Thursday, March 25, 2010

Exploring Central France by Train

In hind's sight, I see Steve and I meandering up small roads into uncharted territory on the map from Carcassonne to our next destination Versailles. I know now by whisking through this beautiful territory aboard the train that there is much that we missed and much to be seen.
If any of you out there know of some beautiful spots to stop along the way from the south to the north, please give me input. at this time and part of the trip I was somewhat at the mercy of the train track, and our reservations in Versailles.
I think that I said before that siting at my desk and plotting out the trek across France proved to be challenging in my not knowing distances and train schedules. I am sure that there is probably some sort of chart out there that could help.
I honestly spoke to several people who had traveled in France, but they traveled by car and were accessible to many different roads and beautiful must see towns and villages.
My mistake was that I did not make any plans for the next two days. I figured that we could take our time to get to Versailles, but where were we to stay?
We went to the Tourist Information in Carcassonne and decided that Limoges would be our next stop. It happened to be a five hour train ride, passing the French landscape that begged to be explored.
Farms, green hillsides, and woods whooshed by as I gazed out the window of our train.
Fall was arriving and the trees were turning their yellow and orange and reds. Chateaus were perched atop distant hills and Nature's beauty was at it's best.
Arriving at Limoges, we exited the train station with a view of a beautiful park and fountain. The train station itself is something to see. Inside the stained glass windows depict the four seasons.
We spent the night here and wandered around somewhat, but am afraid that we missed the city's splendor, and what it had to give being there only for the night. Perhaps we will return another time to explore her loveliness, as she was quite lovely.

1 comment:

erika said...

Sounds so lovely! I will go back with you!