That is one thing to be said for this lifestyle…it is never boring. As soon as you develop a routine and comfort with a place, it’s time to move on. That has its positives and negatives, though mostly positives. And you learn to be flexible – like learning how to find baking soda. It’s readily available in Ireland and the UK, but once you’re in continental Europe it is a whole ‘nother story. For example, I finally (after searching store after store) found it in the cleaning aisle. It is somewhat logical as baking soda is an outstanding cleaner – it was just rather odd to make banana bread after finding it among cleaning supplies. Where was I? Oh yeah, back to being flexible. We had a well thought out plan of taxi to Rennes with all of our stuff, train to Montparnasse in Paris, taxi to our hotel at Orly. Reservations were all made, we know what to expect. And then the President of France announced that he intended to make changes to the French pension program and all hell broke loose. The French tend not to be happy unless they are angry about something, and oh boy, were they angry! Demonstrations in the streets, massive strikes, it was France at its best/worst. It also meant that we had no idea if our train and plane would be operating. Ugh. We were able to arrange a rental car that we could drop at Orly airport (it involved getting to Rennes airport to pick up however. Thank you to our fantastic Airbnb hosts for driving me there on Friday morning), and monitored our flight everyday to see whether it was leaving – fortunately it was.
Once our very nice Ford Kuga (Ford Escape in the US) was acquired, driven back to Dinan, negotiated through the extremely narrow medieval alley that was not designed for a modern SUV, then drove said Kuga through the medieval gate and down the crazy cobblestone hill! We loaded it up and hit the road. The advantage to this trek? We were going to drive nearly halfway across the widest part of France – through the Loire valley no less. I have to admit that it was a gorgeous drive, HOWEVER…let us talk tolls. The west coast is not big on toll roads. There are a few, but not a lot. Not like the east coast. And then there is Europe. The approximate 200 km that we were on the A11 for cost 37€ (about $40)!!!!! Dude, that is a lot of money. At least the motorway is really nice.
The other advantage to this drive: I got to stop somewhere I have wanted to go for a very long time but couldn’t imagine when/if I would get there – Chartres.
And thanks to Google Maps (have I told you that ours is named Dana? I don’t know why I picked that name), we took at nice drive through the medieval core of the town. Not designed for driving a Ford Kuga through. I’m getting quite experienced at this.
There has been a cathedral on this site since the 4th century. Seriously. The current structure is mostly from the early 12th century, although there are bits of the earlier churches integrated into it. It is astounding. It still has many stained glass pieces from the 1100s. I don’t know how to even begin to tell you about this cathedral. And thank you to the French Revolutionaries for not damaging this place (much).
The most incredible part of the entire place, structurally speaking, was this (in my oh so humble opinion):
These pictures do not even begin to do the place justice. This cathedral is special. I’m going to say something possibly heretical: it may be more beautiful than Notre Dame de Paris. Not necessarily the exterior, I don’t think anywhere can top Notre Dame for the sheer beauty, but the interior is beyond anything I could have imagined. Now, I’ve not been to Saint Peter’s in Rome yet, or the Duomo in Florence (this spring!!), so my experience is limited. I will be back to this place though – and spend a full day exploring it. It was a bucket list item for good reason. We are so fortunate that we get to go to these places!
After that incredible experience, I had the joy (dubious joy) of driving in the outskirts of Paris. Never in the city itself. Nope. I am a confident driver that is able to flex with many situations, but three places strike fear in my heart: central London, central Paris, and Massachusetts. So, we skirted around Paris to Orly airport. We have flown in and out of CDG in the past, this was our first time at Orly. While not as big as CDG it was a very pleasant place – for an airport!
We stayed at the Novotel right outside Terminal 4, so it was an easy morning hauling our bags over to the airport. Three people, 4 large bags, 3 backpacks! Yep, we were able to eliminate the small suitcase!!!! Yay! And once the Daughter delivers the two massive bottles of Game of Thrones whisky (that we have been traveling with since Northern Ireland) to her friend this weekend we will have a lot more weight to work with.
The Husband discovered a boutique, all business class airline that flies between Orly and Newark. When we bought the tickets months ago they were flying an A321neo and a 757 (ick) on the route and the tickets were super reasonable. We also bought tickets on it this spring (using France as our entry point on the way to Florence). Well, in the meantime, they added a couple of new A321neos, got rid of the 757s (yay!) and dramatically increased their prices (boo). We are glad we bought our second round of tickets way back when because I would fly La Compagnie again anytime. It was fabulous. The business class seats were so comfortable (lay flat), the food was fab, and the crew was wonderful. The Daughter is now thoroughly spoiled.
Newark, New Jersey. Not a place I ever envisioned going. What an armpit airport. And were we ever grateful to have Global Entry!!!!!! The lines were unbelievable yet we just cruised through. If you travel much you want to get Global Entry.
We got our rental (Ford Edge – also known as Grandma’s blue car. The poor Grandson will be so confused if we get a different colored car) and headed towards Connecticut. We got a glimpse of New York City – one of these days I will get there!- missed a turn, which gave us the opportunity to driving through the Bronx and Yonkers. I was surprised at how non-big city it felt. Lots of trees. Interesting. After 3 hours of driving ,we were so grateful to finally arrive at the Son’s house! Since arriving we have had freezing rain, snow, and frigid temperatures. This freezing rain thing is really awful. It should just snow and not mess with freezing rain. Illogical.
I just realized that I forgot one other photo from France. Rather than redo the entire freaking page to include it I’m going to tack it on here at the end. These trees were all over in Brittany and Normandy (maybe other places too, but we didn’t go to those other places, right?). We call them truffula trees – as in from The Lorax – as that’s what they made us think of:
And what was my first place to go after we got here?
If you’ve been reading this blog since the beginning you might recall my rant regarding the distance to the nearest Costco from the Oldest Son’s house…and obviously Costco read this and made certain to correct the problem before we returned to the US…this Costco opened just last month…15 minutes away!!! Oh happy day. Plus they were kind enough to use the same floor plan as our home store. My heart sang.
We are looking forward to Christmas here in New England and then off to the West Coast!