The train journey today was long and tough.  Just before I got on the first train for a long journey back to France, I was in a little panic about getting to my first stop which was in Pisa on time as I was going to have only thirty minutes to change the trains.  I was on the train for two hours.  I got off in Pisa for thirty minutes.  Thank goodness that the train was on time!  That was a real miracle because trains in Italy are normally late all the time.  At that moment, I seriously thought that the journey would go smoothly during the rest of the day as I was going to have two hours at all of the other stopovers.  Well… as always, a drama happened later on in the day…

Anyways, I got on the train for two hours from Pisa to Genova Piazza.  I got off in Genova Piazza for two hours.  I got on the train again for two hours.  I got off in Ventimigilia for two hours. The train ride was magnificent as usual.  The train was riding on the edge of the land during most of the voyage.

Now here’s the drama:

I got back on the train, and I was supposed to be on there for five hours, but I was on there for four hours.  Part of the train broke down in Marseilles.  GREAT!  I was on the part of the train that was broken.  I’m so lucky, am I?  So, I had to lug all of my bags off the train and wait half hour for them to bring a new set of cars to replace the broken set of cars.  While I was waiting for the train, I heard a soft spoken voice coming from somewhere.  Then, I overheard from people who were waiting outside that the train was going to be an hour late.  UGH!  Well, at least this was the last train that I was taking.

Anyways, I finally got on the train with the new set of cars and waited in the train that was immoblised for about 15 minutes.  The train finally took off.  It was dark outside, and I was a little disappointed about that as I wanted to see all the beautiful scenaries, but that was OK as I was on the train for only another hour.

I got to Avignon safely, and my entire host family was there waiting to greet me with lots of kisses.