1990 Suèvres

Wed 1990-09-05 {13295}

Up at 0630h, and away in father's Sierra to Heathrow terminal 2 at about 08h. Flight on-time at 0930h (Airbus A300 - Air France). Arr at C de Gaulle, didn't even handle passports in EC channel, just waved thro'. Long, slow Q at "other" passports. Hire car collected (lots of details req) - it's a group higher than booked, red Peugeot 309GL. Drove it 200+ km to superb cottage at Suèvres ("Les Grillons"), stopping to provision at hypermarket outside Orléans. Got lost several times (signs for straight-on often seem to point to one side or the other). A1 - périphérique (W side) N20, N152. A few close encounters - it's difficult to keep track of all that car on the right in the narrow town streets, & I hit the kerb once. Large, high-ceilinged with exposed timbers, mezzanine for bedroom over kitchen & bathroom. Of course the sheets we brought don't fit the bed. Power appliances run off 380V 3-phase 4-pin plugs (3+E). Unload. Walk around very quiet country roads - a quick glimpse of the Loire, & eat excellent herb sausages, bread & meringues.

Thu 1990-09-06 {13296}

To Blois first, walking around, & buying maps. Dull, some rain at first. Parked in extremely clean & fairly cheap multi-storey near the château. Then home for lunch, & out thro' Mer (\theta driving now), over the Loire & to the E de F nuclear station - where the predicted view-point was not obvious. Back downstream on the "rive gauche" beyond Blois, stopping here & there to take photos along the banks. Home via forest tracks & past château at Chambord. Stopped in Mer, & collected time-tables from the "gare SNCF", & bought "France Soir" - it didn't convince the shop assistant. Ate in. Day never really got warm, a little sun now & again. Took some long-exposures of the inside of the cottage, & some of the outside. Peugeot has same 1360cm^3 engine as the AXGT, but only 55kW. Now sitting here, consuming the second bottle of our 4-pack of red wine, 30F the lot. In the scenic areas S of Loire, many foreign Dutch, German, Belgian & British registrations to be seen.

Fri 1990-09-07 {13297}

Shopping at supermarket towards Blois, & petrol (Access). Car gave 6l/100km over 1st ~400km. Then to château Chambord. A popular tourist attraction - a very large château in white with huge grounds, most of which are not accessible. Explored the inside - just like any similar except for interesting double-helix staircase. 27F each. Postcards by château. Picnic lunch eaten in a part of the forest "éspace ouvert aux publique" followed by a walk in said forest. Then \theta drove on a tour of the area: la Ferté-St-Cyr - Ligny-le-Ribault - la Ferté-St-Aubin - Jouy-le-patien - Cléry-St-André - Dry - Beaugency - Mer - home. Looking for châteaux, of which there were many, but all private. Then walked into Suèvres to post postcards, & discover that the bar/hotel was closed for its annual holiday until 90.09.11. Two other bars in the village looked very seedy. So another evening in. French brown beer very good - 6.5% vol. Electrics in cottage leave a lot to be desired - no earths on lamps, & some plugs broken so that a finger can easily touch live metal.

Sat 1990-09-08 {13298}

Another driving day. Some sunshine, but not very warm. Still no sight of our neighbours with the Tipo in the facing cottage - not since we saw them go out on Thu eve. First thro' Amboise to the "Pagode" - a tower. 20F each to ascend - so we didn't - as didn't many others, including a UK couple in an old sports car. Then N to where a country lane crossed the new TGV-Atlantique & took some pix of the line & new bridge. Track-top dull - suggesting not in use even by construction traffic [opened 1990-09-30]. Then to Château-Renault, & a walk on what remains of same - which was not a lot. Keep inaccessible. Other buildings used as offices. Lunch eaten in the country a little E of here, then home by a circuitous route over single-lane country roads & thro' several rural settlements. Then a lazy afternoon reading in a little late sunshine, then inside. Most places shut today, except a few cafés.

Sun 1990-09-09 {13299}

Sleep in - not out till nearly 11h. To Château Cheverny, S of Blois. Smaller (& a little cheaper) than Chambord - just the usual tapestries, paintings & old-ish furniture. Nothing very remarkable, some fairly small rooms by château standards. Called at gare in Blois to enquire cost of trains to Paris (198F return), then to eat lunch looking over the Loire W of Blois. Warm, sunny day, but a bit of a wind in the afternoon. Home, & reading in the sun, until out for a meal at "L'Époque" in Menars. Managed to get by in French. Excellent meal. Credit cards accepted. \theta drove home, after dark, complete with yellow headlights. And they make the road in front look really yellow. Cottage has thick walls & few, low-in-the-wall windows. It stays remarkably dull & cool, even when it's hot & sunny outside. But upstairs is reasonably snug at night.

Mon 1990-09-10 {13300}

Paris day. Up early, & drive to Blois, park at station (13F the day) & catch 0828 to Paris Austerlitz (5 mins late, which it made up most of by Paris). Englishman asked me in French if this was the train for Paris. Tickets 398F for two, paid by Access, swipe-read & very quick. Self-validated (by machine) tickets. Very smooth ride, in train (Corail) complete with children's play area. At Austerlitz, buy carnet (10 billets) for Métro (32F80), & take one (line 10?) to La Motte + Picquet + ?, nearest station on that line to the Eiffel tower. The Metro does not smell of garlic, & is quieter & smoother than London Underground (it runs on rubber tyres!). Up tower, at cost of 47F each. Spectacular view from top, on clear sunny day. Qs to get the lifts, but not too long. Lift smooth. French girl got her bracelet caught in my pullover on the way down - very crushed in lifts. 250m high (1/2 of CN tower). From here to Place de General de Gaulle, Étoile, with the Arc de Triomphe. Absolutely mad traffic. About 6 or 7 "lanes" available, cars & motorbikes every which way, going really fast, & hooting. Near-miss every few seconds. Policeman jumping out into the traffic every once in a while to sort out a jam, with only a whistle as protection. Mad. Down Champs Élysée, which was crowded with people & cars, thoroughly noisy & enough to drive anyone insane. Diverted to banks of Seine, & along to Jardin de Tuileries, where we had lunch at an outdoor cafe. 2 beers + 2 omelettes 101F. Then to the Louvre. Saw the new glass pyramid entrance, all around in disruption for an archaeological dig. Very hot inside (& 27F each) & lots of people, of all nationalities, but saw lots of old paintings, inc Mona Lisa, & Egyptian & other artefacts. Knackered by the time we finished this. A short Métro ride from Louvres to Hotel de Ville (line 1), & walk from there to look at Notre Dame, & eat very expensive (15F each) ice-creams. Then we walked (slowly) to gare Austerlitz for return journey, the 1715, arriving Blois ~1845 (stopping at Orléans only). Then drive home. A long & tiring day, but well worth it. Paris is visually an excellent city but the noise & confusion spoil it. Would need a week or two to really see it I suppose. Next time buy a street map that marks the Métro stations! Amazing how close the périphérique comes to the "famous" bits; the Arc de Triomphe was only about 1100m from us as we whizzed around it last Wednesday. Home for a few beers & a quiet dinner in. Total distance walked (from the map) was ~10.5km, but to this must be added the slog around the Louvre! Strange concrete thing, 2 or 3m above ground and many km long, alongside the line coming into Orléans from Paris. It stopped sharp at one end, and at a large, elevated platform at the other. Mostly over fields, but it crossed roads & went thro' a few woods. Could be an irrigation feed, but it also looked like a monorail track. Shops in Paris accept Amex, but everywhere else seems to be Carte Bleue, with Visa, Mastercard & Eurocard symbols underneath. Even out in the wilds, many petrol stations accept all of these.

Tue 1990-09-11 {13301}

Last full day. Sunny at first, a bit cloudy at times in the afternoon. To Blois, shopping, but not very successfully - just 2 boxes of chocolates, a newspaper (Le Monde) & a phone card (smart-card - with a chip on it). Then more petrol (another 400km+ on 1/2 a tank (420km 24l)) on Access again. Approx 800km so far. Supermarket closed (for lunch) so couldn't buy the wine for presents - that will now have to come from the duty-free shop. Phoned owner to say we will leave at 7h, they say leave the key in the door. Eve in, finishing up the food, beer, wine &c, & cleaning up & packing.

Wed 1990-09-12 {13302}

Up at 6hE (5hBST), breakfasted and away at 7hE, taking the toll autoroute from N of Beaugency (the A10 "L'Aquitaine"). Fast road (120km/h, & you can do it). Take ticket to get on, & only one "péage", just after the merging of routes about 1/2-way from Orléans. Toll ~42F here, then free to Paris. Stopped at small service area for coffee/orange juice. Got slower on approach to Paris, & a crawl by the Périphérique. Missed the péri the 1st time & went in towards Paris (those French signs again), but turned round & found it. Went E of Paris this time. Crawl all round the peri. Off onto A1 at N, towards Lille & Brussels, & no problem getting off & into the hire-car return park for terminal 2. Check in about 1/2-hour later (journey 212km, arr 1015hE, 3+1/4 h journey) & sit around, after buying duty-free wine & perfume. Strange order at C de G. Passport check before baggage check, then duty-free before security check. No facilities at all in "departure lounge" apart from telephones & bogs. Previous flight at same gate delayed, & ours about 45 mins late boarding - & once we're on they announced a 30 min wait for H'row landing slot. Very little info at C de G. We finally took off about 1h late at 1330E, arriving H'row 1330hBST. Father had found out we would be late & picked us up about 1410h.