Passé par Paris

I just passed through Paris traveling from Brussels to the Norman city of Caen. We're moving about 130 km/h through the suburbs, and we have wi-fi¹. This is what happens when your country doesn't spend 90% of its transport funds on roadbuilding and instead invests in high-speed inter-city connections like we used to have in the US. </rant>

I'm happy to report that my French has been good enough that only one native French speaker has insisted on speaking with me in English in the last 24 hours, and that was OK because I had run aground on shoals of vocabulary. He did go back to French once I got unstuck.

I'll be using Caen as my base for the next two nights, then returning to London through Paris. The Normandy regional trains go in and out of Gare Saint-Lazare, about 2.4 km (1.5 miles) from Gare du Nord, where the Eurostar stops. I have almost two hours from my arrival at St Lazare Friday afternoon until my Eurostar leaves, and even with UK immigration and security, that's enough time to walk, if I have the stamina.

Next report from Normandy. The train gets in just after 4. This afternoon I plan to get situated in the hotel, spend an hour or so exploring the city center, then find a place to eat. The weather forecast for tomorrow looks amazing for my planned visit to Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery. À bientôt.