We want to take a train from Paris to Avignon on May 6. I tried the sncf.com site, but my French is limited. I think they were telling me that I could pick up my ticket at an automated machine in the station. Am I correct. I tried idtgv but it keeps saying bookings not available at this time.
Cloudwalker

There's an english version of the site. You probably have to click on an UK flag to acess it.

It's indeed possble to pick up your ticket at the train station (but probably not at an automated machine if you're american due to the lack of smart chip on your card) if you chose the appropriate option. Note that you'll need to show the card you used online to buy your ticket in order to pick it up.

To add to what the previous poster said, leave France as the default country for picking up your ticket. Choose to pick it up at a ticket boutique or station. Bring your credit card and the confirmation number you'll be given when you book the ticket. If you live in the US,do NOT try to have it mailed to your home and do NOT ENTER your home address.

TimS - why? We did that and the tickets arrived at our US home.

Because having the tickets mailed to your home in the USA is not an option -USA is not on the SNCF list of countries on the website. If you managed to get them, you were no doubt very lucky.

Officially at least, US residents who want tickets mailed to them are supposed to book them through Rail Europe. (The catch is that booking through RE is more expensive than booking through SNCF.) While several people on this board have reported successfully receiving tickets mailed to the US, SNCF officially does not include the US on its list of countries to which it will mail tickets and it is not obligated to do so. It's safer to either pick them up in France or have them mailed to your hotel in France if you choose the mail option.

also, picking up tickets at an automated machine is just one of the possibilities for the "pick up" option. I know it does not say you must use the automated machine nor does it say that is the only possible way to pick them up. It is just given in a list of several options for pickup.

Obviously, France would be the country for picking up the ticket if you intend to pick it up in France.

There are several really detailed threads on how to do this, incl. getting them mailed to U.S., on SlowTrav