I'm in Love!

with La Rochelle that is.  Don't get too excited!!!  First off, I'm definitely a budget traveler when it comes to hotels (see prior blogs on this), but I scored a bargain on the place in this town (Hotel de la Paix)!  It was the nicest looking room I've had, plus the location was stellar!  I certainly appreciate a nice room, even if it isn't a priority (since I'm hardly in them).  The room was tiny, but that's one thing I appreciate about Europe - you have the option to pick a "junior" room or sometimes even a "single" at a discounted price.

I was walking distance from the market and the WWII bunker that had been found intact during a construction project, so I headed that way.

The bunker was really interesting, but would have been a bust for somebody who had no French at all . . . unless you buy the extra 5 Euro book.  I didn't see the book until I was leaving, but I'd recommend it as it translates the signs and includes several nice photos as a keepsake item.  It was really interesting to see this space, which had been occupied by Nazis, painted by women who were traveling with them and to read about La Rochelle while occupied.  Contrary to some of the stereotypes about the French, a significant number of people in the city joined the Resistance and tried to thwart the Nazis.  FUN FACT: once the US broke German code using Enigma, the life expectancy of a German submariner was THREE WEEKS.

All of these little coastal towns tend to center around the port, so after I finished at the bunker, I walked toward the port.  The port area was the central hub as usual!  Plenty of shops, restaurants and, of course, sidewalk cafes!  La Rochelle is known for the two towers on it's port, shown below; however, there is a third tower.  Since the towers were closed for a lunch break, I walked to the furthest third tower first.

As I headed there, I noticed the remnants of yet ANOTHER old city wall.  I just love these old city gates and how decorative they all seem to be!

The third tower demonstrates something I've noticed in other places - there seems to have been a typical "castle" defensive tower built . . . and later, a pretty dome added or a nice extra tower.  If you notice the tiny railing near the top, that is where the next picture was taken from!

Here is a close up of the "pretty part" of the tower:

The views were stunning from the tops of all of the towers, but each tower had a different theme inside.  This tower had preserved carvings made by prisoners who were held here at various times.  Here is a particularly nice one from 1872 - many of them included boats or ships.

At about the time I entered the second tower, it occurred to me that my scratchy throat wasn't random and I was actually getting sick :-(  Given how pretty and relaxing the city was, I decided that scaling back on what I would see was a good plan!  The second tower had various items about the French colonization of Canada and America.  You have to love the map with "Barbary" and "New France" on it!

Upon reaching the top, the view of both the third tower and the first (main) tower were well worth it!  Such a gorgeous place!

As I walked around to the first tower (there is no crossing between them), I took one more lovely picture of the old port . . . and this bird decided to pop in at just the right time!

The main tower didn't have a particular display, but rather a paper guide that walked you through how the tower was used (as a home at one point), which was interesting, but overall the tower tours weren't super fascinating; however, the views were worth the money!  One thing that is oddly common in France (and Belgium) is very artistic and colorful graffiti.  It just seems to be everywhere in random places!

All-in-all, certainly visit the town of La Rochelle!  Even the little bridges here are pretty:

I also appreciated that, when I bought cold medicine, the French seem to acknowledge that, well, your brain doesn't function properly when sick and you might need assistance remembering if you've taken your medicine . . . voila - medicine packs that include a reminder of when to take them!

I wrapped up my time in La Rochelle the next day with noticing that even the PARKING entrances are pretty . . . and the horses on the really old carousel here were just creepy looking!!!

Tips for Traveling in Europe - Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Trains

• Make sure you check what station your trains are arriving and leaving from!  Many of the large cities in France have more than one station.  For example, I arrived at Marseille Blanchard and left from Marseille St Charles.  If you are connecting in Paris, it is not uncommon that your inbound and outbound Paris station may be different.  There will be a long enough connection time (in my experience), but pay attention to the specific station listed and plan to transfer by Metro or other means.
• Work-specific: If staying near Civray rather than Poitiers, check fares from Ruffec.  Parking there is free and the tickets are often priced similarly or cheaper than those from Poitiers (where parking can be quite expensive at the train station).
• Even if you can drive somewhere, check the trains.  I've found a number of cities where the train time was less than driving - sometimes a couple of hours less!  Plus, you get to sit back and relax while on the train!

Planes

• For budget travelers, while Ryan Air is dirt cheap, they often fly to alternative airports.  When comparing prices, make sure you factor in the cost of the train ticket (or Ryan Air's bus) to/from these distant airports.  In some cases, I've found that the Ryan Air airfare plus the train/bus ticket was more than flying with another carrier directly into the primary airport.  Alternatively, I've found that taking the train the whole way was cheaper and just as fast (by the time you factor in the need to arrive at the airport 2 hours early).
• Unlike most of the train stations, which are typically centrally located or connected into metro networks, the airports are often located 30 minutes or so out of the main city.  Make sure you factor in the time and cost associated with the airport location.
• When traveling longer distances, price both an overnight train (assuming you can sleep on them) and a flight plus hotel.  In some cases, I've found the overnight train to be a better deal (French, Italian and German trains are reasonably priced, although I found both French & German bunks rather uncomfortable; on Scottish trains I've found great bargains and they had the nicest accommodations!) and in other cases, I found it was cheaper to fly and book a hotel (Spanish night trains are rather expensive).

Automobiles

• Realistically, there are some places you just are not getting to without a car.  Civray would be one of those places!  Even if you don't have a car your whole trip, you may find you need to rent one in order to see everywhere you want to go.
• Cars provide maximum flexibility, but they also come with some added hassles.  I've never driven while on an international vacation, so this is my first experience with it.  One of the things that I forget to account for is that parking is often limited, especially free parking, in many of the cities I've visited, so you end up having to hunt down a parking space or a garage . . . which can come with a much heftier fee than you'd expect!
• Most of these towns were built a LONG time ago - before cars.  This means a lot of really narrow streets, at times having to pull over to let the other direction of traffic pass (these areas are marked with which direction has right-of-way OR if parking is on your side, the other direction has right-of-way).  It also means many one-way streets . . . which can end up feeling like a maze you can't escape from, as happened to me in La Rochelle!
• There's no time to just relax and read a book or engage in other entertainment as with planes and trains - you are driving, with all of the stress and potential accidents that can entail!  On the whole, French drivers are very polite and the risk of accident seems minimal - until a wild animal leaps out into the road in front of you! (Please note my prior near collision with a deer)

Parking in France is its own Level of Hell . . . And off for a Weekend in England!

Trying to park in France is an exercise in frustration when it comes to parking garages.  Assuming you can squeeze into a space, you still have the challenge of getting out of the car!

Yeah . . .

So, after the excitement of parking, I was on my way to London!  I highly recommend one of these bulky, but incredible adapters if you travel much - it will adapt several of the most common plug types into the others.   It is NOT a converter, but my cell and laptop chargers are set to work on either 110 or 220V (as are most of them), so I just need to switch to the correct plug type.  I did pick up an actual converter for this trip since smaller appliances, like my toothbrush charger, usually are not designed to convert power from 220V to 110V; however, that one only has a plug for European outlets, so it would be no good to me in England.

I recall mentioning that I was on a particularly bad train once, so here's what a normal 2nd class space looks like - I say normal because this is by far the most common French train I've seen in my various journeys.  They're actually quite comfortable for the most part.

TIP: Even though the bathrooms are small and not the cleanest places ever, use them while you can.  French public restrooms are few and far between, plus many of them cost money.  It is 0.70 Euro to use the train station restrooms in Paris and they're rarely much cleaner!

Upon arriving in Paris, I took the Metro from Montparnasse to Gare du Nord (be careful with this - there are several train stations in Paris and virtually all of the trains I've taken in my various trips ran out of four of them: Nord, Est, Montparnasse and Austerlitz).  Gare du Nord is where the Eurostar runs from, along with several other Northbound International trains.

I don't know why I forget that London requires clearing customs & immigration, so this was my first experience dealing with the questions that arise when you've been in a country for over a month.  The French didn't care when stamping me to leave, but the Brits sure cared!  "Why are you going to England?" "Where are you going after?" "France? Do you live in France then?" "No? Then what have you been doing there for so long?" "When will you be leaving France?" "What airline are you taking?" "What airport are you flying into?"  It briefly occurred to me that I might get stuck in this tiny area between 2 border control zones, but after looking closely at my stamps 3 times, he let me through.  By the way, here they all are - it's fun how different they are!

Top 2 left page: Japan 2013; Bottom 2 left: Guatemala 2013; Right side right page: Guatemala 2015; Left side right pg: Dominican Republic 2014.  As you can see, it is pretty random how the countries stamp pages - some side-by-side, some top and bottom

Left page: the relatively boring stamps of the European Union - bottom was entering France 2015 (which they stamped OVER Canada's because it was so light the guy didn't notice it) and top was exiting Vienna to Egypt.  Right page: make sure you have a full page for Egypt (2015) - apparently, they don't want to squeeze your Visa onto half a page.  The upper right stamp was entry, bottom stamp was exit.

Left page top: More European Union - entering Zurich from Egypt, then leaving Paris (2015); Left page bottom: EU to enter and leave France (to England) in 2016; Right page: England (2016)

As I waited to board the Eurostar, I noticed a giant taxi queue - of course!  On Friday evenings, children return from school and men from working in other cities!  It is not uncommon in France that your children may stay away at school all week or that the family will continue to live in one city while the husband works hours away, living in a tiny place all week, and comes home only on weekends.  I know that people do this on the East Coast of the US as well, but it just seems so odd to me to live separately like that!  It is certainly isn't the norm in the Portland area.

While you can generally arrive 20 minutes or less before your trains within France (in fact, the platform usually isn't listed earlier than that), you must check-in for Eurostar at least 30 minutes in advance.  This is to ensure you clear both French and UK immigration, then UK customs (French customs on the reverse trip). They do have a nice waiting lounge with food & drink available though!  Once on Eurostar, I admit it was nice to have announcements made in English rather than picking up about every fifth word in French and hoping I at least understood the gist of what was being said.