I left Paris this morning from Gare Montparnasse. Five hours later, I arrived in Bayonne, near the southwest coast.  From there an hour by special shuttle delivered me to the picturesque town of St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port (“St. John at the foot of the pass”). Tomorrow, I cross the Pyrenees.

Gare Montparnasse. The train station serving Paris from the southwest of France.

My lunch on the TGV. My seatmate was sullen.

A view to the east about an hour out of Paris.

A vineyard just north of the city of Bordeaux.