Paris was misty, the immigration process was attentuated and tedious and the bag pick-up chaotic but all three of our bags arrived on the conveyor belt. We spent a few minutes trying to find the exit from the bag pick-up, found and used an ATM to fill our wallets with euros (€) then successfully contacted the car supplier by phone. (Note: there are no longer any public phones in Terminal 1 Arrivals, CDG, even though our explicit printed instructions asked us to use the public phone.) Having landed at 0720, we eventually escaped at about 0900 from the concrete cauldron and scrambled with our bags into the white transit van which took us to our Renault Clio, patiently waiting for us with its Peugeot and Citroen cousins at the handover base nearby.
 |
| Our Renault Clio, our transport for the next few weeks. |
Cars provided under the system we’re using are brand new, fully insured, prepaid, but have only 50 km of fuel in the tank (no electric cars offered, yet). Knowing this before I left home, I’d found a fuel filling station only 15 minutes’ drive from the start point and on the route to Troyes, our first planned overnight stop, two hours’ drive SE of Paris. So this was our first halt after start-up. We drove to and found it easily, filled up (pre-pay system, as I discovered after a couple of minutes of confusion as to why the fuel wasn’t coming through the nozzle) then parked in the nearby Carrefours shopping centre. This centre contained another vital service needed on day one of trips abroad: a telecommunications provider who, for a paltry sum, links my iPad to the French cellular system, thus giving us an internet connection within the car, or on foot, wherever there’s a signal (so most places in France, also free roaming within the EU).
So, we had cash, car, connection and coffee. The road to Troyes beckoned and we set off at about 1150 in our shiny black Clio to meet our host at the agreed RV time of 1400.
The sweeping crop-covered plains of this part of France reminded us immediately of previous trips and we eventually swept into Troyes right on time, successfully navigating the narrow cobbled one-way streets of the city centre. (Thank you, Siri, whose robotic pronunciation is not always perfect but whose intricate navigation information usually is.)
We secured a car park right outside the apartment entrance and a few minutes later were met by our host, an engaging young guy called Aurelien who, summoned by our Airbnb message of successful arival, arrived in a few minutes by bike, introduced us to our apartment, and left us to our own devices.
By now we were quite weary, but not too weary to first do some grocery shopping, mainly for breakfast items, then afterward sit in the dappled shade in the main square, just around the corner from our apartment, with a suitable drink or two watching the trovians (inhabitants of Troyes) going about their normal activities.
Thursday, our first full day in France for this trip, was filled with a self-guided walking tour of the historic city centre (with a lunchtime nap half way round) and outdoor dinner at one of the many restaurants within a 200m stroll.
Some Troyes pics:
 |
| Streets and buildings emerging onto the main square |
 |
| Typical cross alleys in Troyes centre. That’s Mary beneath the turret. |
 |
| Ruelle des chats, between buildings which lean against each other above for support. |
 |
| Snapper in the market at Troyes (same price as in Noosa, but slightly different source). |
 |
| Many buildings have unsettling leanings |
And, to finish off, a video we made (note that you can use the Watch on Facebook option even if you’re not a Facebook user):
Off to Ribeauville (further east) Friday 25May18 for a full week.
Thanks for reading.
Mary & Kev
No comments:
Post a Comment