Well the consensus seems to be that train travel is quite affordable after all, so perhaps I need not wade in -- except to add a few small considerations of my own.

1. Mid-August heat
2. Traffic jams -- and August 14 is a Saturday, isn't it?
3. Circumnavigating Paris from CDG, esp if you don't know the way (take the eastern route not the western route around Paris, BTW)
4. The dull bits before you get to Burgundy
5. Did I mention the heat?

Now this is odd coming from someone who has never taken the TGV. I ve only seen them glide effortlessly past me as I baked and fumed on the autoroute.

We have found a simple solution when we visit the south: Direct flights Montreal to Lyon, whose small, unconfusing airport is south east of the city -- thus we can be in the Drome in little more than an hour from picking up the rental car........

Hi carcassone,

After you have found the cheap tickets to Marseille, write down the train number and time, and go to http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

You can then find all of the intermediate stops.

Hi ira, merci beaucoup! Onto more research...