Doug, Susan, Ken and Sarah were up early and made it early to the train station in Torino for the trip to Avignon. It was supposed to be a long day with the 8:11AM Eurostar train getting us in to Avignon just before 2PM so we could pick up our rental cars for drive to Arles and our rented villa. 2 changes - in Chambery and Lyon. Dragging all our bags and 12 bottles of excellent Italian wine. (1 bottle smashed as the carrier box disintegrated when we arrived at the hotel late the previous night - 22 euro of good Barolo on the hotel carpet!!)
When we originally tried to book a seat on the train with our Eurail pass we could not get a seat so we were forced to actually pay for second class seats for the leg between Torino and Chambery - 240 euros just to get on the train when we had already paid $500 each to get the pass in the first place! But, our choices were slim to none if we wanted to make the journey and arrive before midnight!!
The reservations for Susan and Doug were in car 8 and for Ken and Sarah in car 7. At about 8:00 when the train pulled in, we walked down the platform to our assigned cars and took our seats. Ken and Sarah were the only ones in their car and Doug and Susan only had 1 other passenger in theirs. Why in the world did we have to pay for our tickets when the train was almost empty?! What a rip off!! As were leaving the station, an italian rail person knocked on the window asking whether we were going to Paris. By the time Sarah got to the door to speak to the person, the train was pulling out and was on it's way. Our first stop was the other train station in Torino - Porto Susa. For some reason the train was spending a long time at the station so we thought it best to see what was happening. We found out that this was not the first stop but was in fact the last stop for this train. It was not going to Paris, it was going to the other Torino train station. Now we had a big problem!!
We immediately lined up at customer service which didn't open for another 20 minutes. We were 7th in line and after another 15 minutes got to the front of the line. Sorry can't help you, this is for the bus service. It was off to the Trenitalia ticketing office to see if they could help us. No can do. We need to see customer service next door. Next stop customer service. A very mean, Italian lady who spoke little English told us our next train would be at 5 and we would arrive just before midnight!! So much for picking up a rental car as the office closed at 9pm for Susan and Doug's rental and 10pm for Sarah and Ken's. OK, now what? We could take another with changes in Cuneo, Ventimiglia, Nice and Marseille getting us in at 10:04. Still too late to pick up a rental car and cover the 30+ km to get us to Arles....in the dark. Time to call the car rental company which was open till 10pm to see if they would be able to wait for us. Yes!! As long as there were no mix ups or train delays we might make it.
The cell phone we had for emergency contact was put into overdrive texting Mary to give updates as she and Margaret would have to contact the owner of the villa and get the keys. Sarah had to buy a double espresso and savour each last drop as we needed to charge the cell phone to allow us sufficient power to continue the frantic communication to salvage something of the day. At the end of it all everyone could be stranded at the Avignon train station with no where to stay and no way getting of getting to Arles. Did I mention we had all our luggage and 12 bottles of wine?! How many changes was that and how much time between trains!?!? Oh boy!!
With trepidation we got on the train to Cuneo. It wasn't much better than a derelict New York subway to the slums. And we were in 1st class. Time to drag everything off the train and do it all again to get to our next change. Between stops we managed to cancel Susan and Doug's rental car so they didn't get charged for the day. Tick. At least that worked out. Hopefully we will have a second rental car at Avignon and it will fit all our crap.
Between trains we barely had time to find out where to go next, use the facilities and get on board. The lunch packed from the breakfast buffet in Torino was all the food we had available as there was none on the trains and no time to find anything at the stations.
On the train between Ventimiglia and Nice, a masive number of people boarded train and made it impossible for us to drag ourselves and all our bags off the train. There was a sea of humanity between us and our next train change. Stops were less than 5 minutes at each station and it didn't look like we'd make it. Lucklily a lovely man from Quebec helped carry 1 of the bag and we managed to push our way off.
By the time we got to Nice we were happy that people spoke French and that the caliber of the stations had improved. We also got better service and managed to get on an earlier train to Marseille and an arrival in Avignon an hour earlier than previously thought. Now we were certain to have at least 1 rental car. Things were finally looking up.
The train to Marseille was lovely and the trip smooth. The train from Marseille was a Eurostar to Paris and in 1st class was palatial. Now we could relax and enjoy the short trip to Avignon.
We arrived on time and easily found the car rental agency. They gave us a complimentary upgrade to accomodate all our bags and we were on our way. Our luck ran out at Arles. We had no idea how to find the villa in the dark and the map we were given was awful. We eventually resorted to calling a cab and following it in the rental car until we got there. 28 euros later we arrived. Relieved and tired but in 1 piece.
It was so nice to see the girls and they even had food waiting for us when we arrived. They travelled on bikes to the nearest town to buy food. What great friends we have. Thanks Mary and Margaret. A few of the 12 wine bottles we dragged with us were opened and a mini celebration was had.
There were no pictures as we did not wish to have any to remember the day by. Now for the rest of our trip. Here we come Provence!!
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Glad you made it to Arles. What an experience!
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