We breakfasted with a bunch of americans at the B&B. All very nice and all on longer holidays that us, sigh.
I must say, I really appreciated Ms. Yveline's hooks and baskets in the bathroom. Sure made keeping things organized and neat easier.
We routed ourselves using our Michelin maps. We debated about which AutoRoute to take: A28 to Lemans to A11 to Chartres, or A10 to Orleans up to Chartres on N154. We decided on the A10. This turned out to be the wrong choice because of a multi-car and semi truck accident that stopped traffic for TWO hours between exits 13 and 12 (ours). Three lanes of traffic completely stopped for TWO hours = misery and no Chartres for us.
We were so close to our exit! |
Traffic flowed pretty light and easy right until the outskirts of Paris. We had turned on the GPS and also had a printout of the route (from google maps) and were confident we were headed to Hertz at Gare de Lyon to return the car.
The GPSs estimated time of arrival proved to be off by an hour because of ANOTHER multicar accident that was blocking two out of three lanes on Quai Branley. We were beyond frustrated. Husband has driven in Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain, England, Belgium, Netherlands) numerous times in the past 18 years and we have NEVER encountered one major accident, much less two in one day! Aargh.
We decided to have a drink at Le Train Blue since we were at the Gare de Lyon for the first time. It was a nice break but we were not lucky enough to get seated in the section looking at the beautiful dining room.
We came out of the Metro station to the beautiful Hotel de Ville and I was immediately happy! I was back in my favorite city on a gorgeous autumn afternoon!
The apartment is small. It's long and narrow, with sloping floors and a lower than 8 foot ceiling. The dining table, sofa (bed), and kitchen are all in one. The very small bathroom is across from the dining table. The bathroom is really tiny. The bedroom is separate with a good sized bed (probably a US queen) up against one wall. It was pretty comfortable. The bedroom had a good sized closet as you enter and I was able to completely unpack; husband chose not to. Did not like: no hooks for towels or jackets so we ended up draping them over the chairs. No place to put an unpacked suitcase (why can't they have at least one of those luggage racks?). No lighting at all in the kitchen: we took the shade off a lamp and placed it on a shelf in the kitchen which helped. Hot water ran out one morning (we don't take long showers, either!). No place to put a book or my glasses on my side of the bed. Loved: The view! Great location. Liked: The apartment was very clean. It was well stocked with soap, toilet paper, detergent, etc. etc. Thierry was very responsive about the hot water issue. Washer/dryer worked. Good price. We would have liked it a lot more had the bed had been a bit bigger and it wasn't up four flights of stairs. We also decided we like staying in the 7th more than in this area. Bottom line: Overall, the apartment was what I expected and I can recommend it to others if you know its limitations. The view is amazing!
Takeaways:
1. You cannot prepare for traffic accidents.
2. Hope there's a "next time" so you can do the things you couldn't because of the stupid traffic delays. (Malcolm Miller please don't die before we get there...)
3. If all train stations had a Le Train Blue like Gare de Lyon, we might take more trains!
4. We'll be returning the car to the airport in the future. Driving to Gare de Lyon wasn't hard, just frustrating because of the traffic accident and delays.
4. Paris is beautiful.
Next: It's cold, 3 museums, 4 churches, a special lunch, and a concert at Sainte Chapelle.
1. You cannot prepare for traffic accidents.
2. Hope there's a "next time" so you can do the things you couldn't because of the stupid traffic delays. (Malcolm Miller please don't die before we get there...)
3. If all train stations had a Le Train Blue like Gare de Lyon, we might take more trains!
4. We'll be returning the car to the airport in the future. Driving to Gare de Lyon wasn't hard, just frustrating because of the traffic accident and delays.
4. Paris is beautiful.
Next: It's cold, 3 museums, 4 churches, a special lunch, and a concert at Sainte Chapelle.
No comments:
Post a Comment