Our route from Figueres to Arles, a French town on the Rhone river in Provence, was not without distractions. We had to take three trains, transferring from two bullet trains to a local (slow) line.

The first change, in Perpignan, just across the border, involved a long wait. We exchanged our tickets for an earlier train and were happy to climb aboard. The next change was in Nîmes where the fun began. Our train from Nîmes to Arles passed through Montpellier where we stopped and stayed because “yellow vests” had “invaded” the station. SNCF, the French train company, had to cut power to the tracks, and the train lost electricity (lights, air conditioning). We could leave the train for the platform, but not enter the station where there were police, broken windows and, possibly, a few invaders.

The yellow vest movement is a bit like Occupy Wall Street, a populist, leaderless iniative for economic justice or at least lower fuel prices, fewer taxes and increases in wages for the yellow vests. An American tourist who boarded the train in Montpellier called the invaders “yellow jackets,” a more apt name in my opinion.

We arrived in Arles at the same time we would have without catching the earlier train, thanks to the yellow vests. Our airbnb more than made up for the discomfort of the road. It was a spacious apartment in the middle of town with two terraces, 15 foot ceilings, and a lovely mix of 17th and 18th century chests and modern furniture (Saarinen, Breuer, art deco).