Saint Malo by foot and a return to Paris - 6-8 November 2019

We are once again faced with returning a rental car at a train station. Armed with an email from EuropCar I felt well prepared to head to the right spot; this was clearly a folly on my part! This time around, we found the rental office at Gare St. Malo straight off - but no indication of where to put the car. So we circled the station only two times and found a parking spot near the office. As soon as we walked up to the door, we found a sign instructing us to park in the train station parking lot and return the keys to the office. Back to the car, another rounding of the train station, and the car was parked and returned. Main lesson from this trip seems to be call the rental car agency directly to find out where the car return is actually located; don't trust the website.

We decided to walk back to the heart of the walled city. The seawall separating the city from the beach is massive and it was interesting to see that they've driven massive pylons along and in front of this wall, presumably to break-up the waves as they crash in from the ocean. I can only imagine what this area must look like in the heart of the winter when a huge storm rolls in. It must be amazing to witness.

We headed to Le Bistro Autour du Beurre for lunch. Basically, this is the restaurant associated with Andre Bordier, who is the master of butter. He supplies butters to some of the best tables in the world and all of the dishes here showcase his work. I had a lamb dish that featured sheep from the Mont Saint Michel area that graze on the salt marshes. This lamb is the best that I've had outside of Hokaido. Simply a fantastic lunch!

Mushroom mille feuille

Mont St. Michel Lamb

After lunch we opted to waddle around the ramparts that wrap the city and take in the ocean views. Because of the storms in the area, the winds have been pretty constant so we were treated to many sailboats practicing in the bay. St. Malo was a stronghold for privateers and as such, was heavily fortified against attack. It was interesting to read about the pirates based out of this city and to learn their fates.

Tonight, we pack and prepare to head to Paris in the morning.

7 November

Fortunately the train strike ended shortly after our car trip from Paris so our tickets for this leg of the journey have been preserved. I'm reminded at how enjoyable train travel is and how much I regret our having to drive from Paris to Bordeaux at the beginning of the trip. I seem to have picked up a cold somewhere in our rainy travels, but since we've been to Paris previously and our only set agenda is dinner tonight, it's not a bad time to be sick.

We checked into our hotel, Le Burgandy, and decided to take advantage of the spa. A soak in the pool and several trips to the hammam helped with my cold tremendously. We headed back to the room and cleaned up for our dinner at Arpege. For whatever reason, we've struggled to get enough vegetables on this trip, so dinner at a premiere vegetarian focused Michelin starred restaurant is just the ticket. Kris opted for the full vegetarian menu and I went for the semi-veggie menu. The food was absolutely beautiful and a wonderful experience overall. Ironically, at the end of the meal, we were presented with picnic knives - something that would have come in handy earlier in the trip.

A vegetarian 'tartare' made from beets

A carpaccio of scallops and radishes

Happily sated and full of veggies, we wandered back to our hotel through the rainy Parisian streets. Tomorrow is our last full day in France although we're currently without plans.

8 November

I am once again fully sick in Paris. Today promises to be a quiet day, but we don't want to miss out on seeing some of the city. We opted to walk (slowly...) down to Notre Dame to see the devastation in person. I had seen pictures of the aftermath, but wasn't really prepared for the emotional impact of seeing it in person. The pictures don't really do it justice. While it's hopeful to see the stone towers still standing.

We grabbed lunch from one of the gyro shops in the Latin quarter and grab space on one of the steps on the river. I was feeling fully crummy by this point so we dragged ourselves back to the hotel (With a Monoprix stop for water and juice.) We ensconced ourselves in the room where we watched movies and slept for the remainder of the afternoon. Perhaps not the usual itinerary for Paris, but it worked for us.

We opted for drinks in the hotel and had the concierge book us into a nearby brasserie. The hotel bar was excellent. They had a drink wheel reminiscent of the one at Ray's to help you choose (although their offerings were a bit classier than those at Ray's. No Sex on the Beach or Buttery Nipples here!) I love a good bar snack and they offered truffled cashews, spicy almonds, and kalamata olives. Not too shabby!

We headed to Flottes, admittedly expecting it to be pretty average. While it wasn't the standout meal of the trip (That would have been rough, all things considered...) it was perfectly serviceable. Kris had a braised lamb shank that was really tasty and my cod hit the spot. The only bummer was that they were out of the Cuban Havana Club rum that Kris wanted to try since we can't get it in the States.

We head home tomorrow. Being sick makes it a little less sad to leave (I'm looking forward to my own bed,) but this has been a fabulous trip. Bordeaux was a lot of fun, but Brittany was an unexpected and delightful surprise. I'm really glad we decided to explore this somewhat overlooked region. Until next trip...

Cancelled train, a rental car adventure, and caneles - 25 Oct 19

We decided to return to France for our first vacation of 2019. Instead of Paris though, we decided to get out into the countryside a bit. Week 1 will be wine tasting in Bordeaux and week two will be spent in Brittany. It should be a good break for a year with a lot of change.

We left for France today. We decided to take extra precautions before we left this time, so we shut the water off to the house. Since this was the first time we've tried this, I of course had a 'Aw crud' moment halfway to the airport when I realized that I hadn't also shut off the gas to water heater. So, back to the house we went. Fortunately, we had planned on getting the to the airport fairly early so the unexpected detour didn't create a panic.

Check in at CVG was smooth and enjoyed an uneventful flight to Atlanta. Once we arrived, we headed to concourse E for a leisurely lunch at One Flew South in concourse E. We then picked our way to concourse F and prepared to board for Paris. While standing in line, I decided to check my email and found, much to my dismay, a notification from SNCF France letting me know that they'd cancelled our train tickets for CDG to Bordeaux. A little quick Googling uncovered that the maintenance workers were on strike.

So, cue standing in line to board a trans-continental flight, knowing that we're supposed to be in Bordeaux the next evening and having no way to actually get there. I pull out my Sapphire card and call the Chase travel concierge, hoping they could help. My first clue that this was going to go poorly was when my 'travel specialist' asked several times what a bore-ducks was and then where it was. He found a single flight with 2 tickets available, but at 900 euro each, that seemed like the last case offer. We had boarded the plane and were sitting in our seats when I was exclaimed 'So, you're telling me there are absolutely NO cars available to rent in ALL of Paris tomorrow?'

Fortunately, Kris pulled out his phone at this stage and started searching. With in 2 minutes he found a car for a one-way rental and reserved it shortly before they closed the boarding doors. So now all we had to worry about was whether or not the rental agency would honor the pre-paid reservation. Just what you want to think about during an 8 hour flight!

When we land in Paris, we decided to skip the arrivals lounge for a shower and change of clothes and head straight for the rental counter. After collecting our wine bag (now featuring a brand new 2" cut on the front pocket,) we headed to the Budget counter. The counter agent couldn't have been nicer; not only did he have our car, but he also offered us a life saving cafe.

We loaded our bags into our grey Peugeot 200S, and after a scant few hours of sleep on the plane, headed off in the pre-dawn dark for our 5.5 hour drive to Bordeaux. I had a bit of trouble figuring out how to get out of CDG. We ended up circling the rental lot twice before we figured out the correct turns (And this is with GPS.) Once on the highway though, it was smooth sailing.

We stopped at a rest area about 3.5 hours in for a snack and a quick nap and still managed to arrive in Bordeaux proper earlier than we would have had we taken the train. The downside was that finding the car drop off was 10x harder than getting out of CDG. I'm pretty sure I drove us around the Saint Jean train station 6 times (again with the help of GPS) before Kris spotted a sign no bigger than a sheet of A4 that pointed to the car return. We ended up on a gutted stone warehouse 2 blocks from the train station with a less than amused lot agent. Apparently he did not find comments about how difficult the lot was to find and that the GPS directed one to the wrong spot 'helpful.' Ah well.

Kris brilliantly booked a hotel mere blocks from the train station. So once we handed over the keys and collected our belongings, we stumbled to our hotel and collapsed for an hour of quiet relaxation. Realizing if we went to bed at 5pm, we'd be really screwed up time-wise, we decided to walk into downtown. It turns out that Bordeaux is the birthplace of one of my favorite confections - caneles. We stopped by Auguste K and picked up an assortment of flavors to try later.

We headed down the back streets to a square ringed in restaurants. A couple looked okay, but I spied a bistro down a side road that looked promising. We arrived at Le Michele a little early for dinner. So in the French style, we grabbed a table and a glass of wine each and collected ourselves. The people watching was excellent and despite our fatigue, time flew. We split a lovely onion soup; Kris had an entrecote and I had a duck confit. All three were excellent!

While it wasn't the first day in France that we had anticipated, everything ended up just fine. Hopefully tonight, we'll both sleep well so we can quickly get on local time. Tomorrow, we pick up another car and head for Saint Emilion.