Driving in France - Lesson 3

Let's talk about France's great network of motorways. They link all the main centres, and you can stay on them for hundreds of kilometres.

The motorways are a great way to get from A to B if you have limited time - you can cover a large distance very quickly by sitting on 130 kph for a few hours (110 kph if it's raining).  They are not so good if you want to see things on the way.  They can also be not so good if your finances are struggling - many of them are toll roads.

Fortunately our GPS allows us to select a route that avoids toll roads, so we have been weighing up our available time vs what we want to see on the way before deciding our route.  One dramatic comparison was in the south of France, where the GPS route using toll roads was 300 km and was going to take 3 hours, and the route avoiding toll roads was 200 km and was going to take 4 hours.  Gives you an idea of how hilly, windy, and narrow-road-through-villagey the 200 km route was, and also a feel for what Sue calls 'cross-country'.

Every few kms on the motorway, there is an 'aire', or rest area.  An aire can be anything from a simple picnic area to a full-blown petrol station and multi-choice restaurant.  Was nice to hear Brooke Fraser during one of our stops - didn't know she featured on French radio playlists.

Conversations in French

Her: Bonjour Monsieur, <...>?  [NZ: Hi, how can I help?]
Me: Bonjour Madame, un/e cafe pour moi, s'il vous plait  [NZ: Hi, a coffee for me please]
Her: <...>petit<...>?  [NZ: small or large coffee?]
Me: Un/e petit cafe s'il vous plait  [NZ: just a small one thanks]
Her: <...>, merci  [NZ: ok, thank you]

Comment 1: Wahoo, I've just ordered my first coffee, which by default is always a small expresso (I've only occasionally been asked about its size or milkiness, and I think even then I am only asked because I sound like a foreigner).

Comment 2: Note my use of the word un/e, pronounced somewhere between "uhn" and "oon".  All French nouns are boys (use un) or girls (use une), and I don't know which one cafe is.  I seem to get away with un/e, and I use it indiscrimately for anything I'm not sure of.

Comment 3: As all you French experts know (and as I now know), cafe is a boy (it's a very masculine drink).  A good rule of thumb seems to be that nouns ending in "e" are girls, and just to confuse things "cafe" ends in an "e-acute" not an "e".

Him: Bon soir Monsieur [NZ: Good evening sir]
Me: Bon soir Monsieur, une table pour deux, s'il vous plait [Hi, a table for two please]
Him: <indicates where to sit>
Me: Merci [NZ: Thank you]

Comment 4: Wahoo again, we've got a table at a restaurant, and wahoo, table ends in "e", it's a girl, and I am confident of saying une not un/e

Comment 5: Many French words are pronounced with silent letters.  One that I (and you) should definitely not get wrong is Monsieur, which is supposed to be pronounced "M'sieur".  "Mon chien" means "my dog", and sounds very similar to a literal pronounciation of Monsieur!

Comment 6: You probably know all this stuff anyway, but what you may not know is that for me (not well regarded in the French or English departments at school), having conversations in French in France is enormous fun.  Far more satisfying than just using single words such as oui, non, s'il vous plait, merci [NZ: yes, no, please, thank you].  I have been speaking French whenever I reasonably can, even when the other person speaks English.  And I can just about carry out a full conversation in French provided it is a very narrow subject and I know the kind of words that are going to be used.  I've been trying to include as many details as possible in my sentences to avoid having to understand too many clarification questions!

Waouh!!

Drama day

Well, the good news about today (Monday) was that there were no traffic jams driving in to Bayeux.  That's because everyone had gone home by the time we arrived!  We had a 4-5 hour drive ahead of us when we left Tours - one of our biggest days on the road and another 18 euros to the toll booth.

However, we had a few dramas along the way!

Drama no 1:  our GPS froze on us when we returned to the car after our lunch stop.  We were off the toll road by then and about to change to another motorway.  No maps other than the little ones in Lonely Planet. One of us was melting down a little!  We knew we needed to reset the GPS but couldn't find a suitable tool in the car to press the little indented button (note to self - never travel without a paperclip!).  After an hour of travelling roughly in the right direction, we reached the Mont-St-Michel exit we were looking for.  Then we got lost!  Allan found an optometrist shop of all things, in the middle of nowhere and went in to ask for something to poke the reset button. We thought that they might have one of those wee screwdrivers, but that didn't work.  Although the lady had no English, she understood the word 'reset', and eventually produced a toothpick, which did the trick. Yay!

Drama no 2:  immediately after that, the GPS wanted to take us back to the motorway using a road that had been closed.  She was most persistent and every time we tried another option, instead of planning us a new route, she took us back to the same road. Aaaagh! Another hour lost.  Eventually Allan followed his nose until he broke her will and we were off again.  He really was the man for a crisis, refusing to panic and keeping me from losing my head!

Off then to M-S-M, arriving after 5 pm.  This is an abbey that is built on an island reached by a causeway.  The car park was nearly 4 km from the island and the island awfully steep, so in my fraught state, I decided to stay in the car and leave Allan to visit.  He can tell you what he saw, but he arrived back at 6.30 pm - time for...

Drama no 3:  checked our hotel details, an hour and a half to travel to Bayeux.  Oops!  Check-in closes at 6 pm.  ETA at least 8 pm.  Had to ring to let them know we would be late, how to do it with our limited French? Face to face we can manage, phone more of a challenge.  I wimped out (as is my want) so Allan did it.  'Parlez-vous Anglais?' 'Yes'.  Sorted!  Have recovered my equilibrium now...

Driving in France - Lesson 2

Step 1 - review Lesson 1 - take particular note of the last bullet point and remember to go easy on the unfortunate navigator.

Step 2 - realise that driving in France really is a doddle, although we will leave driving in Paris for an advanced lesson.

Step 3 - look out for the interesting road signs - for the most part they are pretty clear.  I don't think the French word for stop is STOP, but the following obviously means stop...

They have a fantastic way of defining the end of a restriction - simply by showing the same sign but with a line through it.  So a sign for a 50 kph speed restriction is similar to ours, but to end the restriction...

Similarly coming into a town, they show a sign with the name of the town on it, which automatically also means a 50 kph speed restriction.  What better way to show that you're leaving town and that the speed restriction no longer applies than...

This is an odd one: this road has right of way over incoming side roads...

And this is an excellent one - and they mean it!

A couple of deer decided to leap across the road in front of us; one was bambying leftward and one was bambying rightward.  Needless to say, brakes were slammed on all around, and venison was not on the menu that night after all.

[For those who don't know, 'bambying' is a little like 'lambying', and means joyfully leaping about for no apparent reason]

Driving in France - Lesson 1

Checklist of things to steer clear of for the first two hours after picking up a rental car in France:

• big city at night - check
• rain - check
• rush-hour traffic - check
• narrow streets - check
• unfamiliar left-hand drive car with gear stick on right of driver, indicator control on left, wiper control on right - check
• invisible steet signs when you need them - check
• orange flashing traffic lights that mean take a deep breath, plant foot on accelerator, and play dodgems with the rest of the traffic zipping across the intersection - check
• stupid GPS that takes you to the street you ask for but not the one you want - check
• one-way streets that are unforgiving of any missed turn - check
• park brake that plays hide-and-seek - check
• maniacal requests to unfortunate navigator for help - check

I speak from experience...

Homeward bound

After all our farewells, we headed for the Eurostar. Our booked carriage had an air-con malfunction, so they upgraded us to first class - that was pretty special.

Now in London getting organised for our little detour to Santa Monica (Los Angeles) on the way home - another early start tomorrow (Sunday) morning.

Paris, je t’aime

Last night (Thursday), we had our cabaret and dinner. It was a really good meal, but the show was the piece de resistance (are you impressed with my French?). It was the singing and dancing and the Can Can that you would expect, but it was the ‘support’ acts that blew us away. There was a trapeze artist who had us gasping, a hilarious comedian who had a guy from the audience join him on stage (our guys were cowering in case they got picked!), a juggling duo, whose routine was completely out of the ordinary, and an incredible mime/statue act. Everyone loved it and we laughed to the point of tears.

Today (Friday) we went to the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre (saw the Mona Lisa). Both visits were a little disappointing for various reasons, but they were on our ’to do’ list so it’s all good.








We had our final tour dinner tonight - snails for those brave enough (i.e. Allan, not me!).

Then we cruised the town by night looking at all the sights illuminated, and culminating at the Eiffel Tower They turn ‘twinkling’ lights on for 10 minutes on the hour so that was a highlight. Allan tried haggling with one of the hawkers selling souvenirs - he didn’t win! The guy told him ‘you must be crazy!’

Back on the bus, everyone was feeling a little nostalgic on our last night, so we ended up singing - a combination of Australian, American and Italian (for our driver) songs. The six kiwis didn’t include any singers, so we joined in the others’ songs, but didn’t offer any of our own! A lovely evening!

Both of us would love to spend more time in Paris on our next trip!

Lyon to Paris

Last night (Wednesday) after dinner, our tour director took us on a little walking tour of Lyon. It was the first time on the tour that we have been scheduled to arrive, have dinner, go to bed, and then leave without seeing the town, so it was an unscheduled bonus to see the old town.

Lyon has what are called a ‘Hill of Workers’ and a ‘Hill of Prayers’. One is full of churches and the other is where the silk factories were. The narrow cobbled streets are full of protected houses, which have little private corridors between then, which you are allowed to explore, as long as you do so in absolute silence - a challenge for some of our group! The town is very pretty with its two rivers, its statues and fountains, especially at dusk, as we saw it.




It was a fairly long trip up to Paris with only a couple of quick motorway stops. We had a booking for the Eiffel Tower at 2pm, so had to be on time. The area was teeming with people, but we were in the group queue which saved a bit of time. I wasn’t as impressed by its size as I thought I might be, but the views from where we were (halfway up) were spectacular. The town goes on for ever.

After that, we had a bus tour of the city highlights It was pretty mind blowing - you’d see a stunning building, and then another, and another, and another. It is very clean and everything is in really good condition. There is a lot of greenery and the Champs-Elysee is gorgeous. I think we’re going to like it here!

We’re booked to see the Louvre and The Palace of Versailles tomorrow with a dinner in the evening, but hopefully there will be time to wander.

We’re off to a cabaret and dinner tonight so it’s all go, go, go!

On the road again

Headed for Lyon today - a longish drive with a lengthy lunch stop in Avignon (from the song ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’). It was very pretty, and we had our first French Crepes for lunch. The little towns certainly have plenty of character and charm, although we did love Nice. Climbed another hill, saw some more ruins! It is beautiful, on these sunny days seeing the views (especially the rivers) from these vantage points.

Off to Paris in the morning - can’t believe we have been away for nearly 6 weeks. We have loved every minute of it so far, and I think we both think that we could get used to the lifestyle! The group continues to be friendly, and we are all able to sit down and chat with any of the others over a meal. I am sure that we will keep in touch with a lot of them.

A sleep in at last

Didn’t have to leave the hotel until 9.30am, so we were able to have a leisurely breakfast, before being taken to the markets, which were full of beautiful fruit and vegies, breads, cheeses, as well as craft items. It was beautifully clean and very vibrant. Then we were free for the rest of the day.

We took off on a jaunt up a hill, where the view over the Mediterranean stretched out for miles in both directions - it was gorgeous. There is certainly plenty of money here if the yachts we saw are anything to go by. There are a lot of ruins here also, dating back to the 15th century - some were at the top of our hill, and there was a lovely waterfall. It was very restful and peaceful as we ambled around, chatting with another couple from our tour party.

It was a luxury to be able to go back to the hotel for a battery recharge, and then hit the shops again. Everything is very expensive, as it has been all over Europe, but I did manage to negotiate buying some shampoo in French!

Our evening meal was in Monte Carlo, where they were setting up for the Grand Prix next week. The roads are treacherously narrow and windy when you are in an enormous coach (we’re not allowed to call it a bus!), but our driver is absolutely amazing. Thought of Toby (and Michael!) as we saw all the seating set up for the race - not many cars around yet, but certainly plenty of evidence that the race is coming. I can see that when we get home and watch TV, we’ll be saying ‘been there’ whenever we see something we recognise.

Then we were off to the casino. Not our cup of tea, but interesting to see how the other half lives. The grandness and elegance of the buildings there was amazing - again, eye-opening to see how much money is invested to encourage others to part with theirs!

Nous sommes en France!

We finally have the chance to practise our French. We’re in Nice, with only a park between us and the sea, and shops and restaurants directly behind us. It is the best location we have had - many of our hotels have been out of the city centre. We’re here for two nights with more free time than usual, so had dinner on our own for the first time in Europe. Our waiter spoke English and had us on a bit when we tried out our French. We asked for the bill as our tour director had taught us - he said ’Non!’ and laughed at us. Also told Allan off for pinching my chips, so it was entertaining. I had my first steak since we came to Europe!

Earlier today (Monday), we went to the Leaning Tower at Pisa - it looked much more impressive in real life than in pictures we had seen.

We also had a tour through a perfume factory and the opportunity to buy, of course. The men were noticeably reticent on this part of the tour!

We drove around 450 kms today, and in 2 ½ hours driving along the coast of northern Italy, we went through 176 tunnels. They block out the views, but do give you long straight roads. We have found all through Europe that wherever there are hills and valleys, they build tunnel and bridges - a bit different to home. Many of them have other tunnels veering off them as well. The longest tunnel in Europe is 17km, although the longest we’ve done was 14, I think. The coastline that we did see in Italy, Monte Carlo and the south of France (the Riviera) is amazing - steep hills down to the water, absolutely covered with houses just clinging to the rocks. A lot of it is pretty ritzy, but access must be a nightmare. The views are magnificent though.

Their graves can’t be below ground because of the rocks. Instead they have them stacked into concrete walls.

It was a little grey today, but yesterday was the first day that we have had rain - it hosed down in Florence for 15 minutes, and also when we were driving, but then the sun came out again. In Europe, we have not had our warm clothes out at all, whereas in the UK, our summer gear stayed in the suitcase, so I feel vindicated with the amount of luggage I packed!