France

Hello all,

Let me tell you about our trip to France, we were booked to leave England Tuesday afternoon. Everything was packed and we were on our way to Heathrow. John returned the Hertz rental car then we took the Hertz bus to the airport. On arriving we were told our flight had been cancelled due to a strike in France. The next available flight was the following morning so back we went and re hired the car and drove all the way home just to get up the next morning at four am and try again.
Our flight had been delayed due to fog at Charles de Gaull airport two hours later we are on the plane, arriving at Paris we learned our connecting flight to Rennes was delayed as well, so we may still make it. We raced to the next terminal which involved a very long run, finally we arrived all hot a bothered but we missed it. It was at this point I wished I had put on a light shirt under my heavy jumper, I got very sweaty and could not take off the jumper. So now John and I trotted off rather miserably to customer service for a flight transfer. We waited in line with many others, we were the next when a lovely lady from air France suggested we go to the next counter it will be quicker. Yes you guessed it there were problems with the people ahead and we watched the queue we came from get served and others that were behind us gone before we were served. Well we did get a complementary sandwich that had half the tub of butter on it. We had a few hours until the next flight, so we sat and waited. I noticed the smell of strong aftershave seemed to be following me everywhere, and getting worse. Yes John’s after shave was leaking in the luggage. John and I were getting a little whiffy ourselves from personal body odour. Things were not looking good. The next flight was delayed as well by half an hour. Finally we are allowed to board and it was a small plane and looked old. I think to myself, “I hope the maintenance is not as shabby as the plane looks”.
I was allocated my seat and there in the middle of the old leather seat is a puddle of fluid. Was the previous passenger so scared they had wet themselves? John kindly wiped it off with some tissues he had, and said it was probably just water, I hope so. Another wait in the plane, because there were queues of planes, a back log from the strike and fog. Finally we are off with a rattle and vibrations, which does not instil confidence in a nervous flyer such as myself. Well John just read his newspaper cool as a cucumber nothing seemed to bother him, and those big papers do take up a lot of room. We arrived safe and sound at Rennes where cool John announced it was a lovely little plane he was rather impressed by his flight, what would he know, his head was buried behind the newspaper the whole flight. Another Hertz car was hired, and while John was organising our luggage in the boot I got into the passenger side of the car. Only to discover it was the driver’s side, because they have it all back to front over in France. It felt so odd travelling to our accommodation on what I consider the wrong side. Mr cucumber had no problems with driving.

Driving in the French country side was lovely, much cleaner than Paris and indeed the English countryside. Hotel Le Chateaubriant was a welcome sight we were tired. John went to work for two hours and I walked the surrounds, it is a cute town After John spent a few hours at work we found a place to eat just around the corner, it was valentines day. The menu was a challenge however we did well, I had a beef casserole of sorts and John had a veal dish. The lovely young lady waitress managed to explain that the red wines in a certain section of the menu were local, we tried her suggestion…… awful….. she had finally found two people to flog a bottle to. Time for dessert, John and I usually do not partake in desert but the day being valentine’s we did. Above my head was a suggestion board, I chose from that a dish called Chouczoute Alsacienne. John chose from the menu crème caramel, now I thought I was getting some sort of chocolate dish. No it turned out to be a mixed grill after a lot of explaining from the waitress who was greatly concerned that I was going to eat another main meal, so she chose a chocolate mousse for me. The following day we spent driving around looking for town that we may like to live in.

A town that is close to the airport and Johns place of work we found a few lovely little places one in particular called Janze, but forty odd minutes for John to drive to work may be a little too long. We looked at shopping, one of the larger super markets is called a Super U. Shopping should not be too difficult but we did learn that you have to weigh your own fruit and vegetables and put on your own sticker. There are no scales at the checkouts. So I wondered what would stop the cheats from smuggling an extra product in the bag after they have stuck on the price and weight. Sunday we continued to drive about and see much more of the country, the fantastic buildings and churches in every small town was impressive, the church was the central focus and always huge no matter the size of the town. Frances beaches are cute as well, but if you want waves forget it. No surfers on their beaches. One thing I do not like is dogs they are treated as one of the family they are even allowed in the hotel rooms. Every one has a dog, in cars, cafes, pubs and hotel motels, none of them seem to lead. The dog takes the owners for a walk maybe I could teach some owners of dogs how to lead.