I’m writing this while swaying back and forth on the TGV from Nantes to Paris. It’s the fast train, you know, and it takes just a little over 2 hours to get there. This is one of our favorite things to do, to ride the train in France, and here we are doing it right now.

You’ll have noticed that I entitled this post “First Class.” You may think that has to do with the quality of my traveling companion (and, frankly, you wouldn’t be wrong). But it really has to do with the fact that Melinda upgraded our tickets to put us in first class. It was only a few Euros more expensive and, anyway, one of us is worth it.

Don’t worry, though. On the return trip on Thursday we’ll be back where one of us belongs.