Rajeev's World: Happy In Fonty...

The journey from Gare de Genève Cornavin, in Geneva into Gare de Lyon, Paris was rather uneventful. On board the TGV Lyria, we got time to catch up on sleep, play Uno and do a bit of reading. By evening our train rolled into Gare de Lyon, and it felt like homecoming! Yes, Switzerland did feel so unwelcoming at times!

Our first priority was to convert our remaining Swiss Francs into Euros, which we did at a currency exchange counter in Gare de Lyon. Finding the counter was really very tough, with poor signages and no one seemed to know its location...

We checked into our hotel to be greeted by Janelle, whom we had met last week. She helped us retrieve the bags we had left behind last week. After settling in, we went across Place Louis Armand on to Boulevard Diderot to grab a light bite. And we found a small eatery in a cubby-hole, run by Bangladeshis.

Man! People from the Indian sub-continent are everywhere!

There comes our chicken crepe - trust me, the Bangladeshi did full justice to something that is patently French...

A classic vegetable salad accompanied our crepe to make for a light and healthy dinner...

Early this morning, we had to check out and head out again, this time to Fontainebleau, a commune 55 kilometres south east of Paris, Trains for Fontainebleau (or Fonty, as people lovingly call the place!) starts from Gare de Lyon - these are commuter trains which do not require a reservation, which made us relax a bit.

We reached Gare de Lyon and stopped by at the Prêt-à-Manger bistro located in the main hall of the station for breakfast...

Neeti ordered the stuff for us - a grilled thon (tuna) sandwich and a cold saumon (salmon) sandwich. And that's when she pulled a fast one on me. I wanted a double espresso, but she ordered two fresh glasses of orange juice claiming I already had too much caffeine on this trip already...

As we lugged our heavy bags up the stairs to the platform, a passerby asked if he could help. Then the guy spoke to us in Punjabi! Quelle Surprise! He must have somehow realised we are Indians. We thanked the Good Samaritan and boarded our train. The journey to Fontainebleau-Avon takes just about 40 minutes...

Fontainebleau is renowned for the large and scenic forest of Fontainebleau, making it a favourite weekend getaway from Paris. As soon as we got off the train, we could smell the crisp forest air, which is indeed so invigorating...

And Wikipedia tells me that "Fontainebleau has been recorded in different Latinised forms, such as, Fons Bleaudi, Fons Bliaudi, Fons Blaadi in the 12th and 13th centuries, with Fontem blahaud being recorded in 1137. It became Fons Bellaqueus in the 17th century, which gave rise to the name of its inhabitants as Bellifontains. The name originates as a medieval composite of two words: Fontaine– meaning spring, or fountainhead, followed by a person’s Germanic name Blizwald"...

The commune is also known for the historical Château de Fontainebleau, which once belonged to the kings of France. After checking in, we biked along the narrow alleyways of Fonty to head to the Château...