The salon where we were served an aperitif and our orders were taken for dinner.
The charming dining room.
It's a tough life!
Things went fairly smoothly as we left the vineyards behind on Wednesday morning. We were wanting to drop off the car early enough that we might be able to catch an earlier train to Bordeaux, which would in turn give us more time to make our connection to Charles DeGaulle Airport. The drive from the vineyard to the Libourne train station took only about 15 minutes. This is pretty countryside with rolling hills of vines and villages and their church spires dotting the horizon. It was especially pretty in the morning light.
The car drop off couldn't have been easier, and the office is just across the street from the station. We had no knowledge of the schedule, but were aiming for earlier than our planned 9:38am. (Our TGV reservation was for a specific time, but any non-TGV leg was simply covered by our Railpass and could be any available train.) As it happened, we got there right before the 8:17am was scheduled to arrive. We didn't think it was too likely we could make that, and we had no reason to hurry, since there were two other trains to Bordeaux in the following 15 minutes. Turns out that these early trains are essentially commuter trains. There are only 4 tracks at the Libourne station, which means only two loading platforms. All the Bordeaux-bound trains were using one of the platforms. So we headed out to that platform, to be ready to jump on. Since it was running a bit late, we could have caught the 8:17, but it was very full and there were quite a few people wanting to board. We let the first train go, but took the next. It was quite full too and not a particularly comfortable ride and no pretty scenery to soften the edges. But it was an interesting "slice of life" to get to see the commuter scene--not something we usually experience when traveling.
Just to remind us of where we were, we got to see a little scene that felt quintessentially French. While in the waiting room for our train, a tall and elegantly dressed man came in carrying a posh attache case and a plastic bag. He pulled out a very ordinary packaged sandwich. Then he brought out a small screwtop bottle of red wine, opened it, and took a swig from the bottle. After the main part of his meal, he had a piece of fruit then went to the machine in the corner, put in a few coins and came back with his requisite, meal-ending cup of espresso. Such ordinary surroundings, but he wasn't giving up his expectations of a typical French midday meal.
With our earlier experience in Bordeaux, we felt we knew the drill about finding our track, etc. By taking the earlier train from Libourne, we had well over an hour before our track would be announced, rather than the 16 minutes we would have had if we'd taken the planned train. We were pretty relaxed about this next leg, and almost downright giddy when our train was announced as departing on Track 1, right outside the doors of the station. What could be easier?
Well......our train turned put to be one of two hooked-together trains. One was heading for Lille in NW France, the other heading for Strasbourg in NE France. When we'd made our TGV reservation a couple weeks earlier, the person helping us had given us the heads up that we should look for a train to Strasbourg rather than Charles DeGaulle. We had appreciated her telling us that, but it turned out that our train number was the one destined for Lille. Another little puzzle piece to work out.
When our train arrived (mercifully on Track 1), our train was the front train of the two. The display of the car locations showed our car almost at the front of the front train. And that silly train stopped clear outside the very big station! We had quite a distance to cover and not a lot of spare time. It's amazing what adrenaline can do to make a couple of bag-toting seniors approximate a sprint. I'm beginning to think I'm too old for this!
Everything went smoothly except for this speedy jaunt. The trip to the airport was about 4-1/2 hours long and was very comfortable and smooth. We went through Angouleme and Poitiers, neither of which we'd seen before, but otherwise there's nothing much to be said about the scenery on that route. The TGV station at the airport drops you off downstairs from Terminal 2, which was the terminal we needed for our departure the next morning. Our hotel was just two escalator flights up from the train station, so that couldn't have been easier.
We checked in and freshened up a bit then set off to determine where American Airlines was located (I.e., which of the four terminals within Terminal 2 we would be using). Had a couple missteps that gave us a very solid day's exercise. We haven't flown in or out of CDG for 12 years, and it has changed and grown since then. It is a very big, very peopled, and not particularly user-friendly airport.
The hotel is at the connection point between the two long, V-shaped wings containing the Terminal 2 terminals, a very convenient location. Our terminal was at the farthest point on one wing of the V, while we had walked to the farthest point of the other wing thanks to a piece of misinformation. We ended up going to the farthest points of both wings twice by the time our evening was done. Good exercise for sure.
Staying at a hotel located within the terminal was a luxury, but we had decided when planning this trip that such a convenient location would eliminate a lot of the stress of departure. It was certainly not the budget choice. Even so, we were startled at the cost of services and food. WiFi was happily provided, but at the price of 24 Euros, which seemed awfully high. Dinner at the informal restaurant would have set us back well over $100. (Hence the extra foray down the concourses in search of a decent meal at an acceptable price.) Continental breakfast in our hotel would have been 29 Euros, or about $35-40. Per person! Yikes! Right outside our hotel's doors was a branch of Paul, a bakery chain and a very good one, which we had patronized most mornings while in Paris. Do I need to give you a hint about which option we selected?
We got to our gate with plenty of time to spare yesterday morning. There was such an overwhelming number of people rushing and lined up and blocking the way that we were very glad we'd allowed extra time.
We're so sad to leave France. We think of it as "our place." We were there long enough to automatically respond to interactions or queries in French. We got into the rhythm of the days and the mealtimes. We enjoyed our little Peugeot. During this last, car trip leg of our time in France, we met a number of French people, who were friendly and rather surprised to see Americans. One hotel manager, on hearing where we were from, grabbed both my hands and said how delighted he was to have Americans visiting him. He fussed over us throughout our short stay at his hotel. A number of people took the time to inquire about where else we had visited and where we were going. They simply may have been excited to know American tourist dollars were present, but it felt warm and friendly. People were very responsive to my modest attempts at communication. I always try to say something conversational and beyond the required answers or statements. This is sometimes a bit comical because my French is pretty rusty and, at this point, seems to be only in the present tense. (Where have my conjugations gone? Somewhere other than in my head, I assure you.) Usually I was able to get my message across, though I'm sure they got some chuckles out of my attempts.
We are definitely having a mixture of sadness to leave and a happy anticipation of being home.
Adieu to La Belle France. A bientot (until later).
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My feelings are mixed too - sadness over your trip coming to a close, but anxious to visit with you in person. Welcome home!
ReplyDeleteAnne