With apologies to Bob.
We are in Caen. Absolutely no sightseeing today, but plenty of adventure. I have added a couple of photos for interest.
The apartment we are staying in is amazing. Milly has decided she is staying in for a day or two to fully enjoy it. Separate bedrooms, quite a change from the pull-out sofa bed she has had to endure. Heaps of food for our enjoyment, including a bottle of Bordeaux red that I am working my way through as I write. Even bath robes for relaxing in. And fast Internet, time to catch up with some of those photos. You will need to revisit the previous posts.
Leaving Paris this morning was another adventure. There seems to be a bit of a theme here. One of us is bad luck and I’m trying to work out which one. When I do they are in danger of getting voted off the trip.
We set out for our train as soon as we were packed, there wasn’t really enough room in the apartment for lazing around anyway, and arrived at the central station in Paris (Gare de l’Est where all the intercity trains depart from) by 9:30am. Easy as – apart from the fact my Metro ticket seemed to be a dud and I had to crash through a few barriers to get onto the platform. I was worried that station staff might object to my dashing through exit barriers between passengers and tailgating others through the entry stiles, but no. The apathy of the general rank and file employee in Paris is another whole story.
We had heaps of time, considering that the train to Caen didn’t even leave until ten past ten. Which platform? Don’t know, let’s check the ticket for the service number. Doesn’t the ticket say we leave from Paris – St Lazare? Yes it does. Is this Paris-St Lazare? No it’s not! Bugger, bugger, bugger. St Lazare Station is the other way from the way we came.
Can we back track via the Metro? No way, too many changes of station (plus I don’t have a valid ticket). Let’s try a taxi. The taxi driver, to his credit, drove very well, very sanely and had us at St Lazare by 10:00am. We found our platform and the right carriage with easy 5 minutes to spare. What a way to start the day. Lucky we had started out a bit early.
Pulled into Caen Station just after midday. The accommodation and the hire car weren’t available until after 2pm, so we found a cafe to while away some time. After we checked into the apartment Michelle and I dropped into the Hertz office and picked up the car (a brand new Renault Captur diesel) and then took about 20 minutes to drive it back to the apartment, which was all of 200 metres away. The combination of one-way streets, being in the wrong lane, not knowing which street we needed to turn left at hence requiring another lap of the block, all gave me much needed driving practice.
I have never driven a LH drive car before and Michelle is a nervous passenger at the best of times. After it was safely tucked into our garage (yes we even have a garage), she politely offered that it was okay by her if I wanted to take it straight back and not drive anymore in France. No way. The fun is only just beginning.
We have paid extra to have no excess in the event of damaging the hire car. A wise investment, since I have already put a tiny crack in the mirror housing, after getting a bit too close to parked cars. I’m starting to wander if I’m the bad luck omen. Looks like I’ll be heading home early after the vote.
Looking forward to hitting the D Day beaches tomorrow, hopefully not in the car.
Cheers, Steve J.