Today we had to say goodbye to the Norwegian Epic. After one last breakfast in the Garden Cafe, it was back to the cabins to get our luggage and walk off the ship. We decided to meet outside the terminal at 9:00am. As soon as we were all together, I messaged our driver from Suntransfers.com (101.57 Euros for eight people) to let him know he could come anytime. He was supposed to pick us up at 9:45am but he did not arrive until 10:00am. Boy were we surprised that the driver ended up being Frank who actually drove us from the train station to the cruise terminal almost two weeks ago.
The train tickets for our trip from Marseille back to France were purchased back in April using Trainline (122.69 CAD for Nana and myself which included a 5.85 CAD booking fee). I will use this app again in the future for any European train travel. Because we had about an hour before we were scheduled to leave, we spent the time waiting and watching the departures board to see which platform we would be departing from. Many of us went and picked up snacks and drinks since there would be no service on this train.
Finally at 11:40am, the departures board says we are leaving from Platform G. We make our way over and found Car 1. I would like to say a big thank you to the very strong people who got mine and Nana’s luggage onto the train. I can see why Rick Steves says to travel carry on only. It was another relaxing ride through the French countryside. I spent the time eating, watching Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty and checking in for our flight tomorrow.
We arrived back at Gare de Lyon in Paris at 3:18pm. After getting off of the train, Paul, Jen, Terri, Dan, Karen, Darlene, Nana and myself walked over to Mercure Paris Gare de Lyon Opera Bastille where we met our BT-Transfer (15 Euros / person) driver
When doing the planning for this trip, we went back and forth on whether we should stay in Paris or should we stay by the airport. In the end, we decided to book a hotel by the airport to make it easier for tomorrow morning. Therefore our driver took us to the ibis Paris CDG Airport hotel where we checked into our two single bed room (150.04 Euros which included breakfast).
I got Nana settled in the room with some English language TV while some us walked over to Marks & Spencer Food to get some snacks. The store is located in Terminal 3 of the Charles de Gaulle Airport. Before heading back to the hotel, Karen walked over to see where we would pick up the shuttle for Terminal 2.
Early on we had grand plans that we would head back into the city to enjoy our final evening in Paris. But I think everyone was tired and did not want to navigate the metro. So we ended up having our final meal in Paris at La Terrasse which is one of the restaurants inside the hotel.
After dinner, Karen and Darlene came by our room where we watched an episode of Sister Wives. I sure did miss my TV. While we were sitting there, we got emails saying that our flight was delayed from 1:00pm to 3:45pm. I am not happy that our flight is delayed but I am happy that we learned about it tonight. At least now we know that we can sleep in a little bit longer and do not have to leave until 11:00am.
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