On the road (3) A (hopefully) sunny September road trip to Spain COMPLETED - Page 50 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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That hotel is unbelievable! I don't blame you one bit for wanting to go back if they have another sale!!
Ironically, their sale is back on, although if we went back, I'd want it to coincide with when the fountains are playing again - and that information just isn't out from Versailles yet. The cheapest I can get right now is €184 (about £154 or $150 which is a lot ) so I'm not sure if we'll be going back in 2011 or not, as we do have a lot of plans for next year - Egypt, then WDW and the Dream, followed by the Alaskan cruise, west coast and Yellowstone Park - all of which have to be paid for...
Sunday 19 September – part two: we’re going into Paris...
Now, the original plan was to head straight back for the train home, but last night, admittedly after some wine, Mark suggested going to see the Eiffel Tower. At first, I thought he was joking, but he was serious about it and said that he’d get Tim and see how long it would take. We picked up Tim, but he never checked, so I assumed maybe he wouldn’t go through with it. However, this morning, he announced it was 23 minutes away and that he’d like to do it, so why not? The logic was that it was a Sunday and, as we know to our cost by now, in France most things shut on Sunday, so surely the traffic wouldn’t be too bad. As Mark said, there’s no way he’d consider driving in Paris on any other day. :
We headed our way to Paris, with me getting lots of photos on the way there:
that is the Eiffel Tower!
Soon we were off the motorways and heading through the cobbled streets, which were pretty empty of cars.
Before long, the Eiffel Tower was suddenly looming up in front of us and we were crossing the River Seine.
Mark pulled up, so that I could get out and get some more shots.
Then we were back on our way again, programming Tim to get us out of Paris. Now, before we went into Paris, Mark had said that one day he’d like to drive around the Arc de Triomphe. I’d told him preferably not in any car of mine, as I’d seen the way they drive round there. For those of you who haven’t been lucky enough to visit Paris, the Arc de Triomphe is essentially at the centre of one gigantic roundabout. It’s got about eight different roads coming off it like spokes and, over the years on our various visits to Paris, one of my favourite games has been standing at that spot and watching the chaos that unfolds on the road outside. You pick a car and follow it round to see just how long it goes round for – and trust me, some of them go round for a very long time, unable to get off.
Well, as we progressed along some very nice roads, passing some beautiful buildings...
... I looked at my street map and realised where Tim was taking us. I think by now, you’re probably ahead of me here.... you got it, our street led straight to the Arc de Triomphe! Better was to come – Tim then expected us to go round to the left, passing six of the eight roads off this roundabout. Oh deep joy!
There it is!
As we approached, I think it’s fair to say that we were both full of trepidation, me for my beloved car and Mark in case anything happened to my beloved car. Thankfully, nothing did and, in his words “I held my line” and he did, mastering this wonderfully. I was very impressed, but immediately told him when he suggested we could go round again that we shouldn’t push our luck. : There we go, another thing chalked off the “must do” list for my husband.
As we headed out of the city and away from the Arc de Triomphe, we could see La Grande Arche de la Defense in front of us, which was designed in the late 1980s. It’s a sight I’ve always loved in Paris, so I was glad to see it.
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Ironically, their sale is back on, although if we went back, I'd want it to coincide with when the fountains are playing again - and that information just isn't out from Versailles yet. The cheapest I can get right now is €184 (about £154 or $150 which is a lot ) so I'm not sure if we'll be going back in 2011 or not, as we do have a lot of plans for next year - Egypt, then WDW and the Dream, followed by the Alaskan cruise, west coast and Yellowstone Park - all of which have to be paid for...
Ummm....I'd say you may be a little too busy next year to go back! LOL! Maybe the year after????
__________________
Stacey
Why do these kids look so pathetic?
Find out in: A New Grade, A New House, and A Surprise!Final Thoughts 01/30
Sunday 19 September – part three: we’re going to get the earlier train...
Soon we were heading out of the city and passing various offices and industrial areas. It’s interesting to see, that as you head into the suburbs of Paris, it looks like any other big city. During our travels, we also crossed the River Seine again.
Finally, we were back on the motorway and heading northwards, bound for Calais and home to the UK. I have to say that the scenery was pretty much as boring as any other route northbound out of Paris. I did wonder out loud to Mark whether that’s because there’s such a stunning city waiting for you when you get to Paris....
Black as it looks, it only unleashed a few spots of rain!
At least, once we got towards the coast on the last leg of our journey, the scenery became more interesting. We stopped counting British number plates once we were about 30 miles out from Calais, but by that point, we’d seen 22. We knew by the time we got to Eurotunnel, about 99% of the vehicles we’d see would be British.
Although blurred, that is the English Channel – nearly home! Look at the sign at the bottom of this photo – advertising how close they are to England!
There were some cow sightings on the way, although obviously nowhere near as yesterday, but this area didn’t do badly, delivering the following:
8 x moo
3 x moos
14 x mooey
9 x mooey mooey
6 x mooey mooey mooey
Proof we did see cows!
When we got to Calais, we headed for the gas station, figuring that it would be a lot cheaper to fill up in France than at home and so it proved to be. The Carrefour there was selling diesel for €1.116 ($1.45), the cheapest we’d seen in France and almost on a level with Spain. At home, it would certainly be a lot more expensive.
From there, we headed to the Eurotunnel terminal and, when we checked in, we were offered our original train of 2.50pm. I guess it’s pretty busy today then and the car park told the same story. We headed into the terminal and made use of the restrooms, before grabbing a British newspaper and then exploring the duty free store. To be honest, the vast majority of the items in there were barely any cheaper than the supermarkets at home, so we didn’t get any more wine (probably just as well... ), although we got some Toblerone (Swiss chocolate) and beer for Mark.
We then headed to get something to eat, with me opting for the Del Mare pizza, a very unusual one that came with mushrooms, prawns and scallops.
Mark went for burger and fries and I don’t think his was so highly rated.
As we started to eat, Mark thought he saw that we’d been called, so we set off, but : there was no call for us yet, so I was able to finish my pizza and rescue the laptop from the boot (trunk) when I heard the call come in French for our number. We set off and it felt like the whole world did as well. I guess everyone had been waiting for this train then....
We were held for ages at French customs. We suspected that, with the checks they were doing, they were on the lookout for someone or something, as we’ve never had checks like that in all of our trips.
Once through that, it was plain sailing – or so we thought – and we were ushered on to the platform. Hey, it looks like we’re going to be going on the 2.20pm train after all.
We waited and waited and waited and, one by one, cars were called forward, until there were just two left, ourselves and the Belgians in front. Sadly, at that point the train was full and they closed it up, so we’d missed that one and would be on the 2.50pm one after all, but never mind, as that was the one we were booked on after all. Obviously the Belgians were booked on the 2.20pm train, judging by the heated debate that then took place with a Eurotunnel official. Well, if you wanted to be on that train, you needed to move quicker then!
The next train arrived before the previous one departed and we got to see them opening up the doors, something you don’t often see. Before too long, we were boarding and, of course, we were in the front carriage. It was slightly surreal to see the cars from the previous journey leaving the train as we drove in. It’s a very slick operation.
Opening up for boarding
I have to say that this was perhaps the hottest journey we’ve ever had on Eurotunnel. It’s usually fine, but for some reason, this time it was really hot in there. Thank goodness we were downstairs. As we went into the tunnel, we could feel the wind whipping around the train and I know we’d have felt that upstairs. Not a good day to be on a ferry...
We were off and running – and finally back on the right side of the road again.... As we were at the front, we were off in no time.
As we emerged from Eurotunnel, one of the high speed Eurostar trains disappeared into the distance, which I thought was neat.
Literally, half an hour later, we were back home and the work began in earnest – unloading the car, washing and of course uploading all the photos. Our 3,000 mile road trip would soon be a dim and distant memory, but with lots of good memories in there.
Today we drove 226 miles.
That means the total journey down, from home to the villa, using the route we took, was 1,194 miles.
In total, from start to finish, over 17 days, Mark drove 3,062 miles. The weather today was cooler, mainly cloudy, with a little rain, with temperatures in the low 60s. The best thing today was our breakfast and seeing Paris. The worst thing today was missing the train by two cars. Today we tried going round the Arc de Triomphe in a car And the result was we escaped unscathed! The most magical moment today was eating breakfast in the Chenonceau room.
All caught up and sad that's over. The breakfast looked fabulous and I would have loved to eat there. And how great that you got to see some of the sights of Paris!
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The cheapest I can get right now is €184 (about £154 or $150 which is a lot 
) so I'm not sure if we'll be going back in 2011 or not, as we do have a lot of plans for next year - Egypt, then WDW and the Dream, followed by the Alaskan cruise, west coast and Yellowstone Park - all of which have to be paid for...
: 
that is the Eiffel Tower! 
I was very impressed, but immediately told him when he suggested we could go round again that we shouldn’t push our luck. 
Claytrgtshooter (Minnie Lor's Hubbie)
At home, it would certainly be a lot more expensive. 
We headed into the terminal and made use of the restrooms, before grabbing a British newspaper and then exploring the duty free store. To be honest, the vast majority of the items in there were barely any cheaper than the supermarkets at home, so we didn’t get any more wine (probably just as well... 
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