Arlene's question was: Anything possible to see as a day trip via train/bus that a not-so-brave traveler who does not speak French could possibly get to? I am afraid that my true feeling about this is that the answer is "no", especially now that Susan has told us that Lyon is 4 1/2 hours away. I think that it would be much nicer to explore the non-lace related sites around Nice, kicking back on the Corniche, than to take courage in hand and ride a train for 4 1/2 hours to seen a single display window of lace in Lyon. For one thing, as a veteran of many trips to museums with lace collections, the chances that the point of the trip will be totally frustrated by circumstances beyond your control is always very present. For instance, there was a transit strike in Lyon the day I was attempting to visit. On the day I went to the V & A, the lace room was closed, at another museum the curator had a cold and hadn't come in. So a pilgrimage that involves 9 hours of train riding could very likely result in Arlene arriving just as the museum closes for some unknown purpose, and she finds herself standing outside it thinking about how she could have enjoyed another day in the environs of Nice. I usually think it is best if you time these kinds of museum visits with an extra day so that if things go sideways on the first try you can have another bite at the apple. One example of the kind of minor blip that can throw off an ambitious trip is that, as I recall, it took a while to realize that taxis in Lyon are all radio cabs, so you can't hail one, and in fact would have to equip yourself ahead of time with the phone number of a radio cab service, telephone a number to tell someone in French where you are so they can pick you up, which means you have to be able to describe the location in French. I have a vivid memory of my husband and myself walking to the point of exhaustion in Lyon, then spotting the actual office of a radio taxi business, staggering in and pleading for a cab. This was not the day of the transit strike, by the way, but a normal day. Devon
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