Our trip starts in California, USA
From San Francisco to Bordeaux, the Basque country, Carcassonne, the Dordogne and two short stops in the Loire Valley
05.09.2017 - 06.09.2017
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Bordeaux, Basque country and the Dordogne 2017
on Beausoleil's travel map.
The plan was to revisit friends in the Loire Valley and then spend a few days in Bordeaux. We hadn't visited the French Basque country so that was next on our agenda and included a trip to Bilbao, Spain to visit the Guggenheim Museum there. My husband has always wanted to spend the night in the Cité of old Carcassonne to see it lit up at night so we did and found a great restaurant in the process. Then I found a gite on a sheep farm between Cahors and St. Cirq Lapopie for a week. We love the Dordogne and decided to explore a slightly more western part of it this time so rented another gite directly in the Plus Beau Village of Limeuil for a week and then drove back to our friends' place in the Loire before we faced the long plane ride home.
Day 1 — Sept. 5, 2017 (Tuesday)
Finished packing, ate breakfast and cleaned up, then said good-bye to Mimi, our perfect kitty. Kelly will be here to keep her company this afternoon. Tossed everything in the car and left for San Francisco forty minutes early. We had gone about five miles on Baseline Road when traffic came to a stop . . . and stayed that way! An hour later we reached route 99 and continued our trip . . . no longer forty minutes early. That was the first of several accidents we passed, but we managed to arrive at Peg’s only about a half hour late. She drove us to the BART station and the real adventure began.
No delays on BART and an hour later we were at the airport. We hiked to Air France and were ushered right to an agent. I had printed our boarding passes, luggage tags and receipts so she checked passports, weighed the bags and put the tags in a cute plastic holder. We were fast-tracked through Security . . . very easy . . . shoes on, coats on, computer stashed. Off to the gate . . . naturally the very last gate. We found seats by an electric outlet and I plugged in my Kindle and started reading. At one point Ed got us a sandwich to split and eventually we started boarding. The plane was a huge Airbus completely full and the easiest boarding we’ve had. One screaming child up front, but blessedly it finally fell asleep. Very easy but long flight. Not much sleep. I read Jean’s birthday book but finished it before we got to the Atlantic Ocean . . . long trip.
Lost in Paris, we finally found ourselves at Place de la Bastille
Day 2 — Sept. 6, 2017 (Wednesday)
Landed in Paris a few minutes early. Walked miles to the luggage carousel and waited. Both bags arrived and I called TT Car to come and pick us up. By the time we walked over, he was there. Wow! We got our little Peugeot and the nice young man showed me how to work the GPS and we were off.
That’s when “easy” ended. Stupid GPS took us all over the airport to get to a gas station about a mile away. I finally recognized it from Google Maps and got us there by ignoring the GPS. Ed gassed up the car and we set the GPS for Rebecca and Phillip's. This GPS isn’t too bright . . . it says second exit when it’s the third, and once said fourth exit when it was the first . . . maddening. Finally at one point (and we could hardly hear it), it said to keep left and bear right with about six roads of two to six lanes each merging. I told Ed we had a right coming up and to get in the right lane. No sooner did he do this than the lane we’d been in veered south and we were headed straight into central Paris. AAAGH! A very nice older Frenchman let us in front of him and we made it through the chaotic intersection but the poor GPS was more confused than we were at this point. We drove around and through Paris. At one point I looked up and realized I was seeing the monument at Place de la Bastille. We passed the Paris Opera, the new green mall, Les Docks at Quai d'Austerlitz and the new Bibliotèque Nationale. Eventually the adventure ended and we were headed south to Montrichard but after a 10+ hour trip and no sleep, it was a rather harrowing experience. I felt very guilty. Ed never mentioned it, bless his heart . . .
The Bibliothèque Nationale de France from the Peripherique
View of Blois across the river Loire
The rest of the trip was blessedly uneventful and we arrived at Sackers around five o’clock. They welcomed us, caught us up on their family and showed us our room. We had reservations at Hotel Bellevue at 7:15 and opened the restaurant. I ordered the souris d’agneau and Ed the coq au vin, but as it turned out, there was no coq au vin so he got the lamb too. As usual, it was excellent. Ed got the crème brulée for dessert and I got profiterolles. The view out onto the river Cher was beautiful as always. Domaine de la Chapelle, gite and B&B; 1 route des Maugeres, 41400 Faverolles-sur-Cher; tel: +33 (0)2 5432-5848. Domaine de la Chapelle web site
Bridge over the river Cher at Montrichard
We returned for some desperately needed sleep. I couldn’t get my phone set up for wifi and finally gave up until morning. My credit card wasn’t working and the Internet was so slow Ed couldn’t contact them. There is also a nine-hour time difference from home.
Domaine de la Chapelle near Montrichard
Posted by Beausoleil 14:28 Archived in France Tagged airport transportation san_francisco sfo bart Comments (2)