If it’s Friday it must be France …
Writing deadlines trump blog posts. I’m in the final stretch of completing Book #3 of my Love In Provence series. (Title vote coming soon, dear newsletter subscribers …) Every minute possible at the moment is devoted to reaching that light at the end of the tunnel. I can see it! *waving*
Soon, the manuscript will be in the hands of my enthusiastic and supportive Lake Union Publishing editor, Danielle Marshall. I love the editing process and am excited to dive in.
But I also love doing my Friday in France posts and don’t want to miss sharing this. So here’s a quickie that is mostly photographs. I’ll elaborate another day on the beautifully elegant Le Train Bleu in Paris. There are a lot of intriguing stories … as you might imagine! (Think Coco Chanel, Brigitte Bardot, Jean Cocteau, Colette, Marcel Pagnol, for starters.)
Initially called “Buffet de la Gare de Lyon”, it was renamed “Le Train Bleu” in 1963, after the famous train of the same name.
Pour yourself a coffee, tea, glass of wine … and come along. I hope you enjoy this visit. Have you been? The meals are exquisite but simply stopping in for your beverage of choice is well worth the experience.
First, go to the Gare de Lyon. It’s easy to reach by the Metro system.
Walk to the very front of the station … then look up above the trains … and voilà … since 1901.
Climb the elegant staircase …
Walk through the door and enter a time gone by …
In The Promise of Provence, Katherine rushed to see this iconic restaurant on her visit to Paris. It was high on the “must visit” list Philippe had put together for her.
Ever since writing that scene I’ve been obsessed 
with returning there (after more years than I care to say out loud … yikes!). I’m pretty sure that first time my travel buddy and I snuck in for a peek … those were the days we traveled with Europe on $5 A Day as our bible.
So three weeks ago, my husband and I had a delicious lunch at Le Train Bleu … joined, quite coincidentally, by our friend Carol Perehudoff, the fabulous travel blogger. Click right here to follow her hilarious and informative posts on Wandering Carol as she explores the world. She’s rated in the Top Ten luxury travel bloggers by USA Today and deservedly so.
How Carol and I discovered we were in Paris at the same time with reservations at Le Train Bleu for the same day is a story for another day.
Have you ever visited Le Train Bleu? I would love to hear about it!
Bon weekend!
I just discovered this postcard ~ what fun to see the restaurant truly has retained the original atmosphere.
Gare de Lyon is the station we always arrive at in Paris (from Geneva or Bellegarde or Lyon, obviously), but I’ve never noticed Le Train Bleu. Thanks for pointing it out, will make a point of stopping there next time I am in Paris!
It’s true. If you didn’t know about it, you would not notice it unless you happened to be standing nearby. Make some time to pop in on your next visit.
Oh lovely. Definitely worth more than a detour.
Most definitely! It’s a lovely trip back in time.
Is this the one from the song? “Catch the blue train. All the way to Kokomo….”
LOL. Slightly different train, methinks!
Somewhere down that crazy river….
Keep singing, Anneli. It’s delightful!
Oh my goodness! This place looks amazing. Perhaps Amanda should go there sometime. Thanks for letting us know about it. Good luck with book #3!!
This place is beautiful! I would definitely have to stop there. My 12 year old son has had an obsession with trains since he was 2 years old, he’d love it there!
You would love the restaurant and he would love the train station. You can sit at a window and watch the trains roll in and out. It’s a busy station!
C’est très magnifique!
I still can’t believe the co-incidence of being in Paris at the same time and making reservations at the same RESTAURANT at the same time. What are the odds? It was so great to see you in Paris, and glad I could learn a little more about the restaurant through your blog. It truly was a fab experience. And by the way, I made my train with three minutes to spare. Exactly three.
That was a hilarious coincidence, Carol, and just so much fun. Glad you managed to catch that train! Remind me to show you photos of the waiting rooms at the other end of Le Train Bleu. I didn’t realize they were there.
My husband and I and two friends will be visiting Paris from Australia in September. We will be catching the TGV from this station to Nice ( where we will be visiting Antibes etc as per your book). We leave at around 12 noon, so we were thinking it would be lovely to have breakfast here on our last day – to say au revoir to Paris. Do you think this is a good idea?
Please excuse my delay in answering. I’ve just returned to France again and things have been a bit hectic.
Yes, a très bonne idée! By all means do have breakfast at Le Train Bleu. I understand the smoked salmon is excellent. A warming though … it will be expensive. I think you can check that out on line. As you can imagine from the photos, you pay for your surroundings and that made the experience well worth it for us. Our lunch was delicious.
Have a wonderful trip. I’m so pleased you will enjoy some of the same places as Katherine and Philippe! If you pop into the Antibes Book Store, please hello to Fenella for me. I’ve just returned to the south of France for a few weeks and will be dropping off some books to her this week.
Oh so not fair. You’ve gone and made me homesick for one of my all time favorite escape spots.
I hope you enjoyed the reminder, Sheri. Treasure the memories!