I’ll tell you more about it soon, but I can tell you now, I had a ball!
Back home, the pumpkins in gardens all around the villages are getting bigger and everyone is swapping recipes for pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie. I was surprised to learn that the name pumpkin comes from “pompions” which was an English translation of “gros melons” which is what a French explorer called them when he first saw them in north America in 1584! My neighbour Jean-Claude talks to his pumpkins every day, urging them to keep growing – he’s determined to retain his championship title of “Biggest Pumpkin in the Valleys” and there’s a rumour going around that Philippe the farmer may have something up his sleeve – oh gourd!
Wherever you are, whatever you have planned, I wish you a very bon weekend…
Best wishes and bisous from France…
Janine
Editor
Author of My Good Life in France: In Pursuit of the Rural Dream…
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