yk's Trip Report to Loire Valley & Paris (inclu lots of good food, a gorgeous chateau wedding, and barely survived the strike in Paris!)
Oct 28th, 2007, 03:36 PM
#21
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<b>The Strike in Paris</b> 
We drove into Paris on Wednesday October 17th. The strike began that evening at 8pm. As I've mentioned, fortunately our hotel location is excellent (which was the main reason why I picked it) so we could walk to most places.
The strike originally was just 24 hours and supposed to end the evening of October 18th. However the workers decided to continue to strike. On Oct 18th, all buses, metro (except 3 lines) and SNCF were stopped. My parents were able to get on Line 1 to check out La Defense, though my mom said the trains were unbelievably packed. On Oct 19th, the metro and buses were running, but the SNCF was operating at only 30%.
Apart from the incovenience of transport, many museums were either closed or have shortened hours due to the strike as the museum staff couldn't get to work.
My parents tried three times to visit Orsay before it was open (closed Oct 18, morning of Oct 19; finally open afternoon of Oct 19).
Musee Delacroix was closed on both days. Musee Guimet was closed as well.
Orangerie closed early on Oct 19 (7p instead of 9p). And Louvre closed its painting galleries early.
We also tried to climb the Towers of Notre Dame on morning of Oct 19. We arrived at 10am which was opening time. We waited for 15 minutes and nothing happened. There was no annoucement either. Finally the couple in line in front of us went up to find out what was going on. It turns out that they were still waiting for some staff to show up, and they weren't sure when that might be. We gave up and left.
The only positive thing that came out from the strike was sleeping at our hotel. Remember I mentioned that the hotel sits on top of a metro line? Well, it was very quiet during the strike!
We drove into Paris on Wednesday October 17th. The strike began that evening at 8pm. As I've mentioned, fortunately our hotel location is excellent (which was the main reason why I picked it) so we could walk to most places.
The strike originally was just 24 hours and supposed to end the evening of October 18th. However the workers decided to continue to strike. On Oct 18th, all buses, metro (except 3 lines) and SNCF were stopped. My parents were able to get on Line 1 to check out La Defense, though my mom said the trains were unbelievably packed. On Oct 19th, the metro and buses were running, but the SNCF was operating at only 30%.
Apart from the incovenience of transport, many museums were either closed or have shortened hours due to the strike as the museum staff couldn't get to work.
My parents tried three times to visit Orsay before it was open (closed Oct 18, morning of Oct 19; finally open afternoon of Oct 19).
Musee Delacroix was closed on both days. Musee Guimet was closed as well.
Orangerie closed early on Oct 19 (7p instead of 9p). And Louvre closed its painting galleries early.
We also tried to climb the Towers of Notre Dame on morning of Oct 19. We arrived at 10am which was opening time. We waited for 15 minutes and nothing happened. There was no annoucement either. Finally the couple in line in front of us went up to find out what was going on. It turns out that they were still waiting for some staff to show up, and they weren't sure when that might be. We gave up and left.
The only positive thing that came out from the strike was sleeping at our hotel. Remember I mentioned that the hotel sits on top of a metro line? Well, it was very quiet during the strike!
Nov 5th, 2007, 07:14 AM
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I think Le Petit Prince is the best place we ate at. Every dish ordered by all 4 of us came out great. At other restaurants, we may have a hit and miss among all the dishes we had.
I think Le Pre Verre is great too. Reservation is probably a must for dinner. Even when we went for lunch, I saw their reservation book and many people had called ahead to make lunch reservations.
I think Le Pre Verre is great too. Reservation is probably a must for dinner. Even when we went for lunch, I saw their reservation book and many people had called ahead to make lunch reservations.
Nov 5th, 2007, 07:35 AM
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To finish up the trip report...
<b>Driving in France</b>
It was actually harder than I had thought. I read about driving here on Fodors and everyone made it sound so easy.
Before we left, I got a few pointers from my brother (Fodorite rkkwan) who had driven in the Loire Valley a few years ago. I also borrowed my brother's France Michelin "tourist motoring atlas" which has a scale of 1:200000. I thought I was well prepared.
We rented from Europcar via AutoEurope. When I made the reservation, AutoEurope was offering a free upgrade. We got a Opel Zafira which is a "compact MPV". It is huge. It was great for comfort, however, it was too big to maneuver through small streets in small towns and small entrances. DH did an excellent job in driving (I don't drive manual), while I had the navigating role.
We did not get a GPS because I was confident that the Michelin map would be adequate.
We picked up the car from the Tours St Pierre de Corps station. When I asked the woman at the rental store who to get on the route to Château de la Bourdaisière, she gave us a blank look. She had no idea. I had expected there to be signs out of the rental place pointing towards various routes or towns, but there were none. We ended up going around and around in Tours for 30 minutes before we found the correct route to Château de la Bourdaisière.
We find the road signs difficult to read. Here in US, all we need to do is follow the route # and the direction; eg, I-30 East, or Route 1 South. But there, the signs are of towns - so one must be familiar of what the next town is to be sure we're going the right direction.
We never really got completely lost, but certainly have wasted time going around in Tours and in Blois looking for signs.
In Vendome, we got a parking ticket. We parked at a spot with blue lines. We have parked on the street before, at Chinon, and it was white lines and "PAYANT" next to it, so we knew we had to pay. But with the blue lines, somehow I just associated blue=free. When we returned, we found the parking ticket.
<b>How to pay for parking ticket in France?</b>
It was a collaboration between the guy at Europcar and the guy at our hotel front desk. Basically, one goes to a TABAC shop to buy the "fine stamp" and then mail the ticket. Ours was €11 fine, so we bought this special €11 stamp from the TABAC. It comes in 2 stamps - the big one goes on the front page of the ticket. The smaller one goes on the 2nd page of the ticket which one keeps as a record. We then filled out the personal info on the back of the first page, tear it off from the 2nd page, put a regular stamp on it and mail it off.
We returned our car in Paris at Montparnasse. It was a nightmare. Fortunately my dad had found out for us beforehand that we need to return the car at the Hotel Meridien Garage at -4 level. Driving into Paris was just insane. I have driven in Boston and Manahattan many times before and that's nothing compared to Paris. I think it's the lack of order, plus the huge number of bicycles and motorcycles make it chaotic.
Bottomline: For our next time, we'll definitely get a GPS; get the smallest car possible; and avoid driving in Paris at all costs!
<b>Driving in France</b>
It was actually harder than I had thought. I read about driving here on Fodors and everyone made it sound so easy.
Before we left, I got a few pointers from my brother (Fodorite rkkwan) who had driven in the Loire Valley a few years ago. I also borrowed my brother's France Michelin "tourist motoring atlas" which has a scale of 1:200000. I thought I was well prepared.
We rented from Europcar via AutoEurope. When I made the reservation, AutoEurope was offering a free upgrade. We got a Opel Zafira which is a "compact MPV". It is huge. It was great for comfort, however, it was too big to maneuver through small streets in small towns and small entrances. DH did an excellent job in driving (I don't drive manual), while I had the navigating role.
We did not get a GPS because I was confident that the Michelin map would be adequate.
We picked up the car from the Tours St Pierre de Corps station. When I asked the woman at the rental store who to get on the route to Château de la Bourdaisière, she gave us a blank look. She had no idea. I had expected there to be signs out of the rental place pointing towards various routes or towns, but there were none. We ended up going around and around in Tours for 30 minutes before we found the correct route to Château de la Bourdaisière.
We find the road signs difficult to read. Here in US, all we need to do is follow the route # and the direction; eg, I-30 East, or Route 1 South. But there, the signs are of towns - so one must be familiar of what the next town is to be sure we're going the right direction.
We never really got completely lost, but certainly have wasted time going around in Tours and in Blois looking for signs.
In Vendome, we got a parking ticket. We parked at a spot with blue lines. We have parked on the street before, at Chinon, and it was white lines and "PAYANT" next to it, so we knew we had to pay. But with the blue lines, somehow I just associated blue=free. When we returned, we found the parking ticket.
<b>How to pay for parking ticket in France?</b>
It was a collaboration between the guy at Europcar and the guy at our hotel front desk. Basically, one goes to a TABAC shop to buy the "fine stamp" and then mail the ticket. Ours was €11 fine, so we bought this special €11 stamp from the TABAC. It comes in 2 stamps - the big one goes on the front page of the ticket. The smaller one goes on the 2nd page of the ticket which one keeps as a record. We then filled out the personal info on the back of the first page, tear it off from the 2nd page, put a regular stamp on it and mail it off.
We returned our car in Paris at Montparnasse. It was a nightmare. Fortunately my dad had found out for us beforehand that we need to return the car at the Hotel Meridien Garage at -4 level. Driving into Paris was just insane. I have driven in Boston and Manahattan many times before and that's nothing compared to Paris. I think it's the lack of order, plus the huge number of bicycles and motorcycles make it chaotic.
Bottomline: For our next time, we'll definitely get a GPS; get the smallest car possible; and avoid driving in Paris at all costs!
Nov 5th, 2007, 10:03 AM
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I actually loved my full-size Renault Laguna wagon when driving around Normandy, Loire and into Paris.
[Oh, of course, I used drive a 18-wheeler, so anything with only 4 wheels is pretty small. Hahhaa...
]
[Oh, of course, I used drive a 18-wheeler, so anything with only 4 wheels is pretty small. Hahhaa...
]
Nov 5th, 2007, 03:19 PM
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I'm confused. The "turn - in lot for car rentals" is in a Hotel Parking garage? Was this for all car rentals at Montparnassee, or just Europecar?
DH doesn't like driving nightmares, but I didn't think we want to be dragging suitcases up and down stairs to/from trains either.
Was traffic heavy also on your rental return? What day/time of the week?
DH doesn't like driving nightmares, but I didn't think we want to be dragging suitcases up and down stairs to/from trains either.
Was traffic heavy also on your rental return? What day/time of the week?
Nov 5th, 2007, 03:29 PM
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hopingtotravel-
Yes, that is correct. The return place for Europcar at Gare Montparnasse is on the -4 level of the Meridien Hotel garage (next to the train station). There are several car rental returns on that level - I can't quite remember which ones. I would have never guessed that but thank goodness my parents were in Montparnasse a few days earlier and made the inquiry at the Europcar rental desk.
We arrived into Paris at around 4:30p on a Wednesday. I guess it was rush hour. All we had to navigate was from Porte D'Orleans from the Peripherique to Montparnasse. It was quite a short distance but took forever.
Yes, that is correct. The return place for Europcar at Gare Montparnasse is on the -4 level of the Meridien Hotel garage (next to the train station). There are several car rental returns on that level - I can't quite remember which ones. I would have never guessed that but thank goodness my parents were in Montparnasse a few days earlier and made the inquiry at the Europcar rental desk.
We arrived into Paris at around 4:30p on a Wednesday. I guess it was rush hour. All we had to navigate was from Porte D'Orleans from the Peripherique to Montparnasse. It was quite a short distance but took forever.
Nov 5th, 2007, 06:54 PM
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htt - if you're picking up your car at Montparnasse, I assume you'll actually get the car from the Meridien hotel garage. It was tricky for us since we rented it from Tours. I would recommend you to avoid rush hour. 
Feb 13th, 2008, 05:41 PM
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yk: WELL DONE.
I have heard raves about Le Petit Prince from several sources. Unfortunately, I think this restaurant has been closed down. I don't know if this is temporary or permanent.
Thanks again for your wonderful report.
I have heard raves about Le Petit Prince from several sources. Unfortunately, I think this restaurant has been closed down. I don't know if this is temporary or permanent.
Thanks again for your wonderful report.
Apr 3rd, 2012, 07:07 AM
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YK:
We're looking at a Loire Valley trip in 2013. In your first post you mention you read a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine to prepare for your trip. I'd like to buy a book for my wife to read in preparation. Care to reveal the book/author you read? Anyone else have recommendations of a book to read for Loire Valley prep.
We're looking at a Loire Valley trip in 2013. In your first post you mention you read a book about Eleanor of Aquitaine to prepare for your trip. I'd like to buy a book for my wife to read in preparation. Care to reveal the book/author you read? Anyone else have recommendations of a book to read for Loire Valley prep.
Apr 3rd, 2012, 08:06 AM
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apersuader65, it was <i>Eleanor of Aquitaine</i> by Alison Weir. http://alisonweir.org.uk/books/bookp...-aquitaine.asp This was the non-fiction one, and honestly, I found it rather tedious.
I see that Alison Weir has recently released a fictional novel on Eleanor of Aquitaine, called <i>The Captive Queen</i>. http://alisonweir.org.uk/books/bookp...tive-queen.asp
Some people really enjoy non-fiction, but for me, I may prefer reading the novel instead. HTH.
I see that Alison Weir has recently released a fictional novel on Eleanor of Aquitaine, called <i>The Captive Queen</i>. http://alisonweir.org.uk/books/bookp...tive-queen.asp
Some people really enjoy non-fiction, but for me, I may prefer reading the novel instead. HTH.
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