The way this works is that I'm posting these daily updates, and then at the end of our trip I'll construct a digest for publication at gaylers.me/travel/
Last night's meal on the ferry was splendid. We eat in the posh / expensive restaurant but the food was worth it. For some reason they were unable to sell wine by the glass so Sacha had to drink most of a half bottle of rosé!
The unhelpfulness of the Brittany Ferries staff continued this morning. No concept of assistance for passengers with reduced mobility - typified by a shuttle bus with an impossibly high step on & off.
Taxis at the port? There's two taxis in St Malo and they were running a shuttle between the town and the ferry terminal. After waiting ages we were lucky enough to share a taxi to the station with a couple from Southampton - they also came with us to Rennes.
We got an earlier train to Rennes, which wasn't a problem as we were able to sit and relax, drink coffee and people watch, in the huge modern station complex.
Of course the TGV doesn't have the coach numbers visible on the upper deck! "Pardon madame vous avez raison. Nous allons trouver nos sièges corrects" (or summat)
We were delayed by an incident at Laval and again just outside Le Mans, so the TGV was running 20 minutes late. Fair play to the on board staff who were keeping everyone informed, and listing alternative connections at stops along the route.
The other thing that's impressed me is the online cafe-bar ordering system. Easy to choose in English, and, yes, expensive but not outrageously priced. My croque monsieur was surprisingly good - shame about the wood (almost cardboard) utensils.
We arrived at Lyon still around 20 minutes late and walked into a scrum of bodies - complete mayhem! This didn't improve on the metro as it was now about 5pm and Rush hour. We were packed in like the proverbial sardines, but each of the two journeys were only two stops. This was fine but not all the escalators were working. By the time we got to our final station Sacha was melting & wobbly and I was frustrated & melting.
It was a pleasant walk though to our hotel, which is genuine old fashioned place with real opening windows and a lovely lady on reception.
I suppose we'll have to go out and forage for food eventually, but at the moment we are both content to lie here and relax.
And. Breathe.