Best French Kiss Ever! (Loire River Valley) About This Page:

[mattnkatsmum]

Lovely start! And don't worry about missing DLP........you can experience it vicariously through my trip report [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]

Seriously, I wouldn't bother with DLP until one had experienced all that Paris has to offer. It's a truly amazing city.

I can't wait to hear about the Loire. I stayed in Tours 12 years ago and travelled throughout the region. The town of Angers is twinned with my home town and the local children here often do exchange trips over there.

More please.

[lauren-roxy]

Great start Douglas, can't wait to read more!!!!!

[LisaJ]

Oui, Oui!!!

[Meggera]

Great start! More please!!

[DouglasE]

<font color="green">I thought for sure I would have no problem sleeping on my transatlantic flight from Boston to London. Unfortunately, the first hour or two, the cabin of the plane was hot. I kid you not. It was about 85 degrees Fahrenheit in that cabin. On top of that the adrenaline was pumping through my veins. Consequently, I did not sleep at all.

One of the funniest incidents occurred in Heathrow Airport as I transfer from the Boston to London flight to the London to Paris flight. I disembark my plane and literally just turn a corner and they require all of us to go through security YET AGAIN. I’m sorry, but isn’t that a bit ridiculous? I had to go through security to get on board the plane to London. I was herded like cattle to go just a few meters around the corner. Where would I have been able to pick up any dangerous products or weapons? There was no opportunity. Anyway, they had all of two people to conduct security at Heathrow for all the flights at my terminal. Consequently, there is a huge, long line and wait to get through security. By the time I’m cleared through security, it’s only 10-15 minutes before my next plane is scheduled to depart. Did I bother to walk briskly to my gate? Hell, no! I had taken off my shoes for security inspection. With my shoes in one hand, I run through the terminal in Heathrow in my socks. I am running so fast to catch my flight I literally am sliding down the marble slick floors. I felt like a crazy person running in his stocking feet, but I was damn sure I was not going to miss this flight. I felt like I was having my own “Risky Business”, Tom Cruise moment. Wonderfully, I manage to make my flight.

Best laid plans just can go awry. Nothing horrific happened, but my plans were those made by a novice intercontinental traveler. Unless you know the RER stations and the routes I was taking, my mishaps would have happened to anyone. I arrived at baggage claim late because British Airways (BA) was redirected to land at Charles DeGaulle airport from a completely different direction than planned. The good news was that my baggage was among the first on the carousel. Yay! The bad news is I missed my first option for a TGV to Amboise. I realized my next best option was to take an RER train from CDG to Central Paris where I could connect with a TGV train. The RER station took forever to find. It seemed like it was totally on the other side of the airport. Once there, I found a line that snaked out of the ticket sales office and went on for miles. Another delay. I now was not going to make train trip #2. Trip #3 involved catching a RER-B to St. Michel station in central Paris. Then after getting to St. Michel station I would take another RER train to Gare Austerlitz. Once at Austerlitz I would take another RER train to go directly to Amboise. By the time I’m in the ticket sales line, I am thoroughly frazzled. I knew time was of the essence and I had NONE to spare. So this sense of urgency caused me to be a bit careless. While paying for my tickets I pulled out all of my cash. A nice lady near me reminded me to not show all my cash like that. She ended up riding on the same train with me into Paris.
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[DouglasE]

<font color="green">Douglas’ travel tip: While still in the states, I visited the Die Bahn website. This German website gives details for train time tables for all of Europe. You have the ability to access the site in English. You plug in your origin, destination, date, and time. It then provides all the details of your trip. Print out the result to hand to the train station attendant to book the reservation and/or train tickets. What saved my ass on this trip is that I printed out four different possible train trips. I printed out trips that would leave from the Airport anytime between 9:00 and 10:30 am. I was fully prepared for the unexpected.

I was fine on the train to St. Michel. It reminded me of the regional rail lines of Philadelphia. But once I got off at St. Michel things weren’t so clear. I had to catch a RER-C train to take me to Gare Austerlitz. Can I just say that the US does not have a monopoly on ugly housing projects? When you see the outlying areas of Paris you can see buildings that remind me of Chicago’s Cabrini Green. Ugly 70’s factory-like housing. I was laughing to myself at how familiar one housing project looked to me when I realized that beyond it you could see Butte Montmartre with Sacre Coeur white as can be. My mouth just dropped as I had a fleeting view of the classic tourist’s vision of Paris. At St. Michel one train pulls up to the quai which definitely was not the RER-C. It was the Mona train. When I was searching for information to help me out another train pulls in. Something told me this was my train to take to Gare Austerlitz. I wasn’t able to see the name of the train since I missed seeing the train pull in and getting a good look at the sign on the train. I figured if I am wrong, I’ll get off at the next stop and take the next train going back in the opposite direction and get off back at St. Michel. Luckily, it WAS the train I was supposed to catch only running late.

Gare Austerlitz is a big place. There is the part that serves as a station for the Metro (i.e. Paris the city) and then there is a whole other part that functions as a rail station for heading to further destinations.

At Gare Austerlitz I have some time to wait until my next train arrives to take me to Amboise. At this point, my shirt is soaked with sweat. I have been running around trying to get where I need to go. The heat of summer is still in effect in Paris; and I’m full of nervous energy trying to manage to maneuver in a new country all on my own. I notice that if I raise my arms I get a nasty whiff of body odor. I hate that! But it isn’t all that tragic a case of body odor quite YET! While waiting on a bench, I see a military trio of men in camouflage with these HUGE weapons. I really wanted to take their picture. This is something I’ve never really seen in the U.S. But I didn’t think it would be a good idea to take their picture. Something tells me that it is forbidden to take pictures of the military. Do I really want to piss off men with big guns? No. I didn’t have too long to wait until the RER train arrives in the station to whisk me off to Amboise.

The RER to Amboise was VERY comfortable. I was traveling second class and that was just fine for me. The restroom on the train was a clean, decent bathroom. I almost dozed off on the journey. Remember, it is now Friday in the late morning and I haven’t been asleep since Wednesday night! Looking out my window I got a wonderful opportunity to see the French countryside. It is very agricultural in this part of the country. I would venture to say that this is the bread basket. Out of my window I see field after field of growing crops. If I had timed my trip differently I would have seen oodles of sunflower fields. But it is now 1 September and they have all died and dried up. There were some really cute towns that the train passed through. If I have the time in the future, I would love to visit Beaugency. It looked like a great place to visit and enjoy being a local. As an American, if I were to paint a picture of a typical French village, Beaugency would have been what I would have imagined that to be. Another treat was to see a wind farm. On my way I saw 20-25 giant modern, sleek, white windmills. Once again, something I have never seen at home. We might have stuff like that in the states, but I have never been to the great expanses of places like Montana, Idaho, or Kansas. </font>

[DouglasE]

<font color="green">I arrive at Amboise. It was quite easy to go from the Gare Amboise to my hotel. Of course, I had my Rick Steves France Guidebook and it had a clear map of the central part of town. I’m excellent with maps. Give me a map and I am able to make my way with no problem. My first impression of Amboise is magical. Amboise is a postcard picture perfect town that brings medieval history alive. The Loire River runs directly through the town. In the middle of the river is an island, L’Ile d’Or. L’Ile d’Or is HUGE. It is the only island in the Loire that is able to have structures on it. All the other islands are under the threat of being flooded out. As I crossed the bridge to get to the center of town, I saw the Chateau d’Amboise from Pont General Leclerc. The chateau dominates the town from atop its hill.

My hotel, Le Maison les Minimes, sits on the bank of the Loire River. The hotel was probably about 800 meters from the train station. I am used to walking all over creation at home in Philadelphia. I walk miles every day. For me it was no big deal. When I arrived, the gentleman at reception commented on the long walk that I took. I told him I thought it wasn’t long at all. By the way, the gentleman at reception was very cute with beautiful blue eyes. His English was excellent. The hotel is a very French country manor home. I loved it. I was a little surprised at how small my room was, but it really was no big deal since it was just little old me on my own.

Ok, soon after dropping my bags I realize I need to make my reservations for dinner for this Friday evening and for tomorrow evening. I go to reception and ask the gentleman at the front desk to help me with making the reservations since my French isn’t fluent and his is. He did a wonderful job at making reservations for me and found a wonderful restaurant that wasn’t booked for Saturday night.

Douglas’ travel tip: Make restaurant reservations before you leave home. I didn’t and ended up not being able to eat at one of the restaurants that I wanted while in Amboise. I completely forgot that like at home, sometimes a Saturday night reservation can be hard to score.

After making my reservations I went back to my room. It was time to get ready for my bike trip to Chateau de Chenonceau. Like the Tasmanian devil I whipped off my clothes and took a quick shower. I got my gear together and was out of the hotel within 20 minutes. Too bad my hotel room now looked like the Tasmanian devil had gone through there. Oh well…I had the trek of a lifetime to take.

Next: Riding through the French countryside on a bike. If I have some time...pictures!</font>

[jimmymac]

Great update. Not taking pix of the soldiers a la gare was smart. Waiting for the next chapter [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[JoanW]

Merci beaucoup Douglas! Photos, s'il vous plait. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

Great updates Douglas!!! Can't wait to read more!!!

[duck addict]

I know the feeling. On my flight from Atlanta to London, I bet I didn't get more than a 1/2 sleep. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/082502no_prv.gif[/img]

[Colexis Mom]

Great updates Douglas [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Glad you finally made it to Amboise [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[LisaJ]

I'm enjoying this TR. I thought that the name of your hotel was appropriate for just "little old you on your own"...Le Maison les Minimes, or as I read it, The House of Minnie Me. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rofl2.gif[/img]

[chezp]

Hey - I'm feeling better now, I managed three and a half hours on the flight home from Atlanta last week! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/roflmao.gif[/img] And I thought that wasn't much... [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Reading your trip report brought back many memories of dealing with the rail system in Paris - and I know Gare Austerlitz only too well, as it seems to be one of the best connecting points in Paris. I remember catching a train once and thinking the same thing - that if it wasn't going the right way, I'd have to get off at the next station and backtrack. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[DrDolphin]

Great update -- I hope you can post pictures!!